Homemade Christmas

I am working on the kids homemade Christmas right now and it's been so much fun! I have to admit, I'm getting as much out of the homemade gifts as they will be. I made capes for them and I'm about half way through with their personalized aprons and I have several more items on the list. I am getting nervous about time constraints though...Hadley has 3 weeks left until Christmas break and I can't do any of this with her home-she's too nosy (not unlike her momma!). I have a LIST of things left to do and I'm worried that I won't get them done. I'm not stressed (yet) but I'm extremely aware of my time limits! I'll be running the mid western sweat shop over the next three weeks!

Root Canal-Check (twice!)

Lydia had her second root canal today and from what I can gather, the meds didn't exactly "sedate" her, they made her act a little more like the only drunk girl at a non drinking party. (I know it's a tacky example, but if you'd seen her staggering around the dentist office and slurring incoherently you'd totally get it!)

Lydia LOVES the dentist! (both girls do, actually) We presented the root canals as a pajama party at the dentist's office, she got to bring a blanket and a toy and was allowed to wear pajamas and slippers. She was super excited about it this morning, when she woke up I said "don't change clothes, you get to have your pajama party at the dentist today" Lydia replied, with glee "YESSSS!" (Deep down, she's a 17 year old surfer dude!)

We got to the dentist, settled in the consult room with the lights off, a tv, a blanket and pillow, and enough drugs to tranquilize livestock. We cuddled up for 45 minutes waiting for the meds to kick in, Lydia watching The Little Mermaid while snuggling Dog Dog (her lovie) and I fell sound asleep. Needless to say I was a little startled when Lydia jumped out of my lap and squealed "PAJAMA PARTY" as the dentist opened the door. I like to think I recovered well and that Dr. Graham didn't notice that I was SOUND ASLEEP.

Did I mention that Lydia had been fasting before taking the drugs, so food was of the utmost importance at 9:45 when Dr. Graham picked her up. She said "can we eat? I'm hungry" and Dr. Graham tried to appease her by saying "it's time for the pajama party!" to which Lydia replied "yeah, but will we eat there?" I don't know what else happened, because like I said, I'd just woken up!

Shortly after 11:00 the dental assistant came to get me and tell me that everything had gone well. We were standing at the administration desk waiting when I hear that cute little shrill voice booming from the other side of the door. Unmistakably Lydia! Chatting a mile a minute and basically blabbering incoherently! She sees me, breaks loose from the dentist, and comes running-serpentine! Ha! I got a little panicky at the thought of her falling and needing MORE DENTAL work so I picked her up and she began telling me all about her experience. The dental assistant took her to put on a tattoo so Dr. Graham and I could talk (yes, it was that much talking!)

That's when Dr. Graham says sheepishly "She's a very busy little girl."

"No kidding" I couldn't help but reply

"We gave her all those drugs to sedate her and she never quit moving. Her hands were going, her feet were moving, she was trying to talk. I'm just not sure I've seen anything like it before." She continues.

"Welcome to my life!" I know, I was being sassy, but she did interfere with my nap! ha!

Dr. Graham isn't our regular dentist, we usually see her partner Dr. Donnelson and they worked together on this, so she's not used to Lydia and she's much more reserved that Dr. Donnelson (or us!) so I'm not sure she knew how to take it all. I'm guessing her appointment book will be full if we ever try to see her again! Ha!

I have to include something I read today, for a good laugh...

Description of a toddler

1 Toddler

Lots of toys and games

1 house to wreck

Tons of love and patience from Mom and Dad

A toddler is built to a design that is perfect in every way- except for one small defect; they have all the activity of a major International Airport, but are lack the direction of a control tower!

That about sums up Lydia!

Gobble til You Wobble

It's officially Thanksgiving! Of course, I'm getting ready to go to bed and not doing anymore prep work for the night, but still.

This is the first year that our family hasn't been going through some major life change for the holiday season and I AM EXCITED!

Our house is decorated, we have 4 Christmas trees up, garland, stockings, table cloths, holiday trinkets, etc. all in place. I have the kids holiday pictures and artwork proudly displayed throughout the house. All of the desserts and nearly all of the side dishes for tomorrows feast are prepped and ready to go. The house is clean and the kids are in bed. There are no boxes in disarray from having just moved, there are no plans that involve loading small children and pets up to drive several hours. It's just THANKSGIVING and I'm loving it! I have never been this prepared and UN stressed during the holidays...is this how normal people live? I mean, those people who don't move every year or two? WOW!

May everyone have a relaxing and blessed holiday season! Let the gobble til you wobble good times begin!

There is a hole in my workout plan...

This morning Lydia was sleeping late, I'd been up since 6:30, Hadley was at school, and Keith was working so I decided to use my time wisely and get a jump on some Thanksgiving preperations. I made some bread and a chess pie and I was watching Fox News while waiting on my pie to bake. As I stood there I realized I hadn't had breakfast yet and decided to grab something easy...a glass of milk and some donut holes.

There I stood, watching the news, doing my leg exercises, and eating donut holes...If you ever hear me complain that the exercises aren't working-remind me of this!

I thought this was hilarious when I realized what I was doing so I quickly texted Jaime because I knew she'd also see them humor here. Jaime replied "you MUST blog this-call it a hole in your workout plan!"

Done! Thanks Jaime! Love you!

The Best Part of the Day

Each night when we sit down for family dinner I ask Hadley what her best part of the day was. Hadley had a tendency to focus on the negative so I feel like this helps her center on the highlights and puts us in line for positive conversations.

Tonight Hadley said her best part of the day was playing with Bailey, from next door. They played soccer, climbed trees, and seemed to get along great today (which isn't always the case!) I was glad this was her best part. After Hadley starts, I usually go around and ask everyone else what their best part was, then when it comes to me I share mine. Tonight I said "I'm still waiting on my best part of the day."

I had a busy, pre holiday, errand day planned and even though I'd stayed up too late last night and woken up in in the middle of the night when Lydia climbed in bed with us, I had everyone dressed and almost ready to go by 8am! Lydia and I were sitting at the bar, she was finishing breakfast and I was reading Jaime's blog about "Letters to God" when it happened...

I heard a gurgle, a burp, then blehhhh....and Lydia was throwing up all over the kitchen bar, bar stool, floor, clothes, bowl, etc. Seriously, I fixed her 2 pieces of toast for breakfast and a sippy cup to drink from, not a big gulp and shoney's buffet! It was the never ending vomit! There seemed to be break in the action so I picked her up and carried her to the bathroom and pointed her at the potty. I went back to the kitchen and with my extremely weak stomach gagged my way through the clean up. I cleaned up, mopped, cloroxed...gagging every step of the way. It's almost embarrassing how weak my stomach is! I went back to the bathroom and Lydia was naked and sitting on the floor, it was so pitiful.

I wiped her down with a wash cloth and warm water then tried to use hand sanitizer as much as possible. I wrapped her in her new quilt that mom made her and laid her on the couch. She was so sad looking, I can't stand to see my babies sick, even when I know it's not serious it breaks my heart! We spent the next couple of hours cuddling on the couch watching cartoons, I browsed the internet and stalked facebook a little, and Lydia didn't move.

I was nearing a pity party because I'd had so many plans when a friend commented on facebook that she was sorry for Lydia and offered to help watch the girls this afternoon. What a blessing...her youngest daughter recently spent over two weeks in the hospital and is still on the mend but she was showing me compassion for whining about have a few hours of a stomach bug. It really put it in perspective for me and I was very humbled by it. It turned my day around quite a bit too because my attitude improved. Instead of focusing on what I wasn't doing, I appreciated the quiet time with Lydia. So, tonight I found the best part of my day...Lydia and I are back on the couch, watching Scooby Doo and singing songs. Thank God for the simple blessings!

A Christian Open Door Policy

I'm hoping this post will be cathartic and bring my aching heart some peace tonight...

Today I was in my bathroom finishing up my makeup, so we could go Thanksgiving shopping, when Hadley brought in a notebook and asked if she could color in it, she had gotten it out of a bag of magazines that mom had brought over last week. I told her that I wasn't sure because I hadn't really had a chance to go through them and I didn't know what they were. Hadley agreed and left the notebook with me so I opened up and started looking through it. What I saw, knocked the wind out of me...The notebook was full of notes, and reminders, and menu planning, and Rook scores.

Grandma Ruth died in June of 2000, just six months after I'd moved to Louisiana. This was her tablet that held all of the planning she'd done for the holiday season prior to that. It was our last perfect Christmas as the "Shrull Family." There was a menu for Thanksgiving that included all the regulars and delicious treats that only grandma could make. There was a menu for my birthday that is just a few days after Thanksgiving.

This birthday menu is one of my favorites because she made poppy seed chicken, macaroni and cheese, homemade rolls, and pumpkin pie. Keith and I weren't married yet, we were both living with friends, and we were broke so Grandma made me SIX pumpkin pies for my birthday because they were my favorite, except-they weren't (and aren't, I still can't stand them!) I think they are Nick's favorite (who's birthday is a few weeks before mine) and better yet, for this particular birthday Grandma forgot to put sugar in the pies! I have never eaten so much whipped cream in my life! I didn't want to hurt her feelings and neither did Keith, so we ate multiple pieces (each) and slathered whip cream on them to make them go down smoother!

There were menus for Christmas and Christmas gift lists of what she'd bought already and what she wanted to get everyone. There were several pages of rook scores for her and Grandaddy and Geraldine and Berman, they must have played a lot of rook in 1999!

Then, my favorite was all the notes that were in there. Grandma used to leave a not on the kitchen table telling whoever came in, where she was and when she'd be back. Her front door (all of them actually) was always unlocked and family and friends were welcomed to come right in. I love this memory of grandma! So, as I flipped through the note, I saw a note that Grandma had left "We took Michael to Sebree, will be back in time it takes to get there and back." Following that note was one from Geraldine saying she'd been by and sorry she missed Grandma. There was a note from Cassidy and Keri saying they'd stopped by and "stolen" chocolate cake. And the notes go on, and so do my memories. I used to love to add notes to Grandma's table and I always knew where to look for her note and so did everyone else.

I want, so much, to have that type of relationship with my family and friends. I crave having people "drop in" for coffee, or lunch, or even dinner. Entire families would drop into Grandma's house for dinner and she'd never bat an eye! She'd just throw more food on (if necessary) and welcome them with open arms. I don't even remember ever hearing Grandmas say "oh, the house is a mess..." she accepted everyone for who they were and she accepted herself the same. I have often said that Grandma is the one person who ever loved me unconditionally, but it wasn't just me. Grandma loved everyone wide open, full force, unconditionally.

Tonight, I miss her so much my heart is hurting. I don't know how it's possible to be this overwhelmed with the pain of loss ten years after we lost her, but I am. When Grandma died, I didn't just lose her, I lost that connection to so many people who loved her and so many of us who were held together by her and didn't realize it. Cassidy once said that Grandma was the glue that held our family together and she was, but she was so much more than that. She was the glue that held our family, friends, and even some lives together. I wish she was here now so she could see the life Keith and I have finally made for ourselves. I wish she could meet Hadley Ruth and Lydia, she'd love them so much. I wish she could meet my cousin's children and my niece and nephew. I think she'd be so proud of all of us and I wish she could be here for it. She always had faith in us, I wish she could see she was right! We didn't let her down.

As much as I love having Thanksgiving at our house and I always say we bought this big house to fill it full of family and friends and love I'd trade it all for one good ole fashioned holiday at Grandmas. Her holidays were filled with awesome food, amazing love, great times, family, friends, and the occasional rif raf or straggler and unforgettable memories. I pray that I can have that wonderful Christian open door policy in my home and that my friends and always feel welcomed and invited into my home and into my life. Thank God for the years I had with Grandma and all the wonderful things she taught me in those years.

God & His Angels are keeping me up!

Lydia has figured out that if she comes down stairs in the middle of the night, I won't make her go back upstairs. If I'm asleep I have no interest in getting out of my warm bed to take a toddler, who's going to scream at me, back up stairs and fight with her about where she should sleep. Lydia figured this out pretty quick, she comes down nearly every night! She walks all the way from her room where there is a night light, down the stairs and into my room neither of which have lights and claims she's scared of the dark-puhlease!

Keith put her to bed in her room she put up a fuss and said "I don't want to be all alone in here!" Keith has tried to combat this by saying "you're never alone, God is always with you and his angels watch over you." It seemed to work for the first couple of nights and I can just imagine she was laying in bed working this out in her head. I can picture it!

Finally! She's found a hole in Keith's comforting words...

Monday night Lydia came into our room and said "I can't sleep, those angels are being TOO LOUD!" Apparently, her room turns into a regular Christian jubilee after we walk out! What are we supposed to do with that?!?