Lexical Light

Cinca de Smith...has arrived!

Mia finally made it out, on November 4th, Election Day. Weighing in at 9 lbs. 3 oz. & 20". We're both doing fine. Here she is just 2 hours after her debut. More details to come, but right now she's calling.

Pumpkin Painting

The girls painted their pumpkins this week. This morning I painted a pumpkin* in honor of today being Mia Belle's due date: 

What's more fun is that I had a doctor's appointment this morning, w/a non stress test. Thankfully the doc & nurse appreciated my attempt at humor, despite the trail of paint flakes I left throughout the office. 

As for a baby update....ain't nuthin' goin' on. 1cm. Mia's OK & I'm OK so we are just going to see what happens.

*I'm not a big Halloween fan, which makes Mia's due date quite ironic. October 31st is also Reformation Day. Since I am a fan of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation I sometimes use that to answer the due date question. The humor of connecting Luther's October 31st posting of the Ninety-Five Theses on a church door in 1517 to me "posting" them on my belly 500 years later is a stretch. Imagine this painted on my pumpkinesque tummy:

  ...not quite the same the same effect as a pumpkin.

Better than Saturday Morning Cartoons

Wow. What a cool morning it's been. The quick version of my agenda:

7:00 am - breakfast at IHOP w/a friend. Pumpkin pancakes, eggs, laughs, good counsel, and tea bags from home made for an absolutely refreshing meeting.

9:30 - scrapbook store to check on cropping area guidelines. Since they weren't open, I read a little Gatto in the van.

10:15 - It's fun to stay at the YMCA. Did an hour on the elliptical. Can I read on the elliptical w/out barfing? Yep. Woohoo! The Gatto book was cumbersome, but smaller books should be easier - unless the print was too small. Made sure I strectched well afterwards, to help w/the Achilles issue.

12:00 - scarfin' a Mighty Kids Meal at Mickey D's. It's not as healthly as Jason's Deli, but not as bad as Sonic. Read a little more in the van.

12:30 - Ahhh, the library. Yes, I have a computer at home, but it's not quite and neat at home. :) After my hour and a half of computer time is up I'll head back to the homefront to prep us all for church this evening.

This has been one of the most restorative moring's I've had. Though hubby took the kiddos the G'parents a couple of days last week, I stayed in the house and did nothing. This felt much better.

Thanks, strong, handsome Jack, for this mornig. I owe you. ;)

The Final Countdown...of my 30's

(Cue "band trash" music...Final Countdown by Swedish glam band Europe.)

Yes, this is the eve of my 40's. The dawn of a new era. Though still within the 35-44 demographic on product registration cards, it marks a new decade in my life. I prefer to think of myself as "Queen of the Hill," not "Over the Hill."

How do I feel about my 40th birthday? Fine, thank you. Fine enough to wear a "I'm 40, so there." If I had one.

I don't recall looking forward to any particular age growing up. Going from single to double digits didn't leave a mark. There was no Bar Mitzvah, quinceanera, sweet sixteen or debutante ball to mark teenage milestones.  I've never liked alcohol, so twenty-one was no biggie. Twenty-five was cool because it's a quarter of a century, but other than that, birthday numbers didn't mean much to me. Until now.

For some reason, I'm pretty pumped about turning forty. I wonder why. It's not like I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm not a millionaire. In fact, there's lots of things I'm not. On the other hand, there are lots of things I am - blessed with a perfect for me husband, four awesome children, lots of friends and family, etc. Oh, yeah, I'm also here. People complain about getting older, but would they want the alternative?

So what did I do the last night of my 39th year? I went to B&N to get a new journal. Then I went to Starbucks to finish up my old journal. (I didn't quite finish, but I'm going to be a rabble rouser and start my new journal tomorrow anyway. I can do that kind of thing, I'll be 40.) Curiously, when I told hubby about my plans, he asked if I couldn't just do it at home. Usually he's completely okay w/me going out for some alone time on short notice, but he seemed to want me home tonight. He told me to take the truck because it was safer and call him before I headed home, "Because he loves me." I took the truck and called before I came home. Here's the reason behind the questioning:

At first I thought hubby & the kids had been at work, but the handwriting was suspiciously neat. Turns out it was my sis-in-law with her daughter & a friend. So that's what you get with a pre-meno woman & two juniors in high school. Nice. They also decorated the front door of the house. Not only did they make me smile, they helped me find some chicken I forgot in the van. Thanks, girls. The birthday messages blazoned on all the van windows will hold me over until I can get my  ''copyright 1967" t-shirt.

   

12th Anniversary Celebration

Yep. This is what I wanted to do for my 12th Anniversary Dinner. Jason's Deli.  Just for posterity, here's the menu:

Jack - Deli Cowboy (BBQ type sandwich), Lexie- yummy chicken alfredo w/penne pasta, Aaron - Deli Dog (hot dog), Alexa - Jr. Deli Plate, Emily - N*ked Spaghetti (a bowl of noodles), and Kara -Kid's Jane (baked potato w/cheese & butter).   

Because Jack & I had spent most of the weekend alone, thanks to the ETBU Writer's Conference and Aunt Sandy's family, it was a joy to be able to hang out with the kids at Jason's. It reminded me of the Brady Bunch episode I had recently scoffed at. Mike & Carol took the kids on their honeymoon with them! Oy. I know they were older & more "experienced" and I'm assuming (given the era the show was produced) they had not "been" together. So, there's no way I'd be taken my kiddos on the honeymoon with me. If you any of you have been in a similar situation and did the same thing, let me know.

Back to the anniversary. This past year has been one of our best together. Jack's not perfect, but he's perfect for me. He smart, funny, muscley, a good friend, a good dad and a great husband. I need to work on elaborating.

Truth in Blogging Disclosure: Because of the busy weekend, I wrote this on June 4th and "back posted" it to June 3rd. :)

Garage Sale

This weekend, beginning Friday, was consumed by a garage sale. In an attempt to end the kids' pleas to have a garage sale, I told them we would do the next neighborhood garage sale. I'm not the selling type. I'd just as soon give things away as try to sell them. It's easier. But, as a learning experience for the kids and an incentive to clean out the garage, I agreed to the sale.

We've been gathering things to sell. "Getting stuff for the garage sale" has been a favorite game of the girls' lately. The countdown began last week. May 19th. GS-day. When the day finally arrived, we got up early and had things out by about 7 a.m. Despite the neighborhood association advertising and our lovely signs, we didn't have a lot of traffic. (One downside of living in a cul-de-sac.) We didn't well any of our "big" stuff. We quartered and dollared our way to about $40. Woo-hoo.

It was indeed a good lesson for the kids: garage sales are a lot of work. They also learned not to talk about dividing up the money in front of customers. Overall, it was a good experience. The kids are a little wiser. The garage is a little cleaner. Now I'm off to the children's home to deliver the leftovers.

Mother's Day

I had a lovely Mother's Day. The morning was spent finishing up Aaron's b-day party, including a "church bus shuttle" to drop of some kids. When I got back up, Jack serenaded me and blessed me with flowers, chocolate, cards and handmade gifts from the kiddos. In the afternoon I got to take a nap. My sis' called and go to enjoy this month's phone message.

Another fun thing was this Hallmark e-card I got from a crazy ese. It dramatized how kids talk to Mom and what she hears. "We have a bleeeder!!!" is just one of the phrases from the card that are now part of our family vocab. Go  see it. You will laugh. 

Thanks, strong handsome Jack and kids for a lovely day.

More than an Elf

"Expand means to get bigger. So, we expand." -- Kara, 5 years old

Science concept. Check. Vocabulary. Check. Auditory comprehension. Check.

Sounds like our homeschooling is progressing. What curriculum was that? Ummm...how 'bout the The Jim McNeil News Hour on PBS - at 10:30 p.m.?

I was working on a blog post inspired by the shifthappens presentation about the exponential growth in technology and information we are experiencing, which is an inkling of what our kids will face. Jack had just watched the presentation and was watching the News Hour when a story about Intel's new computer chip came on. (Audio here.) I stopped blogging and to watch the perfectly apropos story. Not being able to sleep, Kara was downstairs on the love seat. I figured it would be a 2-for-1 deal to watch the story and snuggle with her. At the end of the piece, she piped up with the above quote. Somewhere in the news story she had picked up the word expand and was compelled to explain it to me. (Of course, some of us expand more than others, but we didn't go there.) She's one smart elf.

Is She an Elf?

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup." Buddy

A light bulb went on when I heard that quote. We've often called Kara, our five-year old, a sprite because of the way she spins, twirls, and skips around, but after hearing that quote, I realized she must be an elf. She is a candy fiend with an elfish quality about her. (Thankfully, she likes lots of healthy food too.)

The movie Elf made its way to our shelves recently because it makes me laugh and mostly clean, with just a few innuendos. I don't laugh out loud at a lot of things, but, for whatever reason I always laugh at Elf. Of course, there's the extended artificial burp, but even I wouldn't buy a movie just for that. It's a ginormous hit around our house - a goofy story with Will Ferrell doing an spot on elf (Reminds me of all those real elves I've seen.)

Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Our eldest child and only son turns ten today, "zeroteen" as Ramona calls it. He's a smart kid with an even disposition - a definite asset in a house full of girls.

Electronics are starting to be his toys of choice. (That's my boy.) An MP3 player and memory cards for the Gamecube topped his wish list. He's fairly computer savvy, so part of what he's learning is online safety & wisdom. He's also learning when & where to use his "burping the ABC's" skills.

He's quite logical and literal, quick to pounce on exact word usage. Just today he brandished some verbiage with Dad. Strong handsome Jack was trying to convince Aaron to take drum lessons, pointing out that now is a great time to start exploring different interests. Aaron wasn't very receptive, so Jack was trying to get him to think about things he likes.

"What are some things you're good at?"

"Math."

"What else?"

"Persuading you."

Touche. (BTW, Jack is not easily persuaded.)

Skateboarding and Heelys are his favorite modes of transportation these days. He likes about ten foods, chocolate being one of them. (Somehow the chocolate usually ends up all over his face. It brings out his eyes.)

Him and Robbie are the only boys of the nine first cousins, so they have to stick together.

When Aaron was an adorably smiley chubby cheeked baby I wondered how a mother's affection transitioned when the darling baby morphed into an older kid. Of course, I knew moms still love their older kids, but surely ten year-old toes don't beg to be gobbled like those baby toes do. True, I don't want to eat him up anymore, but my affection for him hasn't waned at all. Now I just squeeze him real tight.

Happy Birthday to my wise son who makes my heart happy. I love you.