Quick Takes Vol 3

It's Friday again - head over to Jen's and check out all the quick takes:

---1---

New Development: Gregory can open screw on lids and safety caps (on medicine bottles). I found out the first with a small jar of glitter that ended up as a sand dune on the floor. And the second - well he opened the children's chewable Tylenol and looked as pleased as punch. Do child safety caps keep any kids out - both of my kids can open them- pushing and twisting at the same time seem to come naturally.

---2---

Clare has a large bruise/scrape on her hip of all places. She was running on a flat sidewalk and fell down. At first I couldn't figure out why she was screaming because there wasn't a scratch on her knees or hands. Then I see this bloody spot on her hip. John says it looks like she was playing tackle football instead of running. This happened walking into school - of course the first thing she did (after treatment) was show her entire class, who were all very interested.

---3---

I love Clare's school, especially her teacher. Her teacher planned their Thanksgiving feast on Tuesday - so she could spend all of the last day before break preparing the kids for Advent. She sent home 2 different advent wreath activities and an awesome advent countdown candle activity that I will be posting about later. How wonderful is that?!

Say a little prayer for said teacher - she has to go in for surgery this week and will miss all of December, which makes me sad. Hopefully December is all and she'll be back in Jan.

---4---

Near Charlottesville is a Plow and Hearth outlet shop. I went in for the first time today and they sell HearthSong and Magic Cabin toys for even less than the websites' sales. They also have tons of other cool things, I can't wait to go back again. (Today John and the kids stayed in the car - John gave me a 5 minute limit to check it out and come back. I was back within 10 minutes-pretty good for me.)

---5---

Are you ready for Advent? I think we are getting there. Clare's teacher helped a lot, and the kids and I made our Advent wreath. I'm hoping to light it every night during dinner, so I bought really thick pillar candles. I'm also hoping to do a Jesse tree - but we'll see with that one, I think it might be too much for me this year, since I want to make an ornament each day with Clare.

---6---

I'm not sure what concerns me more in the world at the moment - what is happening in Mumbai, India, or the fact that American shoppers trampled several people and killed one worker at a Walmart this morning. Mumbai is very disconcerting, to think that terrorists can just show up in any major city and cause such destruction and terror. But the fact that people (normal folks like you and I) can get so caught up in materialism/good deals that someone gets killed disturbs me greatly.

---7---

I didn't put up a post about Thanksgiving, knowing the quick takes were coming.

We had a great Thanksgiving visiting with John's folks, and we truly hope that everyone else had a wonderful one too.

The Beloved Puzzle

My Aunt Karen made Gregory this really cool puzzle of a bear when he was born.

He loves it now, and I wanted to post a video of him playing with it, so she will know how appreciated it is. He plays with it every day for at least 30 minutes.

But for the grace of God

Just when I was about to bemoan my life to God about being a law school widow, and how rough it is - He gave me a good smack upside the head.

This morning, one of the little boys in our CGS class said his dad was in the hospital. His mom is expecting, so I thought - ahh the baby has come and dad went to the hospital with mom. But I was wrong.

I ran into this boy and his grandma leaving the Church and asked after the family. His dad is in the hospital, and his mom had just gotten home from the hospital but hadn't had the baby yet. So both parents have been hospitalized this weekend. The grandmother was pretty distraught - but doing a really good job of keeping her grandson oblivious of what was going on.

Another family we know was just in a serious car accident - by God's grace no one was seriously injured. The accident was caused by a seizure on the dad's part while driving. He is also undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.

Please say a prayer for each of these families. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be in either of their shoes. It makes law school exams look like a walk in the park rather than our own cross to bear.

Lovey, Bu-ball!

Gregory's newest must-have item: NFL Dynamic Duos - a paperback scholastic book about quarterbacks and their receivers. It goes everywhere, and has the chew marks to prove it.

If that is not available any old football game case (ie NFL Madden 2006) will work.

If he does not have one in bed, he cries, and today he held one all of Mass.

It's so funny the things kids choose to attach to.

Friday Quick Takes

1) Clare's dental surgery went well, the doctors didn't find any additional decay/work through x-rays, the whole thing was under 2 hours, and she did beautifully. Afterwards she wanted to snuggle for 4 hours straight. It was very sweet - part of it was the drugs - but the drugs also make some kids combative. Glad mine is not one of them.

Thank you for all the prayers, they were truly felt by all involved.

2) Clare has a choleric personality - which basically means she would rather argue until she's blue in the face than admit she's mistaken. I asked her about the dentist and she said that they didn't do anything to her but give her a shot (the first part of sedation). I told her that the shot made her fall asleep. She insists that she did not sleep at the dentist's office - she played with toys, got a shot, and snuggled with Mom. Amazingly, her bite feels different and she has a new silver tooth, but she doesn't know how they got there.

3) Of note (to my husband and probably no one else) - Gregory caught a toy football his father threw to him for the first time today. John declared that this must make my Quick Takes.

4) We went pine cone hunting today - I want to make some pine cone crafts with the kids - tree ornaments and bird feeders and maybe a turkey or 2. Clare said she had found treasure when we brought home all of 2 pine cones.

Did you know that when making crafts with pine cones you should put them in the oven on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees for an hour? It kills any bugs/spider eggs, etc, and melts the sticky sap. The sap turns out really pretty melted, it forms a glaze on the tips of the cone.

5) We're in the middle of exam season here - of course exams really don't start for a few more weeks. but the students are gearing up. Which means the kids and I are on our own for the most part. I am so grateful that John comes home for dinner each night, and that no one is sick at the moment. We can manage without dad, but I don't do well with unexpected surprises like stomach flues or ear infections.

6) Clare wants to learn how to play Chess - today she learned all of the piece names. She's doing well keeping them straight - except for the bishops and the pawns. She keeps picking out pawns when we ask her to find a pawn, and pawns when we ask her to find bishops. Here's hoping this doesn't influence her futures views of the hierarchy of the Church.

7) I keep trying to think of some really cool fact, or tidbit or something that has nothing to do with my family for a quick take.....I'm drawing a blank. Luckily we have the power of Google.

Historically today - take your pick:
In 1980, 350 million people around the world tune in to television's popular prime time drama "Dallas" to find out who shot J.R. or in 1620 the pilgrims reached America, Provincetown Harbor, Mass.

****
I'm sure there some other fun takes over at Jen's. I'm planning on reading a few - how about you?

Surgery

If you get a chance say a little prayer for Clare and I tomorrow. She has dental surgery with an i.v. sedation at 1:45.

This means that after 7:45 she can't have any food or dairy products. After 10:45 she can't have anything not even a drop of water.

She's already stressed/scared and it's been showing through her moods this week.

I'm a bit stressed by her moods and the thought of denying a hungry/thirsty 4 year old food and water. And it's always a bit scary to have a family member sedated.

Please pray that they don't find any additional work to be done. The x-rays taken at the beginning of the sedation will tell whether it will be 2-3 hours or more.

Thank you!

Cake Stealers

On Sunday we celebrated John's birthday with his folks.

I got up early, bought a cake, and left it on the kitchen counter. I then volunteered at our parish.

When I got home I glanced at the cake and gasped - the icing was all smooshed along one side, and one corner was stuck to the top of the plastic cover.

"What happened?" I asked my husband.

"Well I was sitting here studying and turned around to see the kids trying to carry the cake up the stairs. The clue that something was up came when Clare told Gregory to turn around, put it on the step, and then lift."

"How did they get the cake?"

"I don't know for certain but Clare must have gotten it down."

Clare: I didn't get it down, Gregory did.

(Here's the thing, Gregory can't reach the top of the counter even on his tiptoes)

Us: That's not possible, Gregory can't reach.

Clare: He can.

We show Clare it is not possible for Gregory to reach

Clare: He pulled it down with his pinkies

Gregory's also not strong enough to pull it down, it would have fallen on his head and made a huge mess, not a little squishing.

We explain this to Clare - who insists she did not pull the cake down. She did not help pull the cake down, she simply helped carry it to the stairs. No threats or denial of goods change this statement.

Today Clare asked me to put the leftover cake back on the counter so Gregory could demostrate his cake stealing abilities. Sigh...maybe Gregory can fly too.

Birthday

Happy Birthday John!

This is probably not the best picture of you - but I feel like it captures the essence of Daddy at home. The kids love you, they love swarming you, overwhelming you with attention, affection, and demands. I love how you stay so calm under everything you have going on, and how you make time for your family when there seems to be no time to spare. I love you for all of your wonderful traits and putting up with unpredictable, emotional me. You are so good to all of us!

Hope you had an okay birthday- even if you had 4 classes and an upcoming exam to focus on. The kids promise to jump on you early tomorrow morning to make up for it. ;)

Snow fall!

We awoke to snow this morning, if you can believe it. This is the first time I can ever remember having snow in central VA in November.

It melted before we took a picture, it truly was only an inch if that, and didn't stick to anything but the non-road surfaces. Nonetheless it was a treat. (First moonlight, then deer, now snow...what next?)

And on a side note, we must have all felt like hibernating bears - because Clare, Gregory and I all took naps today - nice long 2 hour naps.

From the window

First moonlight and now these! What a wonderful few days of nature.



The middle picture is the most blurry, but the best capture shot of the whole. We had 8 deer moving in the back yard at the same time. There were several fawns too. Simply amazing.

Clare came to check it out - especially the fawns. Her response:
"Mama did the Native Americans eat deer too?"
"Yes Clare, so did the pilgrims."
"I'm glad we don't have to kill them and eat them."
"Me too, kid, me too."

Moonlight

Has anyone else noticed the full moon? It's so beautiful

Last night I went to bed and noticed a small square of light on my hand. "Where is that coming from" I wondered, and realized it was coming through the window shades. Now there are no lights behind our townhouse - it's wooded. It was the moonlight shining in.

I opened the shades and gazed up at the moon, so pretty, and it made a pretty patch of light on the bed.

So I fell asleep gazing at the moon and thanking the Lord for the beautiful, natural gifts He gave us.

Photo credit: Wikipedia.

Update on the Sickies

Gregory was extra fussy today and only slept about 9 hours with a nap and last night. That's really low sleepage for him.

So we went to the doctor - he has an ear infection - his very first ear infection, poor thing.

Clare seems to be feeling better and with some Vick's Vapor Rub and a vaporizer they both are sleeping soundly (Last night they were still awake at this time and coughing for 3 hours after they fell asleep).

The great part about C'ville:

2:30 Call doctor - Please squeeze me in today - I think he has an ear infection!
4:30 Doctor appt - scheduled and seen
4:45 Leave doctor's with prescription
5:30 Home with the prescription

I am so impressed with our practice. I probably should expect it by now, but I'm always so grateful to be seen so quickly.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Jen at Conversion Diary started doing 7 quick takes on Fridays, and I love the idea since I rarely feel like I have time for a big post any more (not that most of these would be a major post). Thanks for hosting Jen!

one

Clare has to have major dental work next week. Sigh...poor child, she must just have genetically bad teeth. It should be fun for all involved.

two

Clare's bed now has a canopy. She's excited. Of course I could have figured out how to actually set up the bed's canopy, but instead decided to do the 30 second fix with a lovely old curtain and the spindles on each bedpost. It does look nice though, I will have to take a picture.

three

We rented Sleeping Beauty last night - what a beautifully made children's movie. I love how goodness and virtue are really goodness and virtue, not disobedience masqerading as such (see Little Mermaid).

four

There is sickness in the our household - just viruses. I really think God should have designed things differently - if you're pregnant and already having issues finding things you want to eat, you shouldn't be able to get a stomach bug which rules out everything else. Hopefully the viruses will pass and my children will stop coughing and throwing up.

five

Clare's class is learning about Native Americans to prepare for Thanksgiving. Some of the children were really grossed out by the fact that they wore animal skins and all the different things they might do with a buffalo when they killed it. Clare - not so much. When I asked her about it she replied...."Well mom - they couldn't just go to Walmart, they didn't have Walmarts back then." Very practical child (I think that was the teacher's response to the children, and my daughter snapped it up).

six

Gregory's latest art work: Green marker on face and rocking horse's face. I guess he wanted them to match. He actually dug through a cabinet, found a big bag of pens and markers, opened it, picked one out, closed it and put the bag away. I only know this because the cabinet was open, with the bag half hanging out.

seven

Don't watch Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull the same day you're reading Anna Karenina, and a little of The Two Income Trap - you'll have really strange dreams.

An artist's limitless scope

I have been discovering masterpieces by Gregory all over the house. He is an artist using whatever materials he can find to decorate his canvases (our walls).

In the basement there is a large crayon and marker mural on at least 2 walls - this is an older piece of artwork which is resisting removal.

Next to the stairs on the main level was a black design of something icing-like - no idea what he used, I'm just hoping he can't find whatever it is again.

There are sticker collages on countless surfaces - including my oven, one of the stairs, and the sliding glass door.

And there was the sprite spattering design all over the foyer floor - he took quite a bit of time to shake his cup in just the right way to cover as much of the floor with sprite drops as possible without making a puddle.

And today the latest artwork by one of our lamps - wall painting in banana. Maybe a fun idea with a fresh banana - I'm sure it smeared pleasingly across the wall. The dried result however was not so pleasant.

I have seen attempts to use pens, pencils, forks, pennies, and various other items as drawing utensils - some of them make interesting lines that you wouldn't expect (like the eyes of one of his stuffed animals). And every time a line or mark appears on a wall the delight in Gregory's eyes is unquenchable.

O little artist enjoy this time when mama is too tired to search you out every time you decide to play by yourself. Soon you will find yourself shackled by the ideas that parents and schools enforce upon children - such as staying on paper. In the mean time we will just continue to hide any and all art supplies we can from you.

Gold in Sand

"And besides, hard though it was for the mother to bear the dread of illness, the illnesses themselves, and the grief of seeing signs of evil propensities in her children--the children themselves were even now repaying her in small joys for her sufferings. Those joys were so small that they passed unnoticed, like gold in sand, and at bad moments she could see nothing but the pain, nothing but sand; but there were good moments too when she saw nothing but the joy, nothing but gold." - Anna Karenina; Tolstoy, Leo.

A great quote for all mothers - (especially when you or your little ones have stomach viruses).

I am really enjoying Anna Karenina; Tolstoy has an amazing depth of insight into the human person.

Veteran's Day

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.

Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918) Canadian Army

We shall not forget the sacrifices made by countless men and women around the world for freedom.

Thank you to all the veterans I know (and don't)!

Some Election Reflections

I've finally sorted through some of my thoughts about the election.

I realized that I am relieved. I voted for McCain, but I didn't really want him to be President. I voted pro-life - that is what I wanted. Hearing about all of the back-biting and spiteful things coming out of the campaign I am sickened. McCain was in charge of his campaign and he allowed it to get like that. I am glad that he will not be making decisions for our country at the level of President.

I am excited. President-elect Obama is exciting. I think he has a good head on his shoulders - perhaps not the experience I'd like, but I can get past that. And I think it is an awesome thing that we have an African-American President. I think this is a great step forward for all minorities and for our great country.

In the excitement vein, I am curious how Obama will handle everything that the world is throwing at him. Russia, Israel, Iran, Afghanistan. There is a lot going on and he is going to have a trial by fire. I'm not sure that the first thing he will have to deal with is FOCA (the freedom of choice act). His mettle will be tested, and I hope and pray that he will come through it all in a way that America can be proud of. I feel like he will rise to the occasion, but time will tell.

I am sad that no pro-life initiatives passed anywhere. I am sad that Obama is so pro-choice. But here is where the power of prayer comes in - prayer for conversion, for miracles, for witnesses to life. And I hope that Obama is more moderate than he appears and takes into account all of the pro-life voters in the country.

I am nervous that something will happen to Obama. I am praying for him and his soul every day. I pray that no one will get any crazy ideas. I can be excited about Obama - I am not even slightly interested in President Biden.

So we have hope and some nervousness and lots and lots of prayers. I am hoping to read many more election reflections, because I would like to see how people are processing. I'm not sure I'm quite through processing myself, but I know I will probably be praying more for my country in the months to come than I have for a long while - and that is a good thing.

Clare - On the Election

It's time for another interview with our world savy - Clare

Mama: Do you know who's in the election tomorrow?
Clare: Ma'bama and McCain.
Mama: And who do we want to win?
Clare: McCain
Mama: Why?
Clare: America needs someone to win
Mama: Does that mean that you don't think Obama is a winner?
Clare: I don't know
Mama: Who do you think would be a better president for children
Clare: McCain....No! Ma'bama
Mama: Why
Clare: Children want him to win
Mama: Could you explain that a bit more
Clare: For no reason...will you please let me get back to making my pie (play-doh)
Mama: Isn't this important?! This election and who will win it?
Clare: No! Can we talk about puppies instead?

And this is why, in my opinion, why the youth vote (though passionate about Obama) will never turn out in the numbers they predict.