Category Archives: observations

Halloween 2013

Posted on by

Just popping in today to share costumes from last night.

My 4 year old was a cheetah for most events this Halloween but chose to be Belle for trick or treating.

Camera 360IMG_2993 IMG_2995

My 11 year old didn’t care about his costume so he went as a soccer player by default.

IMG_2999

My  8 year old decided he wanted to be something from Harry Potter.  Any guesses?

IMG_2902

IMG_2901

Yep, he’s Mad Eye Moody.

mad-eye-moody-bio

We took a $7 coat from Goodwill, ripped it up, lightly spray painted it with white (to make it look dusty) and stamped it with a black stamp pad to make it look old.

I bough these face paints and brushes this year and have loved how easy they are to use and how the paint doesn’t smear.

IMG_2903

I would love to hear in the comment section what your kids dressed up as this year.

IMG_3002

Now on to November!

Jake

Posted on by

Man o man.

This thing called life just knocks the wind out of you sometimes.

The first thing out of my middle schoolers mouth when I picked him up from school yesterday was, “Kids told me Mrs. Matheus’ son died. She got a call during 6th period that he died. He’s in the Air Force. We watched her walk out to her car and leave.”

First off. How Awful.

Nothing is worse than your child dying.

Second off. She had to find out that horrible news in front of a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds.

Fast forward two hours, back at our house, with me at the computer checking to see if soccer practice was still on.

I open an email from my boys’ swim coach.

It informs me that one of the summer swim coaches has died.

He was 21.

It was self-inflicted.

First off. Again. How awful.

Just being a parent makes my heart break with this news.

I only knew this kid from afar.

He was always smiling and laughing with the kids and the other coaches.

For three years my kids knew him and loved him.

Second off. How dare you? Why would you do such a thing?

I’m not really mad at him. I’m disappointed and sad for my kids.

And heartbroken for his family and friends.

I know I will never know what led him to that decision and I’m not sure I need to know.

But I do know that I will continue to tell my kids everyday that I will always love them, forever and ever, no matter what.

I chose not to share with my kids the manner in which Coach Jake died. That’s too much information for even an adult to comprehend, never mind an 8 year old. He died. His family is sad. We are sad.

The next day I again picked my son up from middle school and asked him if he had a substitute in Mrs. Matheus’ class.

“No. It was actually her dog that died not her son.”

We had a bit of a laugh, learned never to completely trust the word of middle schoolers sharing information in the hallways, and went on with our day.

And I may have told him thirty times that day, ” I will always love you, forever and ever, no matter what.”

*I never use real names in my blog except those of my children.

Invest in a Woman

Posted on by

We are adopting.

It is a wonderful thing which our family is very excited about.

But it’s also something really sad.

It means a family couldn’t be kept together.

Either by financial reasons, illness, or death.

I will always think of the mama who isn’t celebrating birthdays, first days of school, and the first loose tooth with their child.

My child soon.

There are roughly 150 million orphans in the world.

I can’t help 150,000,000 children.

But maybe I can help prevent some kids being added to that number.

The company fashionABLE creates sustainable business for Africans so they aren’t dependent upon charity. They focus on empowering women by giving them jobs.

The women of Ethiopia have made the scarves and leather pieces that are listed for sale on the fashionABLE site.

Take a moment and watch this quick video about these beautiful women and the company they work for.

To celebrate the company’s 3rd year in business they are offering 30% off of all of their products today.

Having the opportunity to work. What a gift. Something we don’t always view that way.

Invest in a woman.

If you invest in her you will invest in her child.

I invested in a woman today.

You can too.

The Rabbits – Part 2 – It Gets Ugly

Posted on by

Well folks.

It didn’t get all Hakuna Matata on us over her.

It went the way of the Circle of Life in a slightly more horrific way than I imagined.

If you recall, our backyard became a rabbit sanctuary for the past week ever since my 8 year old son discovered a nest of baby rabbits.

My sweet, sensitive eight year old who loves animals with all his heart.

Ugh. This story sucks.

Yesterday afternoon the kids were playing in the backyard when my son announced that the rabbits were gone. They were no where to be found. I immediately believed him because he has been checking on them with the religious fervor of a Texas baptist. Okay, maybe that went a little too far.

But he said they were gone.

So we let the dog out in the backyard.

And everyone played.

And everyone played.

And everyone played.

And then..everyone came in for bedtime.

And then…everyone woke up the next day to get ready for school.

And then…just as I was biting into my hot oatmeal breakfast my eight year old came running into the kitchen screaming, “Sophie killed the baby rabbit! She killed it! It’s laying on the floor!”

Tears. Tears. Hysterical tears.

I ran into the dining room to find the dog in her crate and an obviously dead baby bunny sprawled out on our dining room floor.

How did this happen? The dog hasn’t even gone outside yet today?

Tears. Tears. Hysterical tears.

Still I can’t seem to move. I just stare at this dead bunny on my dining room floor.

I don’t understand? How did, oh no, I know what happened!

Last night when I let the dog in she ran right to her crate without stopping to get water. Unusual but not completely out of the ordinary.

I locked her in her crate and went to my room.

As I read a little while later I turned to my husband and said, “What is Sophie doing in her crate? She’s moving around a lot.”

OH. MY. GOD.

SHE WAS PLAYING WITH A DEAD RABBIT IN HER CRATE.

Now I have 2 kids screaming.

I yell at the dog and lock her in her crate. I order my 11 year old to get a trash bag and I go to the garage and grab some rake contraption and a sheet. I tell my son to open up the trash bag as I try and scoop THE DEAD  RABBIT onto the rake.

I miss the first time but manage to scoop him up the second time.

My son is so disgusted by holding the bag he drops it before managing to open it up enough for me to drop THE  DEAD BUNNY and the sheet into the bag.

I tie the bag and rush it outside.

I order my son to wash his hands throughly three times while I do the same. I wash the dining room floor and wash my hands again many times. And I do a full body shiver.

I then talk with my 8 year old, the animal lover, and mumble something about animals, circle of life, Sophie thought it was a toy, and then agree to write a note to his teacher telling her what a tough morning he has had.

I’m not going to lie and say that I didn’t call my husband after this experience and possibly semi-curse at him for not being home during this event. I may have forbidden him to ever leave the house again for work.

I think it’s safe to say that this experience has affected us all.

Later in the day my four year old told the Old Navy saleswoman and the grocery store clerk that our dog killed a rabbit.

My 11 year old has definitely ruled out a career in waste management.

I’m considering plans to demolish our dining room.

And my  8 year old wants to know when we are going to the SPCA to get another dog.

Yes. He is.

Apparently he has short term memory problems.

I assured him under no uncertain circumstances that we would never get another pet of any kind.

After all, I can still see that DEAD BUNNY on my dining room floor.

 

 

I’m Starting to Regret..

Posted on by

I’m starting to regret showing my kids all of the old movies I love and view as classics.

Movies like Mary Poppins, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Annie.

As I was walking away after putting my 4 year old in time out, she began singing, “It’s a hard knock life for me.”

It  went something like this. “It’s a hard knock life for me. It’s a hard knock LIFE for me. It’s a hard knock LIFE FOR ME. It’s a hard KNOCK LIFE FOR ME.”

Only 14 more years for her to live that hard life with us.

Just in case

Posted on by

Just in case you were thinking about going to swim for an hour shortly after eating an apple and 2 homemade pumpkin poptarts...

Don’t.

That is unless you like swimming with the feeling that there is an alien about to burst through your stomach.

Of course, that feeling didn’t deter me from eating 2 more pumpkin poptarts when I got home shortly after.

But hey that’s me.

Complete self control.

After all, I didn’t have another apple.

The Rabbits

Posted on by

I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase, “Anything for your children.”

Well, that phrase is the reason why my husband and I have turned our backyard into a  rabbit sanctuary.

Yes, a rabbit sanctuary.

IMG_2634

Really, if it was up to us, we’d let our dog eat the baby bunnies.

OK, maybe that’s a little harsh.

My husband would most certainly shoo the bunnies away before the dog got outside.

Because two little bunnies and their momma have moved into our yard, and because my eight year old animal loving son discovered their nest, my husband and I have taken to walking the dog three times a day.

This is the same dog who wants to spend all day outside now that it’s not 100 degrees but cannot because of Flopsy and Mopsy Cottontail.

So maybe it’s really three of us sacrificing for our son.

Roughly 20 times a day I hear the back door slam signaling to me that it’s only a matter of time before I have a bunny update.

When I asked my husband how we should move the bunnies he said, “I don’t think we should move them, we’ll wait till they grow up to let the dog outside.”

What the beep, beep, beep?

Are you kidding me?

I’m going to let you guess who promptly got sick shortly after those words were uttered and went to bed early, completely forgetting about taking the dog out. And then let you guess who was the person who went out walking the dog at 10:00 that night with a steak knife in one hand and a dozen plastic bags in the other.

And so we wait for the bunnies to grow up.

I’m giving them 3 more days before I let the dog out.

In the meantime I’m scouting out places where I can rent The Lion King.

Not sure if I’m going to focus on, “Hakuna Matata,” or “Circle of Life.”

We might let the dog decide.

Adoption Letter

Posted on by

We have been pretty open with our kids about the adoption process we are going through – the paperwork we have to fill out, travel arrangements that are to be made, saving our money, and much more. We haven’t sat them down and laid out spreadsheets and timelines but we don’t shield them from the process either.

Well, you never know what they are picking up.

My 4 year old and I went out to check the mail the other day.

She ran ahead and said, “I’ll get the mail.”

Reaching into the mailbox she yelled, “I’ve got an adoption letter!”

“You do?”

“Yes. It says to send money and the baby will come in a crate and then we will love them forever.”

Obviously she has some things correct and others not so much.

We talked about how we are sending money to people so that they can take care of our baby right now and that yes, one day the baby will come home but on an airplane and not in a crate.

At least she has the most important part correct, “we will love them forever.”

IMG_0429

His New Teacher

Posted on by

My eight year old really comes out with funnies sometimes.

The latest one was about his new teacher.

 Being completely serious…”Dad, Mrs. H is as old as you.

She’s 40 but I think she only looks 38.”

IMG_3429

 

I’m hoping I get the same assessment from him next year when I turn 40.