Camp Zarahemla

Today is going to be a busy, busy day. We've got a full day of school lessons, plus we need to catch up on two Science lessons (We're learning about light, and yesterday the kids and I crammed into my tiny bedroom closet to shine a flashlight on a mirror and some tin foil) and a Language Arts lesson. We might save one of the Science lessons for Friday when Brian might be home - I dunno.

So it's 7:13. The kids alarm will go off at 7:30, so I've got to get this post done quick!

Last weekend everyone in my family who lives in the Tri-Cities (except Dave and Sara, who had to work, although technically they live in Connel) headed to Camp Zarahemla near Naches, Washington for a fabulous weekend of sledding on ice packed snow, slipping and bumping our heads, eating lots of cake (oh, that was just me), eating lots of yummy other foods, playing games, running around the lodge like crazy huligans (that was the kids), and enjoying a heaping amount of fun and frivolity.

Here's the pictures to prove I'm not lying:

Ethan and Asher's birthday cake

Ethan going to bed

Crazy Brian and slightly shocked and amazed Alyssa

Asher and Marcus' matching pajamas

No, I am not hiding from the camera. I'm laughing hysterically after trying to sit on the corner of my parents blow up bed with a glass of water and sliding completely off, splashing my water across the floor.

Brennan

Ethan

Nathan and Eliza

Megan

So pretty

So pretty - Merian and Alyssa

Ma and Pa (affectionately known as Mom and Dad)

Brian's balancing skeelz

Aren't I cool?

Kenna and Merian

Marcus

The kids making Apple Jacks necklaces

Megan and Marcus

Michael and Ethan

Playing "Love Your Neighbor"

It's currently 7:48. I wasn't nearly quick enough. Alyssa got out of bed at 7:24, and apparently the alarm wasn't set, because the boys are still sleeping. Time to get a move on!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

I promise that today was a lot more fun and exciting than I make it out to be. I'm just incredibly tired, so I'm in documenting mode.


Today Ethan began his birthday celebrations with a waffle breakfast. We had school like normal, which Alyssa wasn't happy with, and Brian's mom (who has become our Reading Specialist since Alyssa will read to her more willingly than Brian or me) came over to read with Alyssa while Ethan and I made his birthday brownies.

We were going to turn them into an ice cream brownie mountain, but because of the events of the evening, we opted to leave the mountain of ice cream we made this afternoon as is and eat the brownies straight from the pan. My sister-in-law, Tallia, came over with her kids so she could check out our school curriculum, and the kids played outside for a couple of hours.

We then headed to Red Robin for dinner, where Marcus threw up. We're thinking it was because he was coughing pretty hard from his cold. I really hope he doesn't have the flu. I was just saying this afternoon that we've made it through the whole winter without the flu in our house. I even knocked on wood! Ask Tallia - she was there. Luckily - Can you use the word "luckily" when you're talking about your child throwing up in a restaurant? - the puking happened just after we all finished our meals, so we quickly cleaned up, paid the bill, and got out of there.

We had our parents over for the birthday party, though Brian's dad couldn't come because of an incredibly sore back. Alyssa was in charge of decorations, and I must say she did an incredible job. Ethan got a Transformer, a little walking dinosaur, and something he's been asking for for a long time: a scooter. Or as he says it, "A hooter!"

All in all it was a pretty good day. I think Ethan felt special, which is the most important thing. He kept walking around today saying, "It's my birthday...It's my birthday...It's my birthday..." You get the gist.

So I will sum it up by saying just how much we love Ethan. He is such a joy to have in our family. He is such a good boy. He is a gentleman. He is so thoughtful. He loves to help me cook, and he even likes to help do the dishes. He is loving being a Sunbeam and being able to go to Primary. He is full of love and hugs and kisses. He is just so sweet. Out of all the horrible pregnancies I've had, Ethan's was the worst - hands down, worst - pregnancy of them all, and he was worth every miserable pukey second of it. I love him tons.

Edited to Add: Marcus is doing wonderfully this morning. Last night he had a fever and a cough, but he's back to his normal self right now. Alyssa was explaining her decorating of Ethan's chair to me over breakfast: "I wanted to add this in the back and around here, but I thought that it would be too flashy, and cover up his sign."

To Say it Bluntly, Earthquakes Stink

Last week Brian and I were talking about...well, I guess about how big the world is despite all the technological adavancements that bring us closer together. I think we actually weren't talking about that, but then we kind of jumped to the subject, and I saw a news article headline about there being an earthquake in Haiti. I didn't read the article, or really read the headline too closely, because at the time I didn't realize just how horrible this earthquake was. I pointed to the headline and said, "See? These people just had an earthquake. People probably died, homes were destroyed, and we're still living a perfectly normal life over here."

"Yeah, all they get is a fifteen minute headline, and it's over for us," Brian agreed.

Our perspective has obviously changed since last week. I now realize just how much damage this earthquake caused, how many lives were destroyed because of it. Even now, though, I've been taking the same stance that Alyssa takes when it comes to scary parts in movies. If I don't see it, I don't have to think about it. I don't want to see the pictures of the mass graves they're digging and throwing bodies into. I don't want to see pictures of the babies that have lost their mothers. It hurts too much to even think about it. I can't imagine - don't want to imagine what it would be like to have one quick event destroy everything truly important in my life.

One thing I forced myself to realize this morning is that these people need help. They're getting some help, but it's obviously been slow in coming, and it's going to be a long, hard process to put everything back together again. I've been reading the articles on what the LDS Humanitarian Services are doing to aid everyone in Haiti. Like always, they are doing great things. And like always, "100 percent of all donations are distributed directly to those in need." (from the Humanitarian General Fund) Hint, hint: donations can be made here.

It amazes me that all of the missionaries serving in Haiti are safe, and that all of the LDS chapels are undamaged. I don't believe that this happened because we're so righteous that we're always preserved, but because the Lord knew that help would be needed. I'm sure those missionaries are working like crazy right now, and seven chapels are being used to house over 4,000 people. It's amazing to see the little bits of good that can come from something so horrible.

I pray that the people of Haiti can be comforted at this time, and that they can find peace in the middle of all the chaos.

Getting an A+ in Blogology 101

About a week or two ago, my good friend Kim dedicated a post to something she caled, "Blogology." I'll link to it in a little bit, if she doesn't mind. For some reason it has affected me a lot more than I think she meant it to. In it she talks about the way we bloggers sometimes judge ourselves on the number of comments we receive on our posts and how that can have an effect on our self esteem. If we don't get a lot of comments, we wonder if people really care about what we say, we wonder if we really do have friends, and we wonder why the heck we're blogging anyway. Even if we really are blogging for ourselves, to preserve our thoughts and memories, we still want to stay connected to our friends, and giving and getting those comments are a huge bonus when it comes to blogging fun. She also lists many reasons why we sometimes don't comment, and I'm guilty of all of them. (And probably a few more!)

I don't remember if Kim officially challenged us to comment more or not, but I read her post as a personal challenge to me to comment on everyone's posts consistently. I admit I have missed commenting on a few posts these last couple of weeks, but overall I've been doing pretty good. Through this, I have learned that it really doesn't take any more time out of my day. It only takes a few seconds to leave a comment, and the kids and dishes will still be there, waiting for me when I'm done. I've also learned that commenting all the time adds a whole new level of fun to blogging. I feel closer to my friends than I did when I would just read a post and move on. I miss the ones I'm not around more, too, which I guess isn't a great thing, but at least were staying connected.

So if you're wondering why I all of a sudden like you more than I used to and comment on every single post you make...no, I am not stalking you. I'm just trying to be a little bit more friendly. I'm also starting to post on people's blogs that I've been lurking on for various amounts of time, and that's fun, too.

Hey Good Lookin' - What's Cookin'?

Brian and Marcus are in the kitchen making Carmelita bars. While they've been in there I've been referred to as, "Marmo" by both of them, and as "your mither" by Brian. They both also did a dance in the kitchen to turn the oven on. I don't know if it worked. Hopefully those bars will be done soon.

FYI Breakfast-Wise

Malt-o-Meal's Blueberry Muffintops cereal really does taste like blueberry muffins. It's incredibly yummy, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like cereal.

Storybook Treasury

Brian's parents gave us the Scholastic Storybook Treasury for Christmas. We got it out tonight for the first time, and we loved it. It's a compliation of 100 books, where the pictures from the books are (slightly) animated, and the story is read aloud. Tonight the kids watched Chrysanthemum, Rapunzel, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and a whole bunch of others. We don't have television, so we basically watch things on Playhouse Disney online and DVD's, and we try (emphasis on try) to watch movies only on weekends. The kids loved these stories, and I felt good about letting them watch them (and will probably watch them whenever they want, even during the week) because 1) they're good stories and extremely well put together, 2) they have the words printed at the bottom of the screen so Alyssa can read along if she wants, and 3) there's so many of them, that it's going to take a long while until we can get sick from watching them too many times.

So thank you, Grandma and Grandpa - the kids love it!

Here It Is

All of these pictures were taken from the house's real estate listing. I didn't think to take pictures myself.


So this is the wonderfully fabulous house we made an offer on yesterday. Our real estate agent called this morning to tell us that the sellers accepted our offer, but because it's a short sale it now has to be approved by the bank. Hopefully that will all go through as well. I am incredibly excited. I keep dancing spontaneously and shouting "Woohoo!" Being LDS, I'm constantly tempted to say that I feel blessed, but thinking that also makes me feel like we must have done something wonderful to deserve to have found such a great house. To tell you the truth, I think we just got lucky. What I really feel is spoiled, but hopefully in a good way. It's more than we deserve, and I'm so excited!


The house is in Pasco, pretty close to where the new church building is being built. It's super close to both my sister and my brother, so that will make getting together really easy. It has 5 bedrooms, with a bonus room upstairs that we're going to use as a school room. (See? Spoiled.) The bonus room has a tiny little door that goes into an attic space, and that door makes me want to decorate with an Alice in Wonderland theme. The bedroom that's downstairs we're planning on using as a toy room, and even after everyone in our family is assigned a bedroom, there's one left over for a craft room for me, split with an office space for Brian. That just makes me want to dance right there.


The kitchen and breakfast nook is open to the family room, which is exactly what we wanted. There is tons of counter space and cupboard space, and the walk in pantry is huge.


Here's another view of the kitchen. See all the shiny-ness? Isn't it pretty? I am absolutely in love with this house. If everything goes through, we could be moved by March. So we're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.

Here's the floor plan. The only changes I see that were made is that the downstairs "den/bedroom" is swapped with the back Garage, and there's a few closets that are in different places.

Laundry, Toe Flaps, Wahoo

I started this post earlier tonight, just after we put the kids to bed, but I only wrote one sentence, then stopped. I wrote one sentence, and didn't know what else to say, so I just stopped. Then I folded today's laundry, and had a bowl of ice cream, because it's been a while since I've had a bowl of ice cream...and I really wanted it. I had a scoop each of Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip, Dreyers Double Churned Strawberry, and Premium Quality Brand Fried Ice Cream. I watched a few clips of Glee while I ate said ice cream, and I've just got to say that I think Jane Lynch is the most hilarious woman on the face of the earth. Just hilarious.

So then I took the laundry upstairs and put Alyssa's clothes in her dresser and Ethan's clothes in his dresser and, yes, Marcus' clothes in his dresser. Alyssa was still awake and while I was tossing her underwear in the drawer I heard her whisper, quite loudly, "Mom!" Not knowing at the time that she was awake, and thinking it might have been the squeaking of the drawer, I went ahead and put her socks in the next drawer, and there it was again: "Mom!"

Upon investigating the loud whispers, I found out that she had a dead flap of skin on her big toe, and she wanted me to get the clippers to clip it off. No big deal, I thought, so I told her to come with me to get things taken care of, and that is when I found out that she had gotten in trouble multiple times already by Brian for repeatedly getting out of bed. Ooops. I didn't know this history, because I had been downstairs folding laundry and joyously eating ice cream, but I already said that.

So I clipped off the offending chunk of flappy skin and sent her off to bed...finished putting away the laundry...brushed my teeth...and as I was brushing my teeth I thought of when we went camping with Katie and Reuben a little after Ethan was born, and Katie and I went up to the bathrooms together to brush our teeth, and Katie had a Sonicare toothbrush which she was afraid to take out of her bag since she was embarrassed for having a fancy toothbrush, and I had a Sonicare toothbrush that I was afraid to take out of my bag since it would take exactly two minutes according to Sonicare to brush my teeth, and I wasn't sure that Katie wanted to wait that long, and to make a long story short, we both took out our matching toothbrushes and had a good laugh about them. After thinking of this story I also thought back to earlier this evening and thought, "Why didn't I finish that post? What's my problem?"

So maybe it's because it doesn't feel quite real, or maybe it's because writing it down in words almost cheapens the magic. I don't know. I'm not going to finish the post. I'm not going to elaborate. But I will tell you this: The sentence I wrote, when I started the whole thing was, "Tonight Brian and I met with our Realtor to sign a whole ton of papers to make an offer on a house."

The Box Man

When my brother, David, was little, whenever he would see a UPS truck, he's unjokingly say, "It's the PU man!" and we all got a good laugh out of that. He was also the one who lost his pamphlet when we visited the Ice Harbor Dam, and he kept yelling, "Where's my dam book?" and "I lost my dam book!" But that's beside the point.

Anyway, while Ethan was finishing his lunch and I was washing up the dishes, he yelled to me, "Mom! Someone's here! It's the box man!" So I looked outside and saw the UPS truck at the neighbors house.

Back to School

A little bit before Christmas we started a different schedule by having a day devoted to Science and History and a day devoted to Language Arts, with the rest of the days devoted to Phonics and Math. It worked better than trying to do one lesson from each every day, because if things got busy or out of hand, we'd miss Language Arts or Science or History, and after a while we'd notice that it had been a few days or a week without studying any of those.

So today, our first day back from Christmas vacation, we're starting with a Language Arts day. It's rainy and cold outside, and it's a perfect day to cuddle up on the couch and finish reading Winnie the Pooh.

Snow Day!

Last night it finally snowed enough to go sledding. The kids and I started getting ready when Brian left for work at 7:30, and then we took off to Carmichael Hill before the crowds showed up. I went down with the boys a couple of times, but Marcus didn't like the 'going back up the hill' part, so he and I sat at the top and watched Alyssa and Ethan slide down and hike back up.

Christmas Day

Alyssa woke up Christmas morning, just before seven o'clock. She climbed into bed with Brian and me, and soon we were all joined by Ethan. Marcus didn't wake up until close to eight, and then we went downstairs. Santa did a fabulous job this year - everyone loved their gifts. (Yea me! I mean, Santa!) Alyssa got a B.F.C (Best Friends Club) doll, which she loves, and the boys each got a Transformer. Ethan got Optimus Prime, because of his Halloween costume, and Marcus almost got Bumblee Bee, but once I found Megatron and heard him say, "There is no command but my command!" I knew that that was the toy for Marcus. Brian got a waterproof, fireproof document safe, and I got a hip hop workout dvd and chocolate covered cherries. Contradictory, I know, but still good.

We opened our presents from each other, then headed to Brian's grandma's for a bit, then we headed to the Stake Center in Pasco to hang out with my family.

The guys played basketball.

I (kind of) learned how to use the wave board.

We sang Christmas carols,

sang Beatles songs,

and ate lots of food.

It was a great Christmas.

Chirstmas Eve

We started the day by decorating our cookies for Santa. The kids had a blast from start to finish with these cookies. We baked them the day before, and Marcus loved slamming the cookie cutters into the dough, over and over, and everyone kept fighting over the snow man cutter, and no one wanted to use the bell cutter. When it came time for frosting, Alyssa was in charge of decorating the snow men,

and Ethan was in charge of decorating the Christmas trees.

Marcus just had a great time squeezing frosting all over everything.

And Ethan got a little too generous with the red sprinkles. (Yes, there is a cookie under that red mountain.) I used a spoon to distribute the sprinkles a little more evenly.

After decorating cookies we strated tracking Santa online. It was fun to see him get closer and closer to us, especially when it was bedtime and we were able to show the kids that he was getting closer, and they'd better go to sleep.

We baked homemade bread and cooked our Christmas ham, which Brian so lovingly picked up for us from Costco on his way home from work the day before. (You want me to go where? - two days before Christmas?!?) Apparently Costco was a little crowded.

And then we had Brian's family over for an early Christmas.

The boys had a fabulous time with the boat, I mean box that Grandma brought the presents in.

Then we opened the presents

and played and played and played. After everyone went home and we tucked the kids in bed, Brian and I kept checking to Santa's progress across the globe.

Apparently, he went through Spokane, Washington at 11:18, which was as close as he came to the Tri-Cities, and it was good enough for us.

And Here's The Yellow Scarf

The yellow scarf, in all its radiant glory

Marcus was fine sitting on Santa's lap

But Ethan was scared silly

To Alyssa, Love Santa

Last week Alyssa finger crocheted a scarf for Santa. It was a bright yellow scarf, about two inches wide and three feet long. She worked on it all afternoon, and kept adding yarn to make sure it would be "big enough for Santa." Then she brought it with her to the Primary activity and waited excitedly in line, until it was her turn to sit on Santa's lap. When she presented the yellow scarf to Santa, he was excited and had her wrap it around his neck, and she loved giving it to him. Her only Christmas request was to be able to go on a sleigh ride with him.

Yesterday I was checking my hotmail account, which I don't really use anymore, and while scrolling through the email, I noticed one that said, "Please give to Alyssa." It was an email from Santa, thanking her for the scarf. I thought it was so sweet that I printed it onto a Christmas card to give to Alyssa when she got home from school. She was thrilled!



The letter says, "Dear Alyssa, Thank you for the great scarf. You must know how cold it gets flying from house to house. I will always keep it for riding in my sleigh. I will wrap it around my neck, right under my beard and coat. You are a very thoughtful young lady. Love, Santa. P.S. Please tell Grandpa Jacks that he can e-mail me and we'll work on the details of that sleigh ride."

Oh What Do You Do In The Winter Time...

...when all the world is cold?

Ever since September when I was inspired by Katherine to try Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred, I've been doing really good about exercising every morning. And I really do love the workouts on that video, but a couple weeks ago I started to get really bored with them. So luckily, I had on hand a weighted hula hoop that I splurged on a few months ago, so I started watching a video each morning and hula hooping while I watched. And even that is getting a little boring, but just a little boring, though. The real problem is that even though I can feel it in my legs and stomach, it's not much of an aerobic workout, and I miss that. I've thought about alternating between 30 Day Shred and the hula hoop, but as it is right now, I don't want to get up at six in the morning to hear Jillian tell me, "Just think about all the reasons you bought this dvd in the first place..." and "...and next we're going to do..." shrug, "...jumping jacks...with weights..."

I'm wanting to mix things up so I don't get too bored and stop exercising during fudge/divinity/caramels/cookie season. So the question is - what do you all do to get exercise in the winter time?

Dinner With The Jacks

The other night, while we were eating dinner, Brian said something incredibly funny. Too funny for me to remember, apparently, because I have completely forgotten what we were even talking about. After he said it, he said, "You should put that on the quote blog," to which Alyssa replied, "No, Mom. You should put on your blog: I said this, and then Brian said that, so Alyssa said this, and Daddy said that, so I did this, and Alyssa did that, which made Daddy say that...." and this rambling continued for about three or four minutes. Brian finally interrupted her.

"Alyssa, you've got to think about what you're asking. Do you want Mom to be our maid and cook, or our stenographer?"

"Oh, now that's funny," I said, and looked over at Ethan, who was jumping a little piece of french toast up and over his plate and saying, in a little tiny voice, "I'm a rocket man!!" We don't know how long he had been involved in this activity, because we had been listening to Alyssa and wondering when she was going to stop rambling. Then Ethan took a good look at his piece of french toast and realized just how small it was, and while jumping it over his plate, oblivious to us all watching, he said in an even tinier voice, "I'm a rocket baby!!"

That's when I looked over at Marcus, who was playing his fork (complete with a bite of french toast on it) like a trumpet.

And now the question is: since I wrote all this down, who's doing the laundry and making dinner tonight?

Broadway's Award-Winning Best Musical

Yesterday we headed to Spokane to see "The Lion King." We dropped Marcus off at Kim and Brian's house, who happen to live just ten minutes from the INB Performing Arts Center, and he hung out with them for the afternoon. He had a wonderful time! I was a little worried that he would be upset with us for leaving him, but they said that he was happy the whole time, and he didn't even fight them when they strapped him into a grocery cart. He always fights me when I strap him into grocery carts.

Brian's parents got Brian and I tickets to go see "The Lion King" for Brian's birthday when it came to Portland when I was pregnant with Ethan, so when we heard that it was coming to Spokane, we decided to take them. So we met them at the hotel they stayed at, then walked across the street in the freezing cold to the INB center. We made sure everyone had gone to the bathroom (especially Ethan) two or three times before sitting down, and then we were treated to a spectacular performance.

The animals were amazing, the costumes were amazing, the music was amazing - everything was fabulous. There were times when the choir would sing a chord, and it would just hit you and you could really feel it. I loved watching the kids as they sat, completely enthralled. Brian's dad brought some binoculars, and Ethan loved looking through them to see the actors close up. He had them through most of the performance, and if anyone else borrowed them, he would soon ask, "Where are my by-noc-lers?" He actually went back and forth from sitting on Brian's lap to sitting on our pile of coats to make him tall enough to see, then he fell asleep when there was about twenty minutes left in the program. Alyssa sat in the row behind us, with Brian's parents. Every time I looked back at her, she was intently watching. She said her favorite song was "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and her favorite character was Nala.

We splurged (big splurge!) and got the kids each a stuffed animal. We bought Nala for Alyssa, Simba for Ethan, and Zazu for Marcus. Alyssa loves hers, Marcus loves his, but Ethan is not happy with Simba. I think he might be a little afraid of it. He does claim it enough, though, to not want to hand it over to Alyssa. When she asks, "Ethan, since you don't want your Simba stuffed animal, can I have it?" he says, "NO!" But as you can see, he didn't even want to pose with it for the picture.

Christmas Decorations

A couple of Sundays ago we decorated the Christmas tree. Right after Thanksgiving I was thinking about getting a real tree this year (it would be our first one), but then I realized that in addition to buying the tree, we would need to buy new lights, because I didn't want to deal with destringing our fake one. We're trying to save every little bit right now to save up for a down payment on a house, so we decided to wait for another year to buy a real tree.

First job: fluffing the branches. Alyssa, Ethan, and Marcus did the lower branches while I worked on the top ones.


Alyssa did a fabulous job of placing the ornaments.


This is the tree skirt I made copying some of Sarah's. We've never had a Christmas tree skirt before. Up until now I've always draped some fabric around the bottom and called it good. But I decided that this was going to be the year that we would finally have a tree skirt! After I saw the ones Sarah made, I had a perfect vision in my head of what I wanted ours to look like, but I couldn't think of a time when I would be able to make it to the fabric store without kids, so I opted to raid my fabric tub of leftovers. The white is from a temple dress I made when I was pregnant with Ethan, and the red is from a belly dance costume. Our tree skirt is actually still not finished, because I ran out of ribbon and red thread. I'll have to make it to the fabric store soon!

Ethan and Brian had the privilege of putting the angel on the top when we were done.


And last week my neighbor and I went out in the front yard and put up our outside decorations. It was freezing cold outside, but we had a great time!

Christmas, Christmas Time is Here! Time For Joy, And Time For Cheer!

Last year I made an Excel file of everyone's addresses so I could have a quick list to use to send Christmas cards this year, but every time I try to pull up that file, a window pops up that says, "Windows cannot find 'C:\Users\Carrie\Desktop\Home Manager\Addresses.xlsx'." So maybe sending Chrstimas cards this year won't be as easy and quick as I thought it was going to be.

Therefore, if you are reading this (and you know you are) please send me your address. carrielynnjacks@gmail.com. Thank you!

Mixin' It Up...Not So Good

Since we started homeschooling this year, I've had to put myself on a pretty rigid schedule. I found that if I didn't completely keep up with the dishes and laundry, Alyssa's school work fell behind. On Monday and Thursday I wash diapers, Tuesday is Brian's and my laundry day, Wednesday is the kids' laundry day, and Friday I wash sheets and towels (as necessary). I've been waking up at six o'clock every morning to exercise and shower, and hopefully be dressed and ready for the day by the time the kids get out of bed.

For a while things were working great. Then the kids started to realize that Mom got up way before them, and they decided to take turns getting up early to thwart my alone time. A couple weeks ago, when my alarm went off, I thought, "Why do I get up this early to be up before the kids, when the kids wake up anyway?" and I turned off my alarm, rolled over, and went to sleep. Five minutes later, Brian's alarm went off, and he promptly pushed the Snooze button (because that's what he does) and went back to sleep himself.

That morning I started a two-week run of not setting my alarm, staying in bed while Brian showered and got ready, getting up to say prayer with him and send him off to work, and then staying in bed until the kids woke up, which ended up being usually around seven-thirty. I started exercising with the kids either exercising with me, or watching me from the couch, saying, "Mom, you're supposed to have your feet in the air. Higher. I know it's hard, but you can do it." And then after pouring bowls of Marshmallow Mateys for the kids, I would run upstairs for a quick shower, then after I was ready we would start school.

Overall, it only put us behind our school schedule by a half-hour, but it really messed with my dishes and laundry schedule. Instead of sorting and starting laundry at seven o'clock, I was starting around ten, and that meant that it didn't always make it into the dryer or out of the dryer. After the first week the kids started living from a pile of clean clothes sitting in a laundry basket on top of Ethan's dresser. When one of them needed socks, I would run downstairs to another clean, but unsorted basket of clothes to hunt down a matching pair. Because I was getting lazy in other things, Alyssa and I started getting lazy with her school work schedule to where she was learning that she could argue and whine instead of doing her work, and if she whined long enough, eventually the time to get her work done would disappear and she wouldn't have to do it. And she's not the only one who's been lazy. Yesterday while Alyssa was at MCP, I didn't even start the laundry or clean up after breakfast. I read a book, and when the characters in the book made brownies, I decided to make brownies, too. Then I spent the afternoon on the computer dreaming about houses, and didn't even think about dinner until Brian called to say he was on his way home.

So last night I decided that we need to get back on a good schedule, but this morning when my alarm clock went off, I decided that it's going to be a modified schedule. I will stay in bed while Brian gets up to shower, but I've decided to get up to exercise when he leaves for work. That way I'll be sleeping in a little bit, but I'll still be up and getting the morning started early enough not to effect other things.

I don't know why I'm sharing this. It's not particularly interesting, but it's just been on my mind. Believe me, it is not in my nature to want to do laundry every day or to keep the kitchen constantly clean, but I've found that striving for that is necessary to my sanity. Funny, huh? And even though I generally keep the house clean during the week, I take the weekends off, and by Sunday evening it usually looks like a tornado came through, and then Monday morning I start all over again. Another funny thing I've found is that when I'm closely following our cleaning and school schedule, I actually have more time to work on my own projects and to spend fun time with the kids.

So Incredibly Thankful...Again

What is it with Marcus almost dying the day before Thanksgiving? Right now he's two for three.

This afternoon we were headed to my sister's house to participate in my niece's production of "Rikki Tikki Tavi," and like usual, when I told the kids to get in the car, Alyssa got on her scooter and started cruising up and down the side walk, Ethan ran around the grass, and Marcus got on his big wheel and joined Alyssa. I don't know why "Get into the car" translates to "Run around the neighborhood" in their language, but this always seems to happen.

I was able to corral Ethan into the car, and while I was strapping him into his car seat, I heard Alyssa say, "Marcus! Stop! Come back!" And when I ducked out of the van, I saw Marcus riding his bike straight into the middle of the busy street that our street is perpendicular to, with Alyssa running after him.

I screamed "Stop! Stop!" while running up the side walk. I don't know if I was talking to Marcus and Alyssa, or to the cars who were passing them as they stood in the center of the right lane. I counted four cars that went by while I ran, screaming, and when I reached them I scooped Marcus into my arms as Alyssa pulled the big wheel to the sidewalk. Then, once I had everyone safe in the car, I dumped the scooter and big wheel over the fence into the back yard, where they will stay. Forever.

So once again, we are incredibly thankful to have three beautiful, healthy, and alive children this Thanksgiving season.