Birthdays and the Fiesta Bowl

We're almost there!  Prior to Thanksgiving every year, I take a deep breath, and start running (and spending).  So do  most other people.  But at our house, the running (spending) doesn't stop until February.     You see, we have a unique situation in our family. A significant portion of birthdays fall between Christmas and Valentine's Day.  I should count....let's see, 12 birthdays, between our immediate family, my family and my husband's family....yes.  12 birthdays.  And four of them are in my own immediate family. 

 

So today is Alex's birthday.  We celebrated in a quiet way on Monday.  Alex isn't the type to demand a huge party with friends or Chuck E. Cheese or whatever, so we took advantage and celebrated during the Fiesta Bowl.  My husband and father in law are huge BSU fans and were committed to watching the Fiesta Bowl with Dad's new projector that he got for a great deal on Black Friday.  And I am fairly practical. I figured, why do the cleaning up and hard work of a party two nights in the same week? So I combined it, and invited all our local relatives over to celebrate Alex's birthday AND watch the Fiesta Bowl.  Alex didn't seem to mind. He loved opening his presents during halftime and eating his cupcakes.  For the record, we did turn the sound down on the game while we sang "Happy Birthday" and he opened his presents. 

It was a fun evening, and great that BSU won!  Go Broncos!  It was even more special to celebrate my dear son turning 5 years old.  Such a big boy now, I can't believe it.  It was especially nice of certain of our family members to come celebrate even though they probably could care less about BSU football.  Thank you!

Just a few more birthdays left. (deep breath) Here I go!

Reflections on the Christmas tree ornaments

Recently someone complimented our Christmas tree, how nice it looked.  It was very kind of my sister in law to say it, but there really is no coordinating theme to the tree at all.  If there was a theme I would have to say, love and memories.  There are not any particular colors or styles of ornaments. There are some shiny balls, snow men, manger scenes, angels and . . . well you can imagine.

 My mom always buys us ornaments for Christmas, every year.  One for each of us, or rather in later years, just one for each child.  Those are fun to unpack.  I tell the kids, "Grandma gave us this one..." over and over.  There's the Thomas Kincaid ornaments (my favorites).  The Victorian doll ornaments that both girls received one year. There's the baby's first Christmas for each one. And the "First House" ornament.  There's the "Fishing Hole" ornament and the angel with a trumpet, for my husband.  Then there's the ornaments my mom gave me when I was in college, first time away from home.  I still have a lot of those little ornaments Mom!

But the most important ornaments to me are the cut out stars with wiggly writing on it, the pipe cleaner ornaments and the wooden ornaments painted with watercolors.  Those are the memories.  Maggie and Heidi made those wooden ones at my husband's Christmas party 3 years ago.  The paper star was made at church by Maggie when she was 4 or 5.  There is a clothes pin angel that came home with Alex from church just this year.  And a fun ornament made from a laminated picture of Alex stuck onto a juice lid and decorated. Heidi wanted me to be sure and mention the ornament she made for our tree at school this year, with her picture on it.  So I have added it as well.

So I have to admit that my tree is not going to win a decorating contest.  But it is covered with love.  Thank you to all those who have given us ornaments and memories over the years.




P.S. I had to add this picture of the real Oochakitty, hanging out under the tree too.

When did I become "Mom"?

When my 12 year old was a baby I adamantly thought to myself, I want her to call me Mama, not Mommy or Mom or definitely not Ma. So I religiously referred to myself as Mama. "Come to Mama." "Mama loves you". And it worked.....for a number of years. I noted when she was 8 or 9, she still was calling me "Mama" and it warmed my heart.

But somehow since then, the overwhelming cultural term of "Mom" has cleared away all of my efforts, and that is what she calls me. "Mom, I need some money". Mom, I need a ride". "Mom...." And of course her younger siblings have naturally followed suit, even to the point where my 4 year old who SHOULD still be calling me "Mama" says "Mom" also. "Mom, I love you ."

Now that I think about it, "Mom" sounds pretty nice too. What was I ever worried about?

Soccer Mom

I remember when I was younger, my friends and I would gently make fun of soccer moms in minivans. I thought I would never be a soccer mom. I never played soccer as a child, heck, I didn't play any sports at all, except a brief stint on the church volleyball team, as chief bench sitter.

But anyway, I was thinking about all of this recently as I was trying to organize my schedule. Tuesday, soccer practice for Maggie, soccer practice for Heidi, Thursday, soccer practice again, and then Saturday....you guessed it.....Soccer games! Maggie and Heidi had their first soccer games last Saturday. It was especially noteworthy because this is Heidi's first time to play soccer.

Sigh...I guess I am a soccer mom after all and with a minivan too. Aaaaaah!

So now our family is embarking on the crazy soccer schedule for fall. I wonder if I will survive? Actually the question is, will Kevin survive? I have to work every other weekend, so poor Kevin has to lug the whole family out to the soccer complex every Saturday for the next 5 weeks. So say a prayer for him and us!


1. Heidi's enjoying her new uniform!
2. She got to play goalie and really liked that!

My dilemma

School is starting next week here. Today, Heidi and I went over to her school, new school for her, to walk around and get familiar with the layout and all. You may or may not know that Heidi and Alex are both legally blind, from a genetic retinal dysfunction called Leber's Congenital Amaurosis. To look at them most people never realize that they are visually impaired, just a couple of (very cute) kids with glasses. Only when they have their white canes, is it apparent to others that they don't see very well.

Anyway, this summer, Heidi became more comfortable and confident riding her bike. So the inevitable question arose. "Can I ride my bike to school". We live too close to the school for a bus, so I was planning on either driving or walking with her to school, weather permitting.

Heidi sees well enough to ride her bike to her friend's house without any trouble, however, we worry that she isn't aware enough of cars to be safe in maneuvering around the school with lots of cars around. And then there is the other thought......

Picture this......little girl riding her bike to school, parking it in the bike rack and then getting her fold up white cane (signifying that she is blind) out of her backpack and walking off to class using her cane. Is there something wrong with this picture? :-)

But how to explain all of that to Heidi. I wanted to say, "No, because I said so!" But no, I hope I explained diplomatically that it isn't safe enough for her to ride a bike to school. Thankfully, she accepted it philosophically enough.

Working Things Out

As you probably know I am the mom of 3 kids. They are all 4 years apart. I hoped that maybe because of the distance in age they would not fight as much as my brother and sister and I did. Well, I was wrong. Especially with the two older girls who have to share a room, the squabbles are ongoing.

So yesterday, Heidi found her camera that she got for Christmas. We put new batteries in it and she was taking pictures of everything.....the dog, the cat, Alex, the t.v. program, and so on. So it is no surprise that she went into her shared room and took a picture of Maggie, or Maggie's bed, I am not sure which. Maggie came out yelling, "Don't take a picture without asking...." She wanted me to talk to Heidi about it and work it out. I told her that she needed to work it out with Heidi, that I was staying out of it. The next thing I heard was Maggie and Heidi talking.

Heidi: I won't delete the picture, but I'll pay you a dollar.
Maggie: Ok!

Not another word was heard about taking pictures without permission or anything else. I was in the other room laughing silently. Apparently we are prone to bribery at any age.

Small Miracles

I experienced a small miracle today. You may know that last Wednesday I lost my keys and haven't been able to find them. I got home from taking the kids swimming and when I tried to leave later that evening.. no keys. So I borrowed Kevin's key and we have both been driving around town for the last 5 days. Below is a photo where I found my keys today...Monday.



I am just amazed and laughing at myself over this whole thing. How did those keys stay on top of our van while we drove it around for 5 whole days? Thank you Lord for small miracles!