Christmas 2009

Well, I might as well get the blog about Christmas out of the way. :-)

This year was a unique year in that for the first time in several years, we've been physically and financially able to deal with Christmas. I know the children won't appreciate everything that goes into Christmas because frankly, I sure as heck didn't know until I had my own family. Our little people don't realize it, but we put a lot of thought into their gifts this year, both of us seemed to be on a mission to really make Christmas special for the kids.

I readily acknowledge that it isn't the presents that make Christmas special, and we talked a lot about the birth of our Savior with the kids, but there a few things I'd like to record concerning the more material aspect of Christmas.

I'd like to get off my chest first, I haven't shared this because it's a little embarrassing, I've never spent so much on a single child but I bought Kate an American girl doll, with all six book (paperback) and the accessories to match. There's an online community that I take part in, and I had asked their advice on dolls readily acknowledging that price is an issue. They gave wonderful options and then I looked at my daughter and had this urge for once to splurge on her.

I can't explain it, Kent I'm sure is rolling his eyes as he reads this. Maybe it's the little girl in me, remembering a few special presents from my grandparents, that I knew my parents couldn't afford but I wanted, really wanted. The memories, especially of a stuffed pony that I drooled over for MONTHS still brings a smile to my face and I wanted to share that experience with Kate. Also, Kate turns nine (oh, in about a half hour, lol) and she won't enjoy such childlike presents for much longer.

I need to mention that Kate opened most of the American girl gifts (the accessories, a doll's hairbrush and Kit's books were all wrapped separately) and still hadn't figured her main present out. It wasn't until she opened my mothers gift of an old fashion style steamer trunk big enough to hold the doll, with some doll furniture and hangers for doll clothes that Kate figured it out. Kate also figured out that she wasn't going to get to open her doll until the rest of the presents under the tree were cleared out.

Kent and I were able to keep order by not allowing the twins to touch what was under the tree. As soon as either one of them got their hands on a present, regardless of who the present actually belongs to, they instantly started to rip the paper off. Then once that was done, and the present opened to play with they'd sit or lay blissfully on the floor playing with their new toys until someone else handed them a new present, and the paper flying would continue again.

Well Kate quickly handed out the last of the presents and before we knew what was happening, paper was flying everywhere for two to three minutes as the boys quickly disposed of the last of their gifts all at once.

It was GREAT, lol.

Kent made Kate sit there for a good ten minutes before letting her open her doll.

If I didn't have my job, I couldn't have done it. I'm not just talking the doll but the other gifts too. But (and this is for Kate) I do have my job and cleaning a whole lot of toilets allowed me to get something special for you. I could have, probably should have gone less expensive but I was feeling seriously like this was my last chance to do something like *waves hands vaguely* this for Kate.

I purchased the historical doll "Kit" whose stories take place in the depression era. The purchase of "Kit" was my mom's idea, in the hopes that Kate would learn a bit more about the value of money, the blessing of employment and food from the pretty historically accurate portrayal of an American girl series. Yeah, yeah, I totally get the irony of paying for this exclusive brand and using it as a stepping stone for some depression era lessons.

Of course I also want her to love, enjoy and play with this, probably her last truly "child" toy. Oh my they grow so big so fast. It's very bittersweet to see the bits of childhood slip away as they grow into young adults.

Buying Kate a doll, an American girl doll has presented a very unique parenting challenge. See Jane has always wanted an American girl doll. At least she thinks she has. *sigh* Jane has never been a doll person. She's loved dolls briefly but she's never had any with staying power. Within a few weeks, the dolls get tossed aside and usually can be found months later under a huge amount of garbage in her room. (We have issues about that room). Actually Jane was given an 18 inch doll from her grandmother a few years back and as predicted, she played a few weeks and quickly lost interest. It was extremely frustrating to find the accessories to this doll scattered every which where, shoes were lost, socks lost, the dolls hair became a mess from neglect. It saddened me to see her given something and not treated correctly. However, as I stated, she's never been a real doll girly. There's not much we can do to change that.

However even if we had the money a few years ago, I wouldn't have bought an American girl doll for Jane because even though it might have lasted longer then other dolls, in the end, she would have lost interest. I think the idea of an American girl doll is what really has entranced Jane much more then the actual ownership would have. So there's been a bit of jealousy.

I do hope Jane realizes that just as much thought and love was put into her Christmas. Oh my goodness, what does Jane love? Why PROJECTS of course! Cutting, gluing, designing, coloring, painting, it's all good in Jane's world! Jane also loves people. Family is super important to her and having pictures is especially meaningful for my girl. Knowing this, Kent last year gave Jane an old camera for Christmas, we've spent a fortune on developing film! The camera was a trial, to see how well she would take care of it.

She did really well and was super responsible, so Kent shopped and shopped and shopped for the past five months to find the best quality camera for under a hundred dollars. He quickly recognized that we weren't interested in any "kid" camera, we wanted more durability and more function for Jane then a kid camera could provide. The same trial holds true for her Christmas camera this year, if she can show us that she's responsible, then we'll get her a better camera in the future.

To go with this camera I found a kids scrapbook kit, tons of stickers and accessories! Once Kate is moved out of that room, we'll set up a desk for Jane to organize her scrapbook stuff. Jane also received another album for scrap booking, some more paper and an art kit with art paper.

In the end, Jane will enjoy her gifts, they're so HER, for a very long time. If we can keep the boys out of her room that is. *eye roll*

The boys, well Kent managed to work a trade, our old dryer for a remote control car! Oh Ean got other things as well, all boy stuff, but this car is by far his most favorite present. The car and the MP3 player that is. Oh my, does the boy love music! It's amazing because he's not nearly as annoying with the wild nonstop noises when he has music to occupy his mind. He also does these moves that he must have learned in gym class. I wish I could afford, both money wise and time wise, to put the child in taekwondo. His moves remind me of the forms Jane had learned for so many years.

The little boys received a lot of cars, a lot of Disney "Cars" cars but it's the Thomas the Train sets that have taken their time and energy the most. On Christmas day, once the gifts were open until a very late bedtime it was pretty much non-stop Thomas. They did stop long enough to eat Christmas dinner. *laugh*

I lucked out with Thomas as I happened to be in Shopko for another sale when I spotted the Thomas sets on sale for 30% off. This was several months ago, so I was able to easily spread out my expenses, what a huge help! I bought two of each, extra tracks, a set with the crane, a set with a station, both sets came with a Thomas (so that's four Thomases in the house!) and extra engines, Henry, James and some other green engine whose name I can't recalled. David and Greg would be horrified that I can't remember his name. *laugh*

It sounds like a lot but the boys each got the extra tracks and the station set for their birthday and the crane set with the extra engines for Christmas. We have a LOT of track. Our biggest problem when we bought the boys wooden trains last year is that once a couple of tracks broke, we were short for a long time, until Marja was able to retire her set of tracks from her youngest and sent them our way. The Thomas tracks aren't compatible with the wooden tracks, so I wanted to make sure we had enough.

I did save myself a lot of headaches, the trains take batteries and move around the tracks but the twins don't know that. They're perfectly happy just running the trains manually along the track, I'm not about to let them know they start and stop. Right now the guys are perfectly happy with a straightish track running back and forth. I don't want to become track designer having to make sure the tracks always connect! Who has time for that?

That's Christmas 2009, probably the least important part but after spending so much time really trying to connect with the children and searching for items that they'd love, I had to write it down.

Dang I love those kids. <3

Honesty

I'm not writing this down because I want to toot my own horn but because as a mother I worry about my children. I don't want my children to be honest because it's the easiest choice, or because their mother said so.

I want my children to be honest because I believe and have the experience to back it up, that being honest leads to greater happiness. What mother doesn't want happiness for her children?

We've had an incredible amount of problems with lying around here pretty much from every child except the ones with limited verbiage. Well ok, so they've lied too but they don't understand that it's wrong like the three olders do. The commonality between all the various incidents (and I won't rehash each individuals rap sheets, it won't do any good in the long run) is trying to avoid getting into trouble. There are also variations of gaining or scoring something that isn't rightfully ours and this die hard desire to get another sibling in more hot water then they've ever been in before.

Oh the love in our home.

Ok, I joke but on a serious note, it disturbs me to see how readily the truth is shoved aside in our home. I can witness a misdeed, be in the same room, and they KNOW, they KNOW that I'm in the room and still they'll try to lesson their actions.

We try to emphasize the rewards of telling the truth. We distinguish the greater punishment when needed and point out how the consequences of their actions are lessened when the truth is told (consequence equalling punishment here) yet the message is slow to sink in. It's frustrating because I cant' seem to get them to understand the rewards for honesty are far greater then they realize.

Which leads me to my story.

Two weeks ago my mother did me a favor and took Kate to gymnastics. Payment for the month of December was due the first class of the month and I asked mom to pay it for me, with the plan to pay her back the next time I saw her. Mom took her and called me after dropping her off to let me know that she hadn't paid, she said that she saw the book and Kate was marked as paid.

Weird.

I meant to follow up that week because I hadn't paid and I knew no one else had paid but I got busy with life in general. Good intentions, I'm full of good intentions but my days have a way of slipping through my fingers and tasks often get neglected until the last minute. Well last Thursday I received a call from the gymnastics teacher to ask who was picking up Kate.

Kent was late and by late I mean class ends at 5:00 and it was 5:02.

She mentioned that the recital needed to be paid for. I meant to go in on Friday but unexpected expected guests arrived. Yeah I know, that doesn't' make sense, but when you expect them over a week ago and they finally arrive, they really are unexpected expected guests. Anyway, Friday I didn't make it, but remembered this AM, I needed to go pay.

When I get in, I see the book, the recital, hall fee and December as mom stated were marked as paid.

All the class was marked as paid except for the spots right above Kate. I talked with the receptionist, let her know that no, there's no one that would pay for us and obviously it was mis marked. I then paid the $48 due for everything, recital, December and the hall.

It's the sort of thing that would have been easy to shrug my shoulders and allow and there is always the slight possibility someone else really meant to pay for Kate but I had set aside money for her recital and chances are far greater a human mistake was made. Someone would have had to double pay and that wouldn't have been right.

The rewards, what I want my children to internalize is the care free feeling I have in my soul from doing the right thing. See lying weighs you down. Makes the world heavy and cumbersome. The truth takes that weight away and sometimes it's really hard to tell the truth. There will be times when you feel like you'll die when you find yourself needing to tell the truth but once it's out there, healing takes place.

So for my children. Embrace honesty, let it be a part of your daily lives. You'll be happier, healthier and enjoy life far more then if it's not.

Boy it's a good thing *I* didn't catch him.

Him, being Ean.

Apparently after watching me panic this morning when I was unable to find Greg's mittens and you have to understand that it would have been the end of the world without them. I make NO exaggeration here! Ean decided it would be funny to hide his brothers hats and mittens in the couch cushions.

Obviously I never would have found them.

The devious little snot picked the night before he had school. So he would be gone and out the door, escaping interrogation as I go into full panic mode during the countdown before the bus arrives. Unfortunately for the five year old, his father caught him in the act.

He had the privilege of cleaning the front room for mommy. Apparently he wasn't to happy about it either.

We're continuing to plow forward with Jane's homeschooling. My mother bought the niftiest child's dictionary for Jane! Today we talked about presidents while leafing through the information pages. Yesterday we had an in depth conversation about the differences between "caution" and "cautious" and how each word is used. That discussion was brought on by some extremely bad roads we'd just been on to get to the library.

Kate's decided studying her spelling isn't so bad when done online at spellingcity.com.

The twins, well. Yeah. They're in preschool, what can I say. Today Greg needed new pants because he didn't get the one's he was wearing down far enough. He was at the toilet though!

Greg's class is convinced there are two Gregs and David's class is convinced there are two Davids. It's pretty funny. :)

So there's a quick update of today. Man, we're just plain BUSY around here!

Going private

I've had a few questions from close friends that have followed my blog for a while on why I've changed my setting to private.

Honestly, I'm not sure exactly why but Kent asked me too and I not only respect his feelings but I trust his judgement as well. If I was only expressing opinion, then closing my blog would defeat the whole purpose but I am detailing my children's lives, which is a whole different ballgame, so to speak.

I briefly thought of writing an opinion blog that's open along with this one but really, I'd only write more about my family and I don't want to detract my attention from this project. Since I'm not keeping a journal, I feel strongly about recording my family *moves arms in vague sweeping motion* somewhere.

Lets face it, when Kate is in her 30's, she needs to know how fun (snicker) she made picture night tonight. Everyone one dressed up, going for the "family portrait and the at*ti*TUDE showed up! Although we do have one picture with a scowl that'd stop a truck, so I don't think it'll be hard to remind her. The twins were even smiling in THAT picture. :-)

David needs to know how much he loved Christmas lights two weeks before his forth birthday and if we didn't acknowledge that HE saw the Christmas lights he yelled at us. Somehow Greg managed to sleep next to his twin.

So this stuff will still be written down and occasionally I *might* channel my dad and show some brilliant writing, but I wouldn't count on it. I do hope to capture some memory treasures so they won't be forgotten so I'll continue that quest.

Also, I'll invite pretty much anyone that asks to read the blog, as long as I know you somehow. I feel compelled to share my children's exploits, somehow it makes it easier to tackle the day to day knowing I've given someone a reason to giggle. Even it it's my expense. :)