Zoe is 7!

Zoe is having a birthday Zoe will be turning seven on Tuesday. In honor of her special day we sat down at family counsel today to make a list of the things that make Zoe special. Here is the short list. Zoe is:

a reader

determined/tenatious

a singer

detail oriented

a great helper

doesn't snore

(this was Molly's comment, to which Zoe replied "when I had curly hair I snored")

a runner

a great student

good at sharing

Other fun facts about Zoe, when we measured her on the wall for her birthday we discovered that Zoe at seven is the same height Molly was at six. We of course used this as an opportunity to encourage Zoe to eat more healthy foods. We'll see how that works out.

As we missed making a list of things we love about Heidi for her birthday we made one for her today as well. Here it is.

She is the straw that stirs the drink-she makes the fun

she tries new things

she exaggerates

she is funny

she is a fighter and sticks up for herself

(she was proud to announce that she "bounced Molly down on the tramp" at Grandma's house)

she is kind

she is a good friend

Last, but not least, the kids made a list of things they love about mom. This was a little tough because they started to get silly and then had a hard time getting out of the tailspin. Here is the results of their efforts: Mom

is patient

puts up the Christmas tree

is a mom

makes cookies

takes us shopping

does laundry and keeps clothes clean

lets the kids help

is a good cook

helps with homework

has a testimony

sacrifices for our family

takes us to church

It is a really sweet list. I know they love me, if they would only show it by actually doing the things I ask them to do. I wish I had the motivating power that Santa does this time of year. I don't, but I am willing to take his name in vain to accomplish my purposes. It is one of the joys of being a parent.

Oh, I asked my kids to write letters to Santa today. Zoe said she didn't need to because Santa already knows what she wants. When they didi all sit down and put pencil to paper it was a regurgitation of the American Girl catalogue. Santa will just have to figure this one out on his own. It is a good thing Mrs. Clause is pretty sharp.;)

Where to begin?

The last week has been really packed-I went on a Caribbean cruise with work, had a birthday, and Thanksgiving today, so where is a girl to begin?
The cruise was so much fun. The only times I have gone on vacation without Reed is when I took Molly to the cabin when she was little. It has been a while. We went to Key West in Florida and Cozumel Mexico. I would love to share pictures, but once again my hard drive has become a limiting factor. I entered a karaoke competition on board and ended up taking 3rd place in the finals which made for some great entertainment. Reed has asked all kinds of questions about cruising. When he realized that one can eat 20 hours a day on board with no extra charge he was ready to sign up.
Speaking of eating, today has been the culinary bonanza that I anticipated. I suppose I could get uptight about the amount of preparation time that was spent, or how my kids didn't really eat anything, but I really enjoy the cooking and my kids didn't go hungry by any means. Because of the variety there was a little bit of something for everyone. Of course there is always so much to be grateful for, but this is the 1 year anniversary of my Dad's liver transplant and I am grateful to have him around, grateful for someone's sacrifice to make it possible and grateful for the knowledge that I have that the ties that bind us together are eternal.
Now, for my birthday. Kind of a bust. I am not one to have great expectations, partly due to the fact that my birthday is so near to Thanksgiving. I baked my own cake and Reed worked late. Reed had proposed getting takeout once the kids were in bed, but because it is a weeknight everything was closed by the time we got around to ordering takeout. Reed ran to Fry's and got some sushi, which was not very good, and we caught up on back episodes of the Office. Reed asked for a do over on my birthday, he also said we should celebrate my half birthday, as the timing of the real thing is crummy. As I sit here and think about it, I am a very low key, low maintenance person, and having my birthday around Thanksgiving really facilitates that, so we will probably just leave things the way they are. Besides, they don't sell peppermint ice cream and gingerbread cake in May. I ought to add that I did buy myself some things while on vacation and I was generous with myself knowing my birthday was approaching.

Greetings from Key West

I know everyone is busy planning Thanksgiving menus and shopping lists, but I am in Key West Florida and it is fabulous. I feel kind of naked without my husband and kids around, but I am working through those issues!

Turning 5

Tommorrow Heidi will be 5 years old. She is a lot bigger now, but exactly the same. Tough on the outside, marshmallowy soft on the inside. She is the straw that stirs the drink at our house, and we love her because:

She will try anything (a blessing at mealtime)

She loves to be in the middle of the action

She is fun

She loves holding onto her inner 2 year old

She loves babies

Slippery Treasure

My kids were out of school yesterday for Veterans day. It was a beautiful day, and while I had thought I would use it as a slave labor day, I couldn't resist the call of the sunshine and fresh air. I took the kids to the park where we had a picnic and they did a little bit of everything. They were playing in the sand and Molly decided she was going to bury "treasure." She buried a plastic star fish sand toy and marked the spot with an X. She then went and played with Tanner for a few minutes and when she came back she couldn't find the X and coundn't remember where it was exactly. We spent about 20 minutes digging around in the area where she thought it was with no luck. We did get very dirty. It will be a great find for someone one day I am sure.

more discoveries...

I found a big wet spot on the carpet between the girls room and the bathroom. Turns out Heidi had an accident on her way to the potty in the night. Mystery solved.

Morning of unexpected discoveries

This morning Heidi told me that she woke up in the night and realized she didn't have any underwear on. When I asked her how that happened she said "They probably just fell off" and that she "sneaked into Tanner's room and got a fresh pair".

I went to the store this morning to get the donuts for Molly's birthday breakfast. The early bird gets the worm-a full case of fresh donuts awaited for me to choose from at 5:15 am.

Running the floor buffer does not seem at all appealing. While I was doing my pre-requisite classes for dentistry, and killing myself studying, I used to see the guys buffing the floor in the engineering building and think, that looks like a great job. I haven't seen one for a long time, so when I saw one this morning it was nice to know in retrospect that I made the right decision. Athough running floor buffer races is intriging.

Advent of birthday season

Tomorrow is Molly's 9th birthday. I am not exactly sure where the time went or how she got so big. Tonight for family counsel we listed 9 things we love about Molly. Zoe and Heidi kind of fixated on the fact that it was her birthday tomorrow and there would be cake and ice cream for them to imbibe. Some of the parental contributions were:
obedient spirit
peacemaker
great smile
great singing voice
smart
great hair and increasing ability to style it herself
great with little kids-will be an awesome babysitter one day
helpful
true friend
It was nice to spend a few minutes telling Molly how wonderful she was because she really had been a great kid all day while her siblings had all suffered tantrums and meltdowns.

Other gems from the day:

Tanner, when Reed asked him what a color was "Oh, that's firetruck" (which is every color that is close to red)

Heidi on realizing the timeing of birthdays "I'm gonna have a 9 year old at my birthday".

Zoe threw a fireball of a tantrum, the likes of which Reed has never been around to witness before, including sitting on her bed and screaming about how unfair life is and chronicing all the injustices she can think off just to yell them out. The impetus for this tantrum was her assignment to tidy the TV room to earn an ice cream cone. Molly and Heidi had also been assigned chores and Zoe convinced herself that her task was greater than the others and therefore unfair. My strategy is usually "I am a mom and I broker in obedience, not fairness." I told her she didn't have to do it, she just wouldn't get ice cream. This of course didn't help. Reed talked her down from it. I was fully prepared to let herself scream herself to sleep. I impressed upon her how lucky she was and that she ought to be liberal with her gratitude for his help.

The thing is Zoe can be the best kid, but she falls apart if she is tired or hungry, which is a whole other story.

I love being a mom.