Supermom Chronicles

This holiday season we should all be counting our blessings...

Yesterday, we put up our very first artificial Christmas tree. In the past we had always bought a fresh cut tree. For the few years we lived in Lexington, we were very close to a Christmas tree farm. We enjoyed going out there, watching John cut down a tree in his manly-man way, drinking hot chocolate and visiting with the family that owned the place. I thought that would be a great Christmas tradition to enjoy with the kids every year. However, last year when we moved to Kyle, we found that there weren't any tree farms very nearby (Elgin or Seguin were the closest). Instead we went to a pre-cut tree setup in San Marcos. Then we had to clean needles off the floor constantly and remember to water the tree. Faith & Cole both had very runny noses the whole time the tree was in the house, so we suspected a possible tree allergy. So it was with mixed feelings that we treked up north to ATex Christmas store 2 days after Christmas last year and got an awesome deal on a fabulous pre-lit 9' tree. We put it up yesterday for the first time, and I have to admit, it's simply gorgeous. The height really fills our front living room appropriately. We ended the night with Faith helping John put the star on the tree. Today we will hang all the ornaments and decorate around the house. Faith is VERY excited about this whole process. Cole, on the other hand, just wants to climb up the ladder and jump off repeatedly. I think he could care less about the tree.

The main reason I'm posting today is to remind everyone to count their blessings this holiday season. After spending $$ yesterday at Target on some Christmas items, we were all driving home when John's work pager went off. They were looking for someone to work overtime today. After reviewing our finances for all of 1.5 seconds, John quickly picked up the cell phone and called in. So instead of spending the day at home with us, enjoying the awesome arctic front that just blew in a few hours ago, he is at work today. But some people this holiday season are losing their jobs (look at Ford Motor Co.) or are living at or below poverty. They don't get much of a holiday season. So instead of complaining about having to go to work today, my wish is that everyone who reads this instead realizes how lucky they are to have a job and be grateful.

The first words out of Faith's mouth when she woke up Thanksgiving morning was a very excited "Is it turkey day?" My husband explained that, no, we were having chicken. My mom-in-law had bought 4 roasting hens for me to prepare instead of the traditional turkey. So the rest of the day Faith exclaimed "Happy chicken day!" We thought it was pretty darn cute.

My mom-in-law was going to host Thanksgiving, but she hasn't been feeling well lately. So we invited the family to our house instead. It was a wash in terms of stress for me. If we had traveled, packing up the kids for the trip would have been about the equivalent amount of stress as staying home and hosting. Nowadays, if you take just a day trip with kids you have to pack half the house. With 3 kids, all with different sleeping arrangements and bathroom habits, it's especially bad. So I quietly said "thanks" on Thanksgiving for getting to stay home! Plus, John's siblings helped by bringing pies, rolls and casseroles. So I didn't have the entire meal to prepare alone. Early in the day we were able to get all the kids together for a picture. This was the best of about 20+ shots! Getting 6 kids 4 years old and younger to simultaneously sit still, look in the general direction of the camera and then smile is about as likely as choosing the winning lottery numbers! That being said, I think this pic turned out pretty good. From left to right are James, Cole, Faith, Chloe, Remington and Ryder.

For the past couple of years, whenever our family gets together for just about any reason, we find a way to fit in at least one game of Texas Hold 'Em. After a successful Thanksgiving lunch, we tried desperately to get all the kids down for a nap so we could enjoy the game. Ha! That was the most interrupted game any of us have probably ever played. We had a 50% success ratio (3 of the 6 kids actually fell asleep), so we were up and down like there were springs in our seats to tend to the ever-constant needs of our children. It was still fun, though. Deborah (John's sister seen in this picture) was the big winner. Ironically, she plays the least out of all of us, but she often wins whenever we get together. She's been known to go "all-in" just to quit the game, and then she ends up winning big. I wish I had her luck (sorry, Deborah, I meant "skill":)



All the kids loved the playscape in the backyard. In fact, John and his dad apparently liked it, too (look closely at the picture). I have to admit, the fort is pretty cool. I've climbed up there on occasion to visit my kids.



Here's Cole at the end of the day looking cute wearing his cousin Chloe's cowboy hat. All day we tried to coax Chloe into performing her highstepping routine (she finally consented to perform later in the day when she was good and ready). She's in dance class and is pretty talented for her age (3). Faith, of course, is dying to take dance too. We need to wait until I start bringing home a paycheck again before we can even consider that.

At midnight last night I was still up with a fussy James, who has no concept of time of day. But even in the depths of exhaustion I thought about how very much I have to be thankful for: a healthy family, the addition of 2 new babies to our family this year (James and Ryder), a wonderful husband (even though he insists on wearing his funky moustache right now despite my protests), the comforts of a home big enough to entertain the entire family at Thanksgiving, freedom in a nation that allows me to enjoy life while others sacrifice theirs fighting in Iraq, food always to fill our bellies and good jobs that allow us to live the life we want. I could go on and on. I wish everyone could be so blessed.

It's officially the "Happy Everything" time of year...it starts with Happy Birthday James, then Happy Halloween, then Happy Birthday Cole, then Happy Thanksgiving, then Merry Christmas, then Happy New Year -- all in the span of 2.5 months. The first 3 "Happy's" fall within 2 weeks of each other, though, so I feel so busy!

Here's some of the Happy Halloween pictures. My mom bought the kids some adorable costumes. Cole was a hobo clown. She brought Faith a gorgeous Southern belle costume, but it was about 2in too long. So she picked this witch costume out at WalMart, then refused to wear the witch hat all night long. Oh, well, as long as she was happy.



One of our neighborhood friends had a party with a hayride before everyone went trick-or-treating. They set up this cute backdrop for pictures in their front yard. Someday when I'm a little more organized, I'd like to host a party. I'm waiting until I can get some better furniture in the house. Hopefully that won't take years.




Here's my little hobo clown. Isn't he adorable? He got a lot of compliments. I think we have found Cole's favorite day of the year. I've never seen him so animated. He wasn't afraid of anything! I'm sure half the neighborhood could hear his squeals of joy. Then the squealing kept on coming when we dumped the spoils of their labor on our kitchen table later that night. Needless to say, he slept good that night:)






Then came Happy Birthday Cole! The kids enjoyed helping me make the cake that morning. Between the cake and the Halloween candy, we have enough sweets to last until next Halloween. What a super-busy day! I scheduled his party on his actual birthday in the middle of the week. Unfortunately, John was at work all day, so I had all the cleaning and cooking to do while taking care of all the kids. The hardest thing is stopping what seemed like every few minutes to feed somebody. Nursing, of course, took up the bulk of my day. But come 7pm that night we had a good Mexican dinner, cake, presents and lots of balloon-popping. It all came together nicely. After it was over, though, I felt like I could have slept for days. James had other plans, though, as he continued to party until nearly 1am!


This gift was the big hit! Cole seems to be quite musically-inclined. He will often serenade us at random times (driving down the road, middle of supper, standing on the fort of his playscape) with a beautiful voice and pretty darn good projection. When Icky (his granddad) gets out his violin or mandolin to play, Cole always wants to take part in the entertainment. So Nana & Icky gave him his very own guitar for his birthday. He loves it! Of course, he has no clue how to play it, but that doesn't matter. He strums the strings and is thrilled with all the sounds that are produced (in tune or not). Hopefully someday soon I can enroll him in the neighborhood music classes. I think he would really enjoy that. It will be awhile before we move up to professional guitar lessons though...