Gift for a Single Mama

One of the best presents you can give a single mama is the gift of your time, a few hours for her to get away from her children and just breathe.  For Christmas this year (as well as just about every weekend that she comes to visit) TT gave me the gift of a few hours of kidless trail time.  Although I went out on the trails alone last year, this year Scott agreed to rent skis and give it a try and join me during sub zero temps for a Christmas Eve adventure through Perrot State Park.  We watched the forecast and waited until the temperature peeked up above zero and we donned neck gators and triple layers and attitudes of adventure, and we were rewarded with bright red cardinals and distant woodpeckers and lots of deer tracks and roadside turkeys.  When the first loop around the river view trail didn't seem like enough we circled up part of Brady's bluff trail and got treated to some challenging climbs and faster hills and enough laughter that I nearly wet my pants.  If the sun hadn't started to crawl to the horizon I might have made him tackle another loop.  Thank you, TT!

Twas the Week Before Christmas

Sam's birthday usually kicks off a week of crazy chaos as we transition from preparing for another birthday candle to panicking about how little we've prepared for Christmas.  This year, however, in between the tantrums about the wrong colored sippy cup being filled with milk (without maple syrup) and the tiny pieces of the Lego advent calendar not fitting (or disappearing altogether), we were able to relax and enjoy some quieter moments with each other.  Every night before bed we thank God for the things that we're grateful for.  And during much of the month of December after we said the first few things (which are always Mommy and Sammy and Eva), we thanked God for beautiful white snow and warm snuggles and friendship that filled our hearts. Every year as we approach the end of the season, it's hard not to feel grateful for our lives, but this year brought us so many wonderful gifts that my heart is full beyond belief.

Turning 6 - Rhythm of Nature Part Two

What a great way to celebrate turning 6!  These three close friends of Sam all know him from different places, and they didn't even know each other before this weekend started.  But it didn't take long for them to gel into a great pack of four that conquered the waves and ran the halls and shot each other with laser lights and laughed and laughed and laughed.  So much fun to watch them together, and kind of sad to see it end.  I can hardly believe they're all 5-6-year-olds already, each with their own personalities, and each one of them filled with an unmistakable joy that is unique to them.  Thank you TT for allowing Sam to have an unbelievable celebration for his 6th birthday!

Rhythm of Nature Part One

Two children, one Grandma, one Mom, a dozen stimulating exciting activities all under one roof.  So much to do and so little time.  But between TT and I, we managed to let the kids enjoy waterslides and bad fried food and a visit with Santa and story time in the lobby.  Sam and I rode the big waves in the deep part of the wave pool while Eva challenged TT to lift her when waves crashed in the shallower water.  Over and over again Eva threw herself into the waves and pushed the water out of her eyes and grinned in anticipation of the next wave.  And when we moved on to the slides she would pop out of the water at the end and explode in laughter.  "This place is awesome!" she exclaimed.  Whether it was the wave pool or the water slides or the big plastic log floating in the swimming area, Eva wanted to experience all of it.  And when the kids raced through the halls in their pajamas in between activities, Eva kept up with her big brother the entire evening.  In the lobby before the bedtime show, she walked right up to Santa and announced that she wants Barbies and a computer, and she and Sam sat on Santa's lap for a short lecture about how they haven't really been that well behaved all year but there is lots of time to make up for it now.  Sam said he was hoping for Lego and Skylanders Giants, and Eva reminded Santa again that she really wants Barbies before we settled on our place on the carpet and watched the owl sing about the Rhythm of Nature and snow flitted down through the Christmas lights all over the ceiling and the magic of the season surrounded us.  Thank you TT for another wonderful family adventure at Great Wolf Lodge.

Antlers and Fruit Punch and Frosting

When they filed in to the church and took their places on the stands, all of the jabbering and chatting that had filled the church as parents caught up with each other and younger brothers and sisters ran up and down the aisles stopped, and the noise faded and all eyes turned to the kindergarteners dressed in festive holiday colors.  Miss Kay and Mrs. Chichosz read parts of their Christmas story and the antlers of the children's reindeer hats bounced as they sang brief snippets of various songs.  Sam smiled for photos briefly but then took the singing thing very seriously.  When I wasn't wrestling Eva to try to keep her from falling backwards over the pew or kick Seun's dad's head in front of us, I tried to snap a few photos.  But mostly I grinned and occasionally sang along to the songs Sam had been practicing in the car all week.  After the program we entered the chaos of the church basement for some Christmas cookies and red fruit punch and a little time with friends, and maybe nobody noticed that Eva still had on her jammies which were already smeared with frosting and sprinkles from cupcake baking earlier in the day.

Holiday Spirit

After a long weekend away for Thanksgiving and a long week of fighting some sort of crud that seems to insist on hanging around long after it has worn out its welcome, we spent a weekend at home getting in to the holiday spirit.  We decorated the windows with snowmen and Christmas trees and elves and snowflakes. We made cookies in the shapes of bells and stars and Christmas trees and snowmen, covering them with ready-made-frosting (good idea, Barb) and green and red sprinkles before Eva would lick off all the frosting and declare "Done" and throw her uneaten cookie in the trash.  Sam helped by carrying the artificial tree (yes, yes, I know, artificial tree AND ready-made frosting... but we all make sacrifices in order to maintain our sanity) up from the basement and putting it together, and Eva got to plug in the lights and ooh and ahh.  We covered the tree with lots of ornaments that Eva insisted were "very special" (especially the one from 1976 engraved with Pooky), and Sam put the golden angel on top and we posed for a family picture (remembering our tree decorating night with Brooklynn last year) before the crud caught up with us again and we all slept long and hard through Saturday night.  (And ate Christmas cookies for breakfast on Sunday.)  Not a bad way to enter the home stretch towards the end of the year.

Notice that they spent nearly the entire weekend in their pajamas.  Why not?  It was 4 degrees outside. :)