It Was a Harry Night

I don't know who was more excited about this year's Halloween costumes...yes, actually I do know.  It was me!  The happiness that filled my heart seeing my two dressed as Harry and Hermione, was overflowing. 

I may or may not of referred to them as Harry and Hermione all day long instead of their actual names.

Embarrassing doesn't quite cover it.

I am a total nut.

When I thought about how I wanted their Halloween pictures to look, all I could think of was making them look as much like the movie posters as possible.  So, with all of our DVDs in hand, we totally copied the posing.  I did the best I could with the lighting I have, and then I went for black and white's because I love them in black and white.

Without further ado, Harry and Hermione: (What if I still call them that tomorrow?  Would that be weird?)

Do you think I can convince them to be the same thing next year?

I hope so.

Proud Mommy Moments

We are currently on the very last day of our glorious Fall Break.  Like all breaks from school, I have loved every second of our unplanned, no lunch packing, no snack bringing, no homework doing, no early rising week.  Glorious, I tell you.  Glorious.

Over the last few weeks, I have had some "Proud Mommy Moments".  So if you hate moms who brag on their kids, come back another day.  If you are my kids, and you are some age that is far away from eight or six and reading this, well, I just want you to know that I revel in all of your small victories.  I love each and every one of them!

1.  Both kids had parent-teacher conferences a few weeks ago, and both kids did/and are doing so amazingly well that both The Hubs and I left with huge smiles on our faces and in our hearts.  It took everything I had in me not to leave from there and tell everyone I came across how awesome both my kids are doing in school, with all the details to prove it.  Such a great way to start off the school year, and for The Little Man, his school career.

2. Along with number one, I just loved this assignment (for so many reasons) that The Little Man turned in for his "Fall Project":

He decorated the pumpkin and wrote the description all by himself.  If you can't read it, it says, "My pumpkin is Harry Potter (oh, how I love that he chose Harry!).  He has a wond.  He duz magick." Is everything spelled correctly? No.  But for only six weeks into Kindergarten, I have to say, I think I might be raising a genius.

Seriously. 

OK.  I might be half joking. But only half.

3.  While on Fall Break, The Girl has become a little scooter girl.  I mean, she is borrowing a Razor scooter from her cousin, and has been scootering (I might have just made that word up) all over the neighborhood.  I know that this doesn't sound like a very big deal to many (if any at all), but this is the same girl who does NOTHING athletic at all.  She collects bugs (and knows everything about each kind), reads, and cares for small animals and insects like no one's business, but raising her heart rate?  Um, no.  That's not usually on her agenda.  So, needless to say, for her to go out and ride around the neighborhood and join me in walking the dog (while she rides her scooter), has been a pretty large break through.  As she was riding in front of me today on our walk, I was so happy to see her doing something "exercise like" and enjoying it, that my heart was just full of happiness.  (On a side note: While The Girl never participates in sports or activities requiring any sort of stamina at all, somehow she is one of the fastest girls in her grade.  How does that happen?  So odd.)

4.  The Little Man decided he was going to write a book.  After he got started The Girl decided she would join in and help him.  The book's title is: Harry and Ron's ABC's.  Between the two kids, they have come up with words/names/spells from the seven Harry Potter books for each letter of the alphabet.  Pride doesn't quite describe the feelings I had when I saw their list of words.  Each letter (yes, even "X") had at least one reference to the books, some letters have several.  Can't wait to see if they finish this project with their own drawings.  

Harry Potter nerds are we!

5.  Lastly, I was over the top proud of The Little Man earlier this week.  As Fall Break began, he awoke on Saturday morning, and said, "This is the beginning of our nine day weekend!  Woohoo!  I'm going to wear cozy pants every. Single. Day!"

That's my boy. 

I can say, he hasn't missed a single day.

The Day Santa Died (And Brought The Tooth Fairy Down with Him)

After school, late in the week last week, there were many tears.  Tears coming from The Little Man, tears coming from The Girl, and a couple of slammed doors.  I was trying to get some work done on the computer, so I decided the best thing to do was to call down each child one at a time, get each child's version of what happened, and then discipline accordingly.

First up, The Little Man:

me: What's going on, Buddy?  What are all the tears and slamming doors about?
p: Sister's mad at me, and she won't play with me anymore until I say I believe in the Pumpkin Elf.
me: Who? What?
p: She's mad at me 'cause I don't want to believe in the Pumpkin Elf.
me: What's a Pumpkin Elf?
p:  This elf that comes when it's close to Halloween and messes up your whole house, but leaves candy everywhere too.
me: I've never heard of a Pumpkin Elf before.  Was sister just trying to make him up so you two could have fun pretending?
p: No!  She said that her friend at school told her all about him and how he came to her house.  Now she wants to set up traps for him and write him notes, and I said I thought it was just a game.  Now she's mad at me.
me:  Well, I don't think the Pumpkin Elf is real either.  I've never heard of him before.  Maybe you could tell her you would like to play, but you don't want to believe in him just to have fun.  You just want to pretend.
p: No, that won't work.  She just wants to make me believe in him.
me: You don't have to if you don't want to.  You can go and play by yourself until she decides it's more fun to play with you than to play by herself.  She'll come and get you soon.

And off he went.  Tears gone.  Conversation over.  I rock at parenting.

Next up: The Girl who just so happens to be crying harder than she was than when I first initiated the conversation with The Little Man.

me: What's up with all the tears? 
d: (Now worked into an ugly cry) The kids at school all said you LIED to me!  They say you are a LIAR and Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy are all FAKE!  Is that true?  Are you telling me LIES?
me: (Completely caught off guard because I was waiting to talk about some weird Pumpkin Elf, and still on the high I had from being a five star parent just moments before) What?
d: Yes.  You have been LYING to me this whole time.  NONE of those people are real, ARE THEY?
me: What do you mean?  I mean, what are the kids at school saying?  (Seriously?  What are these little punks saying?  Don't they know that not answering a question and using distraction is NOT lying?  No, it's something different.  It's called avoidance.)
d: They said that it's moms and dads who are Santa and The Tooth Fairy.  They said that parents just lie to their kids about there being a Santa or Tooth Fairy.  Is this true, Mamma?  Is what they are saying the truth? Have you been lying to me this whole time? I am the ONLY kid in my WHOLE class that said it wasn't.  I am the ONLY one who said that Santa isn't real.  Why?  (She said this with tears streaming down her face and a look of desperation that was so completely sad that I nearly started bawling myself as I relived my own moment of finding out the truth.)
me:  (realizing there is no holding back anything anymore.  I am cornered and there is no more time for avoidance tactics or distractions.  It's time to fess up.  I feel like I just swallowed a rock boulder.) Yes.  What they are saying is true.  I am so sorry. 

I won't go into the rest of the details of this conversation, but I will say there were many, many more tears.  As well as her telling me that ALL of her Christmas memories were "totally ruined" and she "hopes she never remembers all the Christmases past ever again".  Oh, and "I don't ever want to get another Christmas gift."  (Which I might totally hold her to.) (Just kidding.) (Kind of.)

I have to admit, it was kind of a sad night.  Especially since, I asked her to not let her brother in on the conversation we had, yet only moments later I found them in his room with the door closed.  When I opened the door, she glared up at me with tears streaking down her face and a look that said "You're still not forgiven."  The Little Man looked a little sad as well. 

When I asked him later what he and his sister talked about he said, "I don't know.  Do you want to read with me?" 

Avoidance and distraction. 

I know that game.

In Which You Might Reconsider our Invitation to Dine on our Deck

This past weekend, we invited some cousins (and their parents of course) over for some dining on the deck.  It was such a beautiful day, and I'm starting to feel like if we don't make the most out of these wonderfully warm Fall days, we (and by "we" I mean "me") will regret it.  So, it was decided that we would grab take-out, and dine on the deck.

House picked up? Check.

Food ordered? Check.

Good conversation flowing? Check

Deck? Um...

As The Hubs, our niece,  Bucket Gracie the dog, and his brother chatted outside, The Sister-in-Law, and I prepped plates, dished out helpings, and poured drinks.  When all of a sudden I hear this horribly loud noise.  I can't really describe what it sounded like, but I thought that something horrible had happened to Bucket Grace.  Like maybe she fell and bonked her bucket on something, or maybe got her bucket stuck in something and then fell.  As I quickly moved over to where the sound came from and frantically tried to see what was happening, I also noticed that Bucket Grace, The Niece, and The Bro were all in a state of panic, and looking quite off balance.  As I rounded the corner and tried to get outside to figure it all out, that's when I saw it.  Our deck.  Well, I can't really call it a deck anymore.  Why?  Because it is halfway hanging off of our house.

So, because I am calm and cool in these types of scenarios, I started screaming all panicky like, "Get off the Deck!  Get off the Deck!  Get inside quick!"

As if that wasn't their first instinct.

Of course, they came inside.  Duh.

Well, except The Hubs.  After he felt like the deck was done ripping away from our home, and wouldn't plummet the the depths of the rocky ground below (OK, it's probably like six feet), he decided he needed to stand there and BOUNCE ON IT.  He was trying to figure out, "What in the world just happened here?!"

I was still screaming.

Hey, I wanted everyone to know the safest place was inside the house.

That's when The Hubs looked at me all annoyed like and said, "No one's dying.  Calm down already!"

Oh.

Since I still couldn't stand to watch him bounce around on a deck that is ripping away from the house that is holding it up, I thought I would just go somewhere where I couldn't see all the bouncing that was going on.

(Seriously though, why do we need to bounce around on a deck that is falling to the ground?  Because we need to know why it happened?  That makes no sense to me.  I mean, it's falling off.  Who cares why.  Let's not kill ourselves in the process of working it all out and trying to make sense of it all.  (Sorry, Hubs, I still love you.  You are amazing.))

Since everyone is safe, we can all laugh about it now.  Since The Hubs has figured out that the reason it fell has nothing to do with his precise workmanship, he can laugh about it now.

My main concern was how this was going to affect our car buying budget.  Because these things NEVER happen when you don't have anything in particular that you are saving for.

Good news:  We can get it fixed "temporarily" for pretty cheap until next spring/summer when we will actually be using it again.  This should allow for some savings, and for us to plan better for the type of deck we would like (as opposed to the type of deck the previous owners liked). 

Phew.

 Wait a minute!  That large gap isn't supposed to be there:

Does your deck have a downward slope?:

*No humans or bucket-headed dogs were hurt in the making of this blog post.

How's School Going?

A conversation with The Little Man and The Hubs:

p:  Whew!  I am so so SO glad it's a three day weekend.  I need a break!
H: What are you talking about dude? You only go to school for about 2 hours!
p: No I don't!  I go for three hours, and my brain is KILLING me!

So, it looks like we are adjusting well.

A Letter To My Girl

**This post is for My Girl.**


Dear Sweet Girl,

I want you to know that when you came home yesterday devastated, that I too was crushed.  It pains my heart when you hurt.  I know you had your heart set on getting a part in the school play, and even though we talked about the possibility of it not working out, the thought never crossed your mind that you would have to cross that bridge.  I'm so sorry that life's path isn't always as smooth as we would like it to be.

Can I tell you how proud I am of you, though?  I am so proud that you were brave enough to even try out!  I am so proud that when the drama teacher came over to apologize to you about not having enough speaking roles, you quickly shut off the tears, looked her straight in the eye and said, "That's OK.  I completely forgive you."  After that, no more tears.  You continued on in practice and found a way to have fun, even after feeling hurt and rejected.  I am so proud that after we discussed the pro's and con's of staying on with the show, despite not getting what you wanted, you decided it would be better to go on ahead, have fun with your friends, learn some new things, and stay loyal to your commitment.  You are demonstrating such courage and perseverance.  What blew me away the most was later last night, when we said our prayers, you thanked God for the opportunity you had been given to be apart of something so fun.  You thanked Him for helping you to understand and not to be sad anymore, and then you asked Him for His help.  You asked if He would help your heart learn to love whatever job they gave you.

There are no words to describe how I felt.

Since you have accepted Christ into your heart this past summer, I can see how He is changing you and growing you.  To be thankful in a time of hardship is an amazing example of being Spirit led.  Relying on Him to grow your heart to desire His will, is far beyond your years. 

I want you to know that He sees you.  He sees you yielding to Him and His ways, and He is glorified by how you are dealing with this.  These bumps in the road, while they can be difficult and hard to understand, they are part of life.   You have chosen to deal with this bump wonderfully. 

I am so very proud of you.

Love,
Momma


 "The LORD your God is with you,
   he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
   he will quiet you with his love,
   he will rejoice over you with singing."
-Zephaniah 3:17 NIV
 

Do You Hear That?

I know that some of you that read this blog live very far away from us.  Alas, I still think if you stop what you are doing right now, and concentrate really hard on listening, you will hear a faint far off noise.  It will kind of sound like a weird sucking noise.  You know, the kind of sucking that happens as a drain gets close to emptying the liquid contents of whatever it's attached to.

Do you hear it?

That is our bank account, people.

The last few days have been expensive.  First, the dog.  She had her surgery on Friday.  Poor girl was terrified when we dropped her off at the vet in the morning.  I couldn't help that she thought she must have done something in the night to suddenly make her people hate her.  First, there was no night time snack.  Second, when she got up to get a drink, there was none available.  Then, no breakfast, and last, when she tried to sneak an apple from the trees in the back yard, BUSTED.  As I dropped her off for her surgery, I felt horrible that we not only had to with hold all foods and liquids for 12 hours previous to her surgery, but then I had no way to explain why I was going to abandon leave her at the vet where she would be put into a deep sleep and then wake up completely groggy and discombobulated and at the same time have horrible pain in both her eye and leg. Don't forget, the teeth!  Somehow she got fresh breath and lost those pesky teeth that were not only slowing down her meal times but also made keeping fresh breath impossible.  I just wanted to sit her down and somehow explain to her that we loved her and we were helping her.

I am certain that she did not get the message.

She spent a few days totally ticked at us.

Or ticked at the cone they put on her head.

Or both.  It's hard to tell.  But she was ticked.

I was ticked too.  You should have seen the vet bill!  Good grief!  Next time those vet people give me a hard time about not bringing her in more often, I now know how I will answer back.

It won't be very nice.

And it will involve how much they charge people who are vulnerable.  People who are put in between a rock and a hard place because they love their pets and feel like total schmucks if they don't take care of them the way they are told to take care of them by the vet.  However, the cost?  I think I do not speak alone when I say that vet bills can give a perfectly healthy person a heart attack.

Then today, I was told she needed to come in and have a post-op check.   Sounds pretty normal.  I mean, I've never had surgery myself, but I have heard how important it is for humans to have post-op checks.  It's probably a good thing to make sure all is going well and there isn't some sort of complication or infection setting in.  Guess what?  That will be an additional charge.  Oh, yes.  It sure makes it difficult for responsible pet owners to want to do the right thing by their pets.  I can't tell you how badly I want to cancel that appointment.  I know that if I do, though, something will happen, and I'll never let myself off the hook.  The good news?  It's free for us to have the stitches removed.

Gee, thanks.

Later today, after the kids had come home from school, The Little Man was watching TV.  All of a sudden, he's all, "Oh WOW!"  Mommy, my tooth just fell out!"  I was a little shocked considering, the tooth wasn't really loose.  He had complained that it was hurting him the last few days, but as I looked at it and saw nothing that would suggest a problem, I just told him not to worry about it and to eat on the other side of his mouth.  I did notice that the front tooth that was next  to it (and that was attempting to grow in)was awfully large for the space that it was given. 

Well, sure enough.  That front tooth?  It wanted to move in, and it made room for itself.

That space you see there, it's supposed to be big enough for TWO adult teeth.  Can you see how the gum is actually coming down in the shape of the new tooth?  So, then you can see how much space the tooth next to it (the one that just fell out) will have.

Houston, we have a problem.

It looks like we will have a lot of time (and money spent) in the orthodontist office.

The Girl, in an attempt to tease him, was telling him all about his future in braces.

d: You're going to have to wear braces.  You're going to have to wear braces!
p: What?  (and not a "what" like I didn't hear you, but more like a "What?  Are you talkin' to me?  Did you just try to tease me?" type tone)
d: HA! You're going to need braces!
p: What?  You've never heard of Invisalign?  DUH!  I'll get Invisalign and it won't be a problem.  I'll take them out whenever I want to!
d:  (Dumbfounded and shocked.  No response)
me: (Dumbfounded and shocked.  Laughing and refraining myself from giving The Little Man a high five. Well played, Little Man, well played.)

Invisalign, braces, whatever.

Do you hear that sucking noise?

Yea, me too.

*sigh*