Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. While I am indeed thankful to have Ted and the children to spend the day with, I've come to the conclusion that Thanksgiving just isn't the same without additional family or friends to add to the excitement. It seems like too much effort making a huge meal for just five people, so if anyone ever needs a place to go, give us a call.

This year, I am pleased to report that our full-sized turkey turned out much better than last year's attempt at a turkey breast. Many thanks to my mom for giving me the courage and know-how to take on the project, Oprah's cooking show, the turkey advice online, Sierra for accompanying me to purchase the turkey, and Ted for removing the giblet bag. This was no small emotional obstacle for a vegetarian to overcome, so I needed a lot of help getting through the process. It didn't help when Sierra was cradling the little frozen cornish hens and singing them lullabies in the grocery store. (She wants a baby chick so badly after holding one at a friend's birthday party, so I think this was the next best thing to having a pet of her own.)

After spending Tuesday and Wednesday making four pies and the side dishes mostly from scratch, I have vowed to make things easier and lighter next year. I've had a stomachache for a couple weeks, and we normally don't eat rich food, so I felt like I was forcing myself to eat what we had spent so long making. I do think the kids enjoyed the holiday, watching the Macy's Day Parade and sampling all the new dishes. Sierra was extremely dainty dabbing her mouth with her cloth napkin, and Caleb tied his napkin around his neck and dug into a huge helping of turkey and cranberry sauce. Madeline loved the pumpkin pie so much she inhaled four pieces without swallowing.

I've always wondered what Black Friday is all about, but have never dared venture out. This year Caleb promised to go with me, so I spent a couple hours looking through the online ads and seeing what was available. Caleb wanted to leave at 4:30 am, but I talked him into waiting until a more decent hour. We started at Wal-Mart just as the sun was coming up on a very dreary morning, and we couldn't find a single item from our list still in stock! We headed over to Target and found everything we were looking for, and then went to the mall and Costco. I don't think we got any fantastic deals, but at least we now know what it's all about.

Life in a Nutshell

I'm having a good day with my hand, so I thought I'd write an entry before I forget what has happened and everyone gives up on checking my blog. For Halloween this year, Madeline dressed up as a pink Care Bear. (She always gets to be whatever Sierra was three years ago.) She caught onto trick-or-treating right away, and very happily ran up to each door. Sierra chose to wear her Snow White dress. The next school day she got a chance to make a creative costume when her kindergarten had a nursery rhyme play. Sierra was the Cat and the Fiddle, and carefully carried Ted's very small childhood violin. Caleb wanted to make his costume, and after nearly deciding to be a vampire, he opted to be a refrigerator. He wore a box with two flaps that opened like a side-by-side model that he decorated with alphabet magnets, kids' drawings, and a shopping list, and on his inside doors he pasted pictures of foods.

I feel like Christmas is already upon us. This week we've been to a ballet performance of "The Nutcracker" and Dallas Children's Theater's "Madeline's Christmas." The kids also got a special chance to visit with Santa Claus, who amazingly is related to one of our neighbors. Every year she invites kids to come meet Santa in her home, and my kids are convinced this Santa is no elf stand in. He has a real white beard and naturally stuffed belly, drives an SUV with the vanity plate Santa 1, and has a beautiful costume with an etched and painted belt and key attached for opening doors in homes without chimneys. He even has a little bowl of snow that he brings from the North Pole. Every year with Santa follows the same pattern--Sierra brings her very girly request list (this time a Bitty Baby and Mariposa Barbie), Caleb grills Santa with those hard-to-answer questions (did you know he's 840 years old?), and Madeline gets very excited shouting "ho ho ho" until he looks at her and she breaks down crying.

Speaking of crying, my sweet Madeline seems to have a tantrum quota she's trying to fill. Each day begins with a massive fit until I can persuade her to each breakfast. This can be brought on by such atrocities as me trying to roll up her pants so she doesn't trip or not letting her play when we need to leave for school. Once I get food into her (which can be quite a feat), she usually is pretty happy until about 3pm, when she cries off and on (mostly on) until we can't stand it anymore and put her to bed. Despite her toddler size, she's quite strong when she throws her whole body into protest. It can take me a long time to put her diaper on or buckle her into her car seat when she's in full blown hysteria. I will be happy indeed when she outgrows what I'm sure must be a phase --please, let this be a phase. The one thing that always calms her is seeing the moon outside (when it's available). She also loves "Double Double Lovin" by the Osmonds, but I can only take about ten listenings per day.

Ted was able to take a getaway to visit his brother Brent and his old friend Corey. He loved catching up with them and taking long bike rides and walks through the scenic fall countryside. A die hard Phillies fan since he was a little boy, Ted was overjoyed when they won the World Series.

I'm doing well and keeping busy. I became somewhat of an election addict last month, catching Anderson Cooper 360 or Larry King Live every night. I feel lost now during my down time at night--my old hobby of reading doesn't seem quite so exciting as all the fascinating candidates and CNN's magic map.

We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving. We'll be home all week hoping for sunny weather for lots of outdoor play.

Still here!

I've had family and friends writing wondering how everything is going since it has been a few weeks since I posted. I've been having problems with pain and numbness in my hands, wrists, and elbows, so until I get that sorted out, I'm trying to keep my computer time to a minimum. We are having a wonderful fall and have some cute pictures to share, so I'll try to talk Ted into helping with some posts when he gets a chance. There's nothing wrong with my voice, so I'm always up for a call if you want to catch up!

Cub Scout Popcorn

Caleb became a Cub Scout this year and has the job of selling popcorn as a fundraiser. Not wanting to bother our neighbors, Ted and I have put off the task until this weekend. I hoped that Caleb would have at least one customer given the price of the popcorn (most of the money goes to scouting) and the state of the economy. We have been amazed by the generosity and support of our neighbors. He's had close to a 100% success rate. Caleb loved the experience and says this has been the best part of scouting so far. I even had a pretty good time meeting neighbors and finding out where kids we know from school live. Caleb happened upon a little boy from his kindergarten class, and the mom invited him to come in and play video games. They are a really sweet family, but when I came over to pick him up a while later, he was upset because he wished he could have been selling popcorn. He even met a little boy from his 2nd grade class who we had no idea lived just across the street and down a couple doors. He's an only child, and the mom was really friendly and said to please come and knock any time Caleb would like to play. And to think I thought there were no boys Caleb's age near our house! Whoever could have thought that selling popcorn could be such a positive experience. What wonderful neighbors we have!

Do you love me?

Of my children, Sierra is usually the one I have the most trouble relating to. I often worry that I'm not giving her what she needs since we're so different from each other. Thankfully, she seems to think I'm doing all right. She's the child who always tells me what a great mom I am and that she loves me SOOOO much. She writes me piles of love letters and drawings that accumulate outside my bedroom, on the kitchen counter, and on the refrigerator door. Caleb is usually reserved in his praises, and he would rather die than admit he loves me. I always tell him I love him, and then he'll pause for a second and say goodbye or good night. I've told him he's too old to act that way until he grows whiskers on his chin, and I've even joked about installing a little "I Love You, Mommy" button in his hand that I can squeeze when I want to hear those words. Madeline, of course, is a little young to express all her feelings, but she's getting really good at parroting everything we say to her. I keep telling her I love her and sometimes repeat it again hoping she'll catch on and say it back. I've thought maybe those words were just hard for her to pronounce until I heard her this weekend telling her yellow lab stuffed puppy clear as day, "I love you, doggy." What does it take to get some love around here? Thank goodness for hugs and kisses and Sierra.

School days

School has been in session now for almost a month, and I've been too busy to write anything about it. I think the kids are all having pretty good years. Caleb hasn't said much about school, but then again, he never does. This month he learned two new skills that are giving him lots of pleasure--bike riding and origami. Sierra is adjusting to kindergarten pretty well. She is a little stressed sometimes, but I think she's also having fun. I'm teaching pre-K at Madeline's school, and the teachers say Madeline is very easy and well-behaved. She particularly loves singing time.

I think things are finally settling down for me. It was quite the job getting my classroom set up and all the beginning of the year paperwork prepared and filed. I think I've got a pretty good class. Some of them have never been to school before and we have a lot of learning to get them ready for kindergarten in a year. I'm still coaching Caleb's Destination Imagination team, and this year I'm coordinating the DI teams at the elementary school. It has been really time intensive answering all the parents' questions and trying to find and train coaches and organize teams. We have more kids who want to participate than teams available, and I've been feeling the stress of trying to figure out how to place the kids when I don't have enough parent volunteers. I'll be glad when we have the teams going and I can get back to the fun part of DI again. Walking to school on the first day

Sierra and her kindergarten teacher Mrs. Spalding

Madeline waiting in my classroom before the first day of school begins

September 7, 1975

In honor of my 33rd birthday today, I thought it would be fun to list 33 random facts about me. Here they are in no particular order.

1. I'm the oldest of four children--one brother followed by two sisters. My dad has worked for IBM his whole career and my mom stayed home with the us. My mom became a high school English teacher just after I did, but she's stuck with it a lot longer!
2. I've been a vegetarian since I was 12-years-old, although strangely I have leather couches and leather shoes and have never liked animals enough to get any pet other than a fish.
3. I've won every hoola hoop contest I've been in--I even won one when I was six months pregnant with Sierra.
4. Of my children, I think Madeline is most like me in looks and personality.
5. I can make a schedule and stick to it rather rigorously, but when I don't have to be anywhere, I love staying at home and improvising creative activities with my kids.
6. Sometimes I wonder if my house is the least decorated and organized in all of Frisco.
7. I love to read and taught high school English, but you'll never see me pick up Shakespeare on my own. I prefer recent bestsellers and non-fiction to the classics. I eagerly await Newsweek and Time arriving in the mail each week, and my favorite book I've read this year was probably A Thousand Splendid Suns.
8. Jobs I've dreamed of having include writing children's books, giving tours in an art museum, and philanthropy work overseas.
9. I'm freaked out by seafood.
10. I've always loved fairy tales.
11. I could eat chocolate chip cookies and spaghetti my whole life and never miss another food.
12. I love to talk--especially on walks and at Starbucks.
13. Bargain hunting gives me a total rush. There's nothing like a great garage sale or thrift store find.
14. I enjoy exploring both sides of political arguments and usually have moderate opinions on controversial issues.
15. Unless I'm under pressure, I work and think slowly.
16. I draw so badly even my stick figures look pathetic.
17. When I got married, I didn't know how to cook much except spaghetti. One of my shower gifts was a book with recipes on how to cook hard boiled eggs, baked potatoes, and rice--and yes, I did refer to it.
18. Two trivial things that attracted me to Ted were that he could spell well and sing on key--traits I'd found sadly lacking in other guys I'd known.
19. I didn't have a middle name until after getting married when my maiden name "Cannon" became my middle name.
20. When I was in kindergarten, my biggest interest was dinosaurs. Sometimes when Sierra begs me for Barbies and tea sets and tiaras I wonder if we're related.
21. The place I'd most like to visit right now is probably the Greece/Turkey region.
22. I wish I had family nearby.
23. I think it's easier to drive on the left side of the road--in countries where that's legal, of course.
24. I get upset when someone tells me what to think.
25. I'm pretty bad with directions--Ted does all the navigating in our family.
26. Caleb and I love word plays, so when I make up bedtime stories for him I try to throw in some Amelia Bedelia-style double meaning jokes. I know I've told a good story when Caleb laughs so hard he cries.
27. I've been to every continent except Antarctica.
28. I find that as I get older I worry less about pleasing people.
29. I'm very particular about my physical comfort, especially with my shoes, my driver's seat, and sleeping conditions.
30. I enjoy exotic food and music.
31. I used to be on a synchronized swimming team, and I may be one of the few people in the world who thinks it's a real sport.
32. Halloween is my favorite holiday, especially in a place where there's a real fall.
33. Thirty-three years ago, my mom's plan was to ride her bicycle to the hospital when labor began. She and my dad didn't have a car and she says she didn't know having a baby really hurt. (I was her first.) When the contractions started, she quickly decided to ask a neighbor for a ride!