Thanksgiving 2010

We had a lovely Thanksgiving. After a poor showing for my first hosting of the holiday in 2009 (I was up all night with a dear friend who was in labor, I put the turkey in way too late, etc) I think I made up for it this year! Our table was beautiful, the food perfection and the company couldn't be beat. I'm already planning next year.

And a major shout-out to my BIL Matt who made the yummiest turkey ever. I was a bit against the whole frying-of-the-bird idea, but I have to say that it was moist, delicious, and cooked to perfection. My very favorite part? Having the oven free to cook everything else. Dreamy.

Hope your's was just as good!

Thankful For This Reminder

Yesterday I had 11 kids at my house for a period of time.

ELEVEN.

And it was snowy and freezing and downright horrid outside, but to the 11 children who roamed my halls, it was a snow day, which meant snowmen and snow caves and bathroom breaks and hot cocoa and in and out all over again.

I zipped and unzipped, pulled boots on and off and escorted one almost-potty-trained little man to the bathroom at least 74 times. It was exhausting.

And fun.

All at the same time.

And my sister-in-law Jen was here (who is so much better at having 11 kids in the house than I am) and my mother-in-law Linda was here (who was happy to watch all 11 kids while Jen and I ran to finish our Thanksgiving shopping) and that made everything better.

And then something strange happened. After sending those extra five kids home, and making and devouring a delicious meal, and in the midst of two husband and the remaining six kids, Jen and I sat at the kitchen table and made cards. We littered the table with our supplies, ignored the whines and the rants of the little people, and sat together creating some beautiful cards. Some that said thank you and others happy birthday and I felt a calm come over me. A calm that erased the stresses of the day and reminded me that I can handle 11 kids on a snow day, as long as I get to make cards at the end of it all . It was peaceful and invigorating and just what I needed. And I can't wait to make some more.

I don't know why I do that. Why I assign an annoying guilt to doing something for myself. My husband was happy to work around my mess. My children were engaged in creating their own versions of what I was doing. Jen and I fueled each other's creativity and relaxed into a comfortable rhythm of passing this and that back and forth. I really don't know why I do that.

But I was reminded tonight why I need to stop. Why I need to create, in my own small way, the things that make me glow. And right now? In my warm house that smells of spiced grapefruit?

I'm glowing.

(source)

Thankful For:

(Source)

:Snow, snow and more snow

: a 2 1/2-year-old who has literally potty-trained himself. It has been dreamy. My almost 11 year reign of diaper duty has come to an end.

:wonderful, thoughtful, teachers-who-get-my-kids, praiseworthy conferences. It was a delight to hear from each of them. Makes a mama bear feel awfully good. '

:the safe travel of family members who have gotten to their holiday destinations in one piece

:a warm and cozy house that soaks up this holiday feeling perfectly

:new slippers

:new recipes to experiment with this weekend

:the decisions of my 8-year-old daughter and what lies in store for her this weekend

:Rosemary Clooney + Christmas music

:My hubs, the teacher, who gets to stay home with us from school each and every snow day

:The words of some truly incredible women, found here

:New followers of this little bloggy...wanna join us?

The Thorn In The Rizz's Side

Very few things in this life ruffle Brad's feathers. He is generally even tempered, well mannered, and hardly utters a negative word about, well, anything.

But he LOATHES the wind.

So when Mother Nature unleashed 80 mph winds in our neck of the woods the other night, he was one miserable man.

We have a deck off of our bedroom, a deck that is nicely fenced in with a beautiful wrought iron railing. A beautiful wrought iron railing that whistles and howls as the wind passes through it.

I sleep on the side of the bed AWAY from the railing.

And while I happily would have given up my spot for the Rizz, I knew he would never last upstairs with me. When the wind gets howling, he snuggles up to me for a quick minute and then makes his way downstairs to the guest room, away from the railing. Away from the wind.

When his alarm went off the next morning, I went looking for my husband. As I came down the stairs, I was surprised to see that the couch looked like it had been to battle with some angry animal. A raccoon perhaps? I hear they are especially vicious. As I rounded the corner, I found this:

Yeah, that would be my husband sleeping in our hallway with his head in the bathroom downstairs. He had shut the guest room door, curled up with the door jam, and tried (unsuccessfully) to get some sleep. The overhead fan in the bathroom was on in hopes of drowning out the noise but none of it seemed to work.

I firmly believe that Brad could tolerate most of the nasty things in life. Eating grubs and worms to stay alive? No problem. Going for weeks on end without bathing? Done deal. But having to stay somewhere were the wind screamed by, where railings abound and having nothing to drown out the sound? Welcome to Brad's personal hell.

This is what desperation looks like. Isn't it fantastic?

My First Guest Spot, Hopefully Not My Last

If you're looking for me, pop over here. One of my favorite blogs and (people) at Making It My Own has asked me to contribute to her wonderfully inspiring blog this week. I was honored. Her stuff is fantastic.

Let me know what you think!

The Worst Possible Way To Start A Four Day Weekend

Last Wednesday morning found me in the ER. Luckily, it wasn't for any of my children this time. It was for me. All me.

I've been having back pain off and on for a month or two and it finally came to a head last weekend. I think it was the combination of me running around all day Saturday and when I went to bed that night, I felt the beginnings of the siege that was taking place on my bones. And muscles. And joints.

I've been jokingly (although I realize it's not really funny) referring to this pain as my back cancer because I'm just the teeniest bit of a hypochondriac. Ok, not so teeny really. Whenever something hurts or spasms or doesn't work as it's supposed to, my mind immediately goes to CANCER! and I start writing letters to my children in my head for them to open on their wedding days.

I know, it's ridiculous.

So part of me was hesitant to head to the doctor because I was leery to find out just what kind of back cancer I had. But by Wednesday morning, after one of the more miserable nights I've ever had and which included me literally writhing in pain, I hobbled out of bed and called my insurance companies 24 hour nurse information line.

Yeah, about that? It. rocks. I just recently switched insurance companies and I could not be more tickled with the service I've received. It was so helpful to discuss my issues with a nurse before heading to the dreaded Urgent Care Center where I could spend a good portion of my life stuck in a waiting room only to be told I probably had back cancer and should head to the local ER.

The nurse on the line was so incredibly sweet, all grandmotherly and referring to me as "hon" and "sweetheart." She listened as I described my ailments and then calmly said "I want you to make arrangements for someone to take you to the ER. I'm worried about your kidneys."

Kidneys? And not back cancer? Hmm...

I made several pathetic phone calls, sobbing throughout each one as I made arrangements for my kids and called for a ride to the hospital. My sweet carpool friend arrived within minutes and scooped up my kids. My sister-in-law Jen pulled up almost immediately and helped me into her car. Knowing me like she does, she held my hand and told me everything would be ok.

I cried all the way there.

I was lucky to be seen right away and after relaying everything to the nurses again, they decided on a urinalysis and an ultrasound of my kidneys. I had resolved myself to the fact that the next few days would be miserable as I passed those blasted kidney stones, but I felt immensely relieved to know what it was and that it was not, in fact, back cancer.

But my urinalysis was clear. And the ultrasound showed a beautifully functioning kidney, completely stone-free!

My doctor came strolling in, who, it must be said, was sort of a nob. "Your kidney's look fine so I guess I'll just send you home with some pain medicine. Oh, and a muscle relaxer. Call your regular doctor to find out what they want you to do next."

Um, really?

Because even though it's not my kidneys, and even though I'm pretty sure it's not back cancer, SOMETHING IS WRONG. See the writhing? The tears running down my face? Yeah, all is not well here Dr. Nob.

I was annoyed. Brad had arrived awhile earlier and calmly asked the doctor about other alternatives and if there was anything else they should test or look for. Dr. Nob told him it was probably a bulging disc or a pinched nerve and that I needed to see my regular doctor for follow up.

So we left. But not before I threw up the 2 Percocet they had given me on an empty stomach in the parking lot. Not my proudest moment.

And here I am. I've had some not-so-bad feeling days since then and some really-ouchy-and-whiny days as well. It's annoying, more than anything else because I have so much to do and hate having to rely on others for help. But the help I've received has been so appreciated and I'm anxious to meet with my real doctor who can tell me what to do next. In the meantime, I'll be thankful that at least for now, it's not back cancer.

Worth The Wait

Yesterday was my Hannah's birthday.

She turned eight years old.

That's a pretty big deal around here.

To celebrate her special day, I wanted to do something different. I wanted her to feel loved and appreciated and doted on and special from morning til night. I wanted her to know how much I love her, how proud I am of her, how much I love the sweet little thing she is turning into. I looked at different party ideas, contemplated a few different scenarios but nothing felt right until I settled on giving Hannah the thing she would love the most.

A day of surprises.

It started a few months ago when her adoring Daddy suggested we do the thing she would love the most. The thing that she has been asking us for for two years running. The thing I thought would never hear the end of. And I built her day around that.

At 2:45, we loaded up in the car and headed out. She had no idea where we were going and when we pulled into our first stop, a huge smile spread across her face.

The Nail Store, as Hannah calls it. A fresh manicure with sparkly purple polish and a flower on each hand. A day about Hannah wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Nail Store so we started off beautifully. She thought our day was done with this one stop but I assured her I had much more in store for her.

We left The Nail Store and headed to the mall, where I told her she got to pick out a new birthday outfit. She gave me a tentative smile and said that would be fun but she was already wearing a new birthday outfit and still had hopes that she would get what she wanted most. As we made our way through the throngs of people, I told her there was something better than a new outfit. Her wide eyes looked up at me and I finally told her....

You're getting your ears pierced!

My Hannah has wanted her ears pierced FOR.EVER. She has asked and begged and pleaded her case to both Brad and I for ages and while I was ready and willing, Daddy was hesitant. He originally told her she could at 16, then weakened to 14 and finally caved at 12 where he has remained firm. But a few months back when discussing Hannah's birthday, he said "you know, this is what she wants more than anything and it will mean so much more to her than some silly present."

He was right.

She was OVERJOYED. She couldn't believe it was finally going to happen and said "I can't wait to show Megan and Nadia!" her two BFFs who've had their ears pierced for quite some time. She was brave and strong and didn't make a sound. She thanked me again and again and was ready to go home and show everyone.

But we weren't done yet.

After the mall, we headed to her favorite restaurant, Red Robin, where Megan and Nadia and their mothers were waiting to surprise us. She couldn't believe they were there for her and we had a fabulous dinner with some wonderful friends. I am so touched that her friends (and mine!) would be so willing to make her day special. It was perfect.

For our final surprise, we all headed out to The Country Mercantile to hear the beautiful talents of Lauren Fox and Mindy Gledhill. The setting was perfect, the music amazing and the joy in my daughter's face unforgettable. As we swayed to the music, Hannah looked up at me and said "I'm so happy your birthday isn't until April because that gives me lots of time to plan a special day for you, like you did for me. Thank you Mama."

Mission Accomplished.

When the concert was over, I purchased Mindy's CDs for Hannah and we waited our turn for a gracious Mindy to sign. She was sweet and genuine, thoughtful and kind and I was touched by how sincere she was, how talented and spirited and lovely. It was wonderful.

After the concert, we made one final stop at the local yogurt shop where the girls built themselves bit bowls of yum. The mothers talked, the girls twirled and laughed and thanked us repeatedly. It was better than I had imagined.

And then yesterday, on Hannah's actual birthday we recapped the weekend together. She asked me if I knew what her favorite part was as she pulled her hair back behind her ears.

"Getting your ears pierced?" I assumed.

"Nope. My favorite part was that I got to do it all with you."

I cried, she hugged me tight and I felt an overwhelming love for my eight-year-old. I know this is going to be her best year yet.

Happy Birthday Sweet Hannah. I love you.

Birthday Wishes

I'm literally buzzing with excitement. I've been waiting for today for months and I can't believe it's finally here! After a busy morning of our RS Workshop, I'm off on a special date with my Hannah, who turns 8 tomorrow.

Planning something special for my kids makes my world go round.

Details Monday!

Happy Weekend to you!