Christmas Season

Its right around November 15^th every year that we start seeing the “Countdown to Christmas” messages everywhere. The stores have already pulled out all the Christmas stuff and by the time we get to Thanksgiving, we’re hearing the music everywhere. I don’t think it’s a huge secret that I’m not a big fan of Christmas, I don’t like the pressure to make my house look a certain way and spend a bunch of money on stuff we don’t need. But. Mostly I try to keep my sentiments to myself. Last year, the five of us all finally officially gave up on celebrating with Santa. The youngest kid knows. We (the parents) can stop trying so hard to hide everything (we were never very good at that) and we can just be up front about the packages that keep arriving at our doorstep leading up to the big day. So that was a step towards making Christmas all around better this year.

David and the kids worked SO HARD to get everything ready. Many dozens of cookies made (thanks Eli, Shelly, David). Dishes and more dishes (thank  you Faithful Dishwasher for all your hard work!). Vacuum the living room, again and again (thanks Archer J). All the windows washed (Wow! David!!!). Laundry, more dishes, more vacuuming, dusting.

Now on to the real joy of Christmas, what we all know we’re supposed to be enjoying, but it gets lost in the stress… Family Time. Time Together.

It happened this year – we really had a chance to ENJOY each other. Nana came on Christmas Eve, along with Bampa and Grandma Shell and we had a wonderful evening together. The stories, the silliness, so many hugs for everyone. Archer snuggled up next to Nana for an hour or two while we watched a show, then everyone headed off to bed.

Then on Christmas Day, it was the Fortiers’ turn to take over the house – little by little they trickled in and the house warmed up. We were missing only 2 of the entire clan and with a group that large, I’d say that was an amazing accomplishment. To have just about everyone there was amazing. Christmas has changed so much over the years that I’ve been a part of this family. All of the grandchildren are growing up, there’s not so much screaming (with joy) and crying. Not so much of all the kids mobbing Christopher’s legs and wrestling him to the ground to pile on top of the oldest cousin. There’s more talk of dating (bleh!! I don’t wanna know!!), jobs, travelling and the BIG topic this year is who is newly driving, or about to be driving, or could be driving by now but isn’t… 

After food and presents, the kids found a game to play together and this is where I have to say, I could not have pictured this 15 years ago. I probably would not have said, “It’s great that they’re all playing video games!” We always hear about kids and “too much screen time.” But Christopher told his cousins that he wanted to spend some time with them and they ALL (that’s 9 kids aged 9 through 25) piled into the boys’ bedroom for a game on their phones/tablets/computers. They found a game that all of them could play together. Screen time, yes. FUN TIME with cousins, DEFINITELY. We had such a great time, I was sorry to kick everyone out at 9:00 because some of us had to work the next day.

I would say it was definitely one of the best Christmases yet – so much wonderful family time connecting with everyone. Thanks to all who came over, brought stuff and just hung out. And most of all, thank you to Elijah, Shelly, Archer and David for ALL of your hard work keeping the house clean and ready to entertain. My wonderful children never complained even once. Not when I  interrupted their playtime to do more chores, not when we asked Shelly to give up her room while Nana stays with us, not when I asked someone to come to the grocery store with me AGAIN. I have the most wonderful family.

Holiday Season!

Quick List of December So Far

12/17/17 Gruenberg Christmas in HC

We got to see most of the kids, missing only one. Shelly made a comment to me expressing some sympathy for her older cousins on the other side of the family - "Now I know how they felt around all of us." Yep, on the Gruenberg side, my kids are the oldest and suffer through all the trials of dealing with little ones. And on the other side, my kids are in the younger half. 

Once all the Littles had vacated the house, the Fortier kids pulled out the chess boards and took their turns challenging Bampa to a game. There was some trash talking, some close calls and finally two of the three kids had taken shots against Bampa. Grandma kept the crew supplied with snacks as they battled late into the night. Final tally...

   Shelly 1 win

   Eli       1 loss

   Bampa  1-1

Look out Bampa, this crew will be back for more!

12/22/17 First Day of Vacation!

I took the day off so we could enjoy some quality time together. Three kids, 3 cleanings at the dentist, 2 haircuts, 2 hot chocolates and 2 chai tea lattes, 1 optometrist appointment, quick stop at the craft store, did we do anything else?

12/24/17 Christmas Eve with the Fortiers

Party starts at 5:00. Or 4:00, or 3:00. At about 2:40 I had a giant mess on my hands with muffin batter. Literally. Batter was all over my hands with people possibly showing up in 20 or 140 minutes and I had a little meltdown and dumped everything in the garbage. So much for ginger spice muffins. Things could only get better from there. And they did! What a great evening. The kids enjoyed each other's company and the grown ups did too. A great evening with great family.

12/25/17 Christmas Day for Fortier 5

Big surprise... How did Santa know the kids have been working on their chess skills lately? He delivered a beautiful chess board and some infuriating logic puzzles that have us all stumped. We enjoyed some quiet down time and a few games. And I almost forgot - this was the day that we reveled the big gift to the kids. It took them about five seconds to figure it out, but their silent looks at each other told me they couldn't quite believe it. Disney World. For real? It took a couple of hours but their excitement built until finally they started binging Everything You Need to Know about Disney World videos online. We're going to Disney!!

12/??/17 A Few Days Later

We're on a roll with math assignments, an hour every day and then let the fun begin. Last night we went to see the latest Star Wars thing but the only seats left were for the 9:35 p.m. show. I enjoyed an appetizer and a book while David took the clan to the movie. Late night, but we're on vacation! We're sleeping in later every day.

Today, HC. Bampa lured us with a promise of lefse and chess lessons. We showed up after lunch and immediately started in on chess. The kids offered their chess stragedies (that's not a typo) to help Bampa keep up. The games drew on through philosophical discussions and crawling around pretending to be a cat and harassing siblings. Grandma joined us for catching up on news and kept the snacks flowing. All the way till supper. Grandma fed us some more and the whole afternoon and evening were gold. Treasure, priceless.

   Shelly   Draw
   Archer   1 loss
   Eli         1 loss
   F5 Group Effort   1 loss
   Bampa   3-0-1

P.S. Next time that Bampa concedes the game, take it. Don't insist on actually playing the rest of the game, no matter what you think the odds are, you won't be on the winning side of the transaction. Lesson learned, Bampa, we won't make that mistake again!

Thanks For Everything Day

I ran. I am so thankful that I can run - that I'm healthy enough to go out and run 3.1 miles. I'm super slow but I can run. And I'm thankful for that. And bonus - my phone app said I ran the race in 37 minutes. Official results say 30 minutes. I'll take it!

I came home and cooked only a little, saw some friends and family. I feel so blessed that I have people in my life who will accept soup, salad, cheese and crackers as a Thanksgiving Day meal. Because I'm just not up to the big Turkey Feast. Rachel and her boys, along with Bampa and Mamma joined us for a nice afternoon gathering.

Once everyone left, we all packed up and went to Uncle Todd's for the final event of the day. All the cousins were there and we were able to enjoy how old all the kids are getting - the holidays are getting quieter as the years go by and the kids get older and learn to stop screaming quite so much. It's a slow process, but we're making progress.  :)  I'm very fortunate to be a part of TWO wonderful families who are welcoming and caring. What an incredible thing to have.

A couple of the kids traded places and we ended up bringing home one of the boys and leaving our girl behind. I guess the cousins needed some more bonding time together...

I don't have many pics, I'm not sharing funny stories about the latest thing the kids did, I just have such a sense of peace and love over the last two days. This morning I sat on the couch while the kids played and I read a book for a couple of hours. I haven't read a book in way too long. And it was the perfect way to spend time with the kids on our day off. Thanks kids, thanks families, the last two days were just about as perfect as they could possibly be.

Firecracker Four & Fireworks

Once again, our accidental tradition.

Sunshine, not too hot and not too cool, great company, we couldn't ask for a better Fourth of July.

Firecracker Four - Bampa and Mamaw ran the four miles. Shelly and Archer ran one point something miles and I stuck with the kids. Afterwards was lunch and a little pool time, followed by the trek down to Racine.

Pack up a bunch of snacks, blankets, chairs and cousins. Fireworks by the lake, spectacular as usual.

Another great year of celebrating Independence Day together with family!

Dear Santa

Dearest Santa,

 

I underestimated your magical powers. I questioned the wisdom of the decision. On Christmas Eve, after you visited us a few hours early, I watched the recognition and delight come over the children's faces as they realized. They had each just received their very own tablet. Don't we already struggle with too much screen time? Will they all be off to their own corners of the house and we'll never see them again? What about BOOKS? No going back. They have the packaging torn open, they're holding those shiny new toys and marvelling at the power in their hands.

 

That moment was the beginning of a stretch of FIVE DAYS that have been the true Christmas Gift in our home. The technology is great, the kids love the toys, but here's the absolute very best thing. No. Fights. They settle in on the couch next to each other. They play for hours. There is: No fighting about who is taking up too much space on the couch. No arguing about what game they should play next, what's not fair about whatever thing is happening at that moment, just imagine the possibilities of problems. NONE of it is happening. They are laughing with each other and cooperating. They are having fun together. They're working together as their characters in the game build farms and raise chickens. Even when they take a break for breakfast, the goodwill spills over to the Real World and they help each other without being asked.

 

So, Santa, from the kids, thanks for the tablets.
From the parents, thanks for the five (almost) completely fight free days. We appreciate it.

 

Tis the Season

2 trips to Target

2 trips to KMart

100 trips up and down the stairs to the basement

2 injuries

9 hours over 2 days

1,300 lights

250 ornaments 

The tree is up! Thanks to Superstar Shelly for taking the lead on this project and seeing it through to the end!

And thanks to David for the tireless assembly and lighting. Merry Happy Christmas season is here!

Another Fourth

Over the years we've fallen into what's becme a family tradition - Firecracker Four run in HC, picnic and pool time with Grandma and Grandpa. Fireworks on the lakefront with the cousins. And this year, a cookout with the family at Scott and Kim's house.

This year we also added the part where Archer and Shelly run the Firecracker Four - I ran the 1.7 mile route with them and was impressed with their finish times. Archer finished in 17 minutes, Shelly and I 20 minutes. David and Eli cheered us on and it was a great start to the day. We had an early start with the run, a late finish with the fireworks, and today has started off pretty slowly with everyone sleeping in to recover from yesterday's fun.

The weather was perfect for our run, kids were worn out on the way home, only half way through the day's adventures!

As we were killing time waiting for the sun to set and fireworks to begin, the soccer ball ended up in the lake twice and the football three times. I'm just glad the KIDS never ended up in the water!

Aww, time with the cousins. That's the BEST!

P.S. Happy 12th Anniversary, David! It's been another great year!

More Christmas Eve!

We decided to end our day with a trip to a light show at the local campground. And when we arrived home, surprise! 

Santa had come while we were away!

Favorites were a quad copter, puppy named Coconut, police officer uniform, and a few others. Parents' favorites were all the books, E's new BIG BOY bed and seeing all the excitement on the kids' faces. Thanks Santa!

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We started out our day bright and early with a 5k run at the lakefront. Actually, I ran with a friend, and the rest of the family cheered me on (thank you SO MUCH dear family for your support, despite the cold weather, wind, and early wake up on a holiday).

I had a great time and then we got to go home, warm up and take a nap before the real party began - Thanksgiving with the Fortiers. As always, this was a great event with family enjoying good food and conversation.

 

Bonus - Later that week we hung out with the Fortier Moving Crew and managed to move everything from Union Grove back to Racine all in ONE DAY! Lots of trips back and forth, but we got it DONE!

 

 

Boomerang

Sometimes things return back to you in the least expected moments.

I was thinking recently about a video that I vaguely remembered. The memory is so clear, I remember sitting on the floor in Grandpa Shorty's living room. There were probably a few cousins around. I watched this fun movie with songs from different movies, all the words were on the bottom of the screen and we sang along. And my favorite was from the Jungle Book, the elephants marching and singing. I wonder how old I was then. I haven't seen it in decades. I sort of missed it and thought my own kids would enjoy it, but who knows what happens to these things? Some old video, long gone and mostly forgotten.

Then, Christmas rolled around, we went to Mom and Dad's, there was a frenzy of food, gift opening, packing up the car. When we got home and unpacked our car, there was a little treasure in the bottom of a gift bag. Something old and almost forgotten, remembered only as a vague thought of a moment at Grandpa's house so long ago. There it was, the video.

Right away I put it into the VCR and there he was... Jiminy Cricket hosting a 24 minute sing along. The kids settled in to watch and I sang along to all these classics and finally, the one I had remembered, it came up and we laughed and I almost cried at the thought of it. This little clip from a video so long ago, from Grandpa's house with family and all of the memories from that place and those people, and here was this silly little song singing right out of my past. Thanks for passing that along to us, Mom.

Vacation, and More

The kids had an unusually long Christmas vacation from school, two full weeks. Add the weekends on either end, and that's 16 days at home. We had a great time together, David also had almost two full weeks off from work. We played games, put up the Christmas tree, took it down again, celebrated the holidays. Then... The arctic freeze set in. The jet stream of cold air from the far northern parts of Canada, or something. They predicted it for a week and then it came, the cold. On Friday, they cancelled school for Monday. The kids were happy, an extra day! Except, we talked about the people who don't have homes, who will be seriously at risk over the coming cold days and even colder nights. We prayed. We took a spur of the moment trip to the store to buy blankets and then dropped them off at the homeless shelter. We prayed some more. Last night the cold really set in, the kids and I haven't been outside for days. This afternoon I got another call from the school, its cancelled again, no school tomorrow. I'm so thankful for this warm, safe home we have, and the furnace that just keeps running and keeping us warm.
 

We'd be going a bit crazy, but we're all in project mode, and we've got lots of work to do! We'll be throwing a birthday party for Shelly, there are LOTS of girls on the invite list, and we need to get planning! Its amazing how there's no fighting when there's a common cause. Making invitations, working on making yarn dolls, brainstorming ideas for games, crafts, food, decorations.... I've got a shopping list two pages long, but can't leave the house to buy the stuff. In the mean time, we'll use what we have and listen to some fun music while we party away the day!

I got a CD from the library and we discovered this fun little song, we listened to it over and over, laughing every time!

Merry (That Means Happy) Christmas

Today it occurred to me that our kids probably don't even know what "merry" means, and here we are, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Definition discussion followed. And a family self portrait.

Happy, Merry, Joyful Christmas everyone, we're celebrating Jesus' birthday and we're SOOO excited!!

P.S. Wanna see our Christmas concert? Here's our video...
                   http://youtu.be/WSmM67ZXPkQ

Good Friday

The day that we remember that Jesus died for us.

The day that starts Spring Break for many students across our country, the day that kids make plans for all the fun they're going to have next week, the day we tell each other "have a good weekend" and go home and dye eggs and stuff plastic eggs with sugary treats and think about where we'll hide them so the kids can run around to find as many as possible and then tell the kids "share!" and try to avoid the tears of one kid who didn't get as much sugar as the other one.

The day that we call "Good" even as the people there that day, Jesus' disciples and family, would have probably told you it was the worst day of their lives.

My refrigerator is covered with Easter crafts. Bunnies, crayon-colored eggs, little yellow chicks. I'm wondering if this is really the best way to remember what we're remembering today, the day that Jesus died for us. I'm feeling an uneasiness about the jelly beans and plastic grass and baskets filled with junk. I'm feeling like, if we REALLY appreciate what Jesus did for us, if we REALLY respect and adore and love Him, is this the best we can do? Candy and a lie about a bunny that delivers it? Why have we bought into this? Why have we BOUGHT this? I'm sure I could do some research and find out the number of millions of dollars that are spent on Easter bunny nick knacks and candy for this thing we call a holiday. I'm sure it rivals Halloween for dollars wasted. And I'm really truly positive that this is something that makes Jesus sad.

We pretend like the eggs are "to symbolize new life" or something. But we know. We're getting caught up in the world's view of what Easter is. And where is Jesus in any of it? Where is our love and appreciation for what Jesus has done? Where is our somber recognition of what really happened on this day, so many years ago? Today should be a day of reflection, quiet, not chaos running around to decorate the last little thing and hide the last plastic egg before the weekend's festivities. What we're doing today is not honoring our Lord and Savior. Let's all try to think a little more on Him today, and a little less on the rest of it, ok?

For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.
~ Romans 11:36


 

Pie!

In celebration of the snow

And anticipation of Christmas vacation

And because this is our fifth day in a row of ham and turkey sandwiches and I'm tired of leftovers

It's pie night. All we can eat pie. Nothing else but pie. And egg nog and coke to wash it down.

And all E will say is "pie." Pie? Pie pie pie! PIE!
And now it's all gone. 

So tomorrow back to ham and turkey sandwiches.

(Dear Children, Someday when you read this just think - I didn't always make you eat your veggies. We ate fun stuff sometimes!)

Happy Easter



by Archer

We had a crazy busy day with lots of family and good food, your standard family holiday get together. Good stuff!

Over the past week I've been praying often for healing. There are a couple of people who need these prayers, I'll just share one. On Saturday evening Elijah got hurt. Sidetrack for a moment - when Archer was about 18 months old I was playing around with him and then heard a little "pop" and suddenly he was crying and wouldn't move his arm. We rushed off to the clinic to find out that he had a dislocated elbow and there was nothing we could do to fix it but wait. It took several days before he was back to normal, able to move his arm and not be in pain. So on Saturday, when E suddenly started crying and wouldn't move his right arm... Cried whenever I moved his arm for him... I had a pretty good idea of what had happened. We prayed over him and put him to bed when he was ready, prayed some more and hoped for the best. I knew the injury would probably take two or three days to heal. But guess what?? On Sunday morning he was running around and playing, using his right hand to grab things, it was like nothing had happened! And we praised Jesus for his quick healing of Eli's arm. Thank you Lord!

All day long my mind kept wandering to these two verses...

Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases...
~Psalm 103:2-3

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
~Mark 2:5-12

So, while I've been praying for healing of physical pain, I've been also reminded to ask for healing of our spirits, forgiveness and restoration and I thank the Lord that he is so generous to provide for both.

Santa, Help Us!

This is my Bad Parent confession. David and I have a serious problem. We try and try but our best efforts continue to fail.

Santa.

Before you continue reading this, please promise to never ever tell any of my children what you are about to see. At least wait until they're 18. I'm serious. Don't even hint at this around them. David and I try so hard to make this Santa thing work. This year, Denise agreed to take the kids for a couple hours while we went shopping. But where to put the gifts? David's SUV has an open back, all you have to do is turn around to see what's in the "trunk." As luck would have it, Mom had just finished using our luggage, so we stopped by their house and picked it up before taking the kids to Denise's. Then we put all our treasures inside the suitcases for the trip home. The kids never suspected anything. (I don't know why they didn't wonder where we were for four hours, but I guess they were so caught up in their fun with Aunt Neesy they never thought about us. Good.)

Now, where to hide the gifts after we wrap them? Oh, by the way, don't let them see the wrapping paper, right? So of course after the gifts were wrapped we put them back in David's car. But this time they wouldn't all fit in the suitcases so we just threw a blanket over everything. Just a few days to get to Christmas, should be fine.

No. No no no. Tonight we went out for dinner, but first David ran back inside to get something and when he came to the car, Shelly said, "Are you giving those presents to Santa?" Archer, who's been informed about the truth of Santa, tried to play along. But all he had was, "Yes." David announced he was trying to concentrate on driving and the conversation was over. As David and I stood in the kitchen tonight, him whispering to me what had happened, I laughed and cursed and said, "Let's just tell her. Let's just get it over with and give up on Santa. Too bad for E. We can't do it!" David didn't go along with my idea, but instead declared that all of the gifts would have to be re-wrapped with new paper. As I moaned about all the extra work, he reminded me that I hadn't done ANY work, he had done ALL of the wrapping. True.

(Let's go back a minute, Archer has been telling Shelly that there's no such thing as Santa. "The parents just buy the gifts and hide them under their bed, then they put them under the tree." Shelly's stubborn confidence in Santa caused her to completely blow him off, and after two or three of these conversations we had to tell Arch that he's right, but now he's on our team and needs to go along with it for Shelly's sake. And Elijah's.)

There was last year, or was it the year before? We put the roll of wrapping paper, left over after the gifts were done, behind the couch. The kids would NEVER be crawling around on the floor in that tiny space and notice the same wrapping paper that had been on their gifts, right? Ugh. "Santa had some paper left over, he asked us to hang onto it for him." Lame, I know.

There was a couple of years ago when my friend was helping me wrap gifts in the bedroom and Shelly walked in and spotted the doll house we'd gotten for her. She never mentioned it on Christmas, like, "Oh, its the one you were wrapping last week!" I thought maybe she was too young to have made the connection. Who knows.

We're bad parents when it comes to this Santa thing. Can't pull it off. And its starting to feel a lot like flat-out lying and I'm ready to give up on the whole thing. The kids will be excited for the presents either way, won't they? I mean, they're still getting stuff, wouldn't it be nice if they could say thanks to the people who gave them the gifts? Instead of the gifts just magically appearing from some guy they've never met?

Don't worry, David's pretty attached to giving the kids the Santa experience. So I'm sure we'll do it for a few more years. But we never seem to get it quite right. Just another one of those things to add to the "completely unable to do this right" list. Maybe by the time E is 10 we'll know what we're doing. Until then, wish us luck!

Celebration!

Hey guess what? Its almost Christmas! Over the last week or so I've been baking cookies and thinking about my mom baking cookies and I started feeling a little nostalgic, realizing I'm stepping into my mom's shoes and my kids are following right behind me. Only my mom's shoes are pretty big (in this analogy, of course, because her feet aren't very big) and I'm not sure I could ever fill them... Ok, back on track, here.

Today I called Mom and asked her if we could come over for supper, we'll bring food. She said not to bring food, bring the kids and come on over, so we did. And we had a celebration party! To celebrate family, and almost-Christmas, and cookies and playing and everything.

When we were driving up I thought about how Mom usually got out the sheet music and played songs for us when we were kids. Once a year my mom played the piano. Way back when we were little and celebrating Christmas at the Community Center in Argyle, and later on the electric keyboard at the kitchen table. And guess what? Tonight. She did it again, and I love that she did that, continued the tradition, and when the evening was almost over she plugged in that little keyboard, pulled out the music and gave us all sleigh bells to ring while we sang Jingle Bells. Mom and Dad have good voices, but I'm sure I was way off-key, and the kids were all over the place. Add some bells to the mix (E was hitting those bells as hard as he could while Shell delicately tapped each note) and it was quite the joyful noise!

There was a moment tonight when Mom and Dad were actually competing for time with the kids. You're taking them to the workshop? I needed them to help with the cookies! It all worked out, they spent time with Grandpa making wheels for a wooden car, and time with Grandma making and decorating sugar cookies. All the while, Elijah was eating chex mix and cookie dough and whatever else he could get his hands on. It was a laughing, shouting, awesome good time. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

Home Made Christmas

This year I'm going back to the long-abandoned Gruenberg tradition of Home Made Christmas. Yes we hated it as kids. The pressure. The paralyzing fear, what do I make for ___? I can't make anything. What do I do? Only ___ days and I haven't started it yet! There was always the last minute scramble, the declarations of "Stay out of my room!" and the frantic wrapping two hours before unwrapping-time. We did it for ten years. And then the kids got old enough to completely revolt and the tradition was gone. But this year, I find myself looking at crafty websites and blogs with recipes and brainstorming ideas for what to give our families. I told Mom and Dad that if the internet had been around when we were groing up (or at least in a state more like today) there would have been no excuse for not being able to think of what to make. There are a zillion ideas out there and a zillion more videos to show you how to do anything you can imagine. Despite the work and grumbling, the tradition produced many priceless treasures because we were forced to really think about what the other person liked, what we could do to create something they would enjoy without spending any money on the gift.

So this year I'm going back to that, not to produce some priceless gem, but at least spend a little more time thinking about how we can enjoy each other's company. And to break with tradition, I'm trying really hard to not wait until the day before Christmas to make the gifts. (Also, I'm spending money on supplies and parts, which wasn't allowed when we were kids.) So the kids and I spent all day today in the ___ making ___ and ___. I took lots of pictures to show how much fun we had and what a mess we made. But obviously I can't share now!

The best quote today comes courtesy of Archer. "Maybe we should stop thinking about others and start thinking more about ourselves. Wait! I mean..." He did get it straightened out. And then told me that he likes to help others. How's that for a gift?

Maybe if Dad sees this and emails me some pics from Christamases past I can add those here. :) Hint hint

Turkey Day Fun

Today I was in a race with a mob of runners, Mom and I ran the two mile while Dad, James and Danielle ran the 10k. James accidentally took a wrong turn and ran with the two milers, Danielle bailed on her 10k and came back early, and Dad was the only one to run the 10k. Mom and I ran most of our course together, splitting up only at the very end. David, E, Shell and Arch were our cheering section, and also in charge of event photography.

After that fun was over, we came back to our house for Thanksgiving lunch. No turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, just soup. And bread, fruit, cheese, spinach dip (2 kinds!), fresh homemade warm bread... Did I mention the warm apple cider? And hot out of the oven apple pie! Yum!!! We enjoyed the Packer game together, stuffed ourselves silly, and then parted ways. Just in time for a nap.

Snuggling on the couch after lunch

On to Uncle Todd's house! We were running a little late (like an hour late, sorry family!), but something surprised me as we pulled up to Todd's house. The Christmas tree was already on! Usually it comes on at 6:00 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Were we really that late? Did we really miss the Tree Lighting? He turned it on early this year, it is just as beautiful as ever.

We enjoyed great food as usual, and then the conversation turned to Christmas. After all, the Tree Lighting signals the official beginning of the season, and we had some logistics to work out. Where? When? Who's buying the gifts for who? Time to draw names. As Heidi sat reciting kids' names (there are TEN now and I cannot be trusted to remember them ALL) she also snatched a couple of papers and wrote her name down. Then mine. And then chaos and protests sounded as the adults drew names and we tried to figure out the logistics of how many papers each grown up should have. Two? You have three kids? Then three papers. But Todd took two names, so how many should I get? And of course, the truth finally came out... Heidi? Amy? "It was Heidi's idea!" I tattled, not wanting to take the blame for the trick. "YOU put the names in the cup!" she cried back and we all checked our papers, sorted out who had the right number and who needed another, and again the families parted ways.

Its so simple, just cooking a meal and showing up to the same place to eat it together. But somehow that simple thing is the perfect recipe for cooking up laughter, good conversation and great memories. It was a little hectic with a really early start and not much down-time, but it was worth it. Worth every little hassle, worth crawling out of bed early and roaming around the city in the cold windy weather, worth the effort to cook and clean and everything else that comes with the holidays. So definitely worth it.

I love you all, Happy Thanksgiving!

SV 18: Weekend/Holiday/Anniversary

I could not ask for a better three day weekend than what we've just had, wonderful family time together. Who can ask for more? Saturday was a yard-work day and we grilled out for supper. Archer saw me watering the garden with the sprinkler and decided to join the plants, I asked him if the water would help him grow. He said of COURSE not, he grows when he's SLEEPING, not when he's being watered! Shelly wasn't too interested in the sprinkler and when I went looking for her found that she was playing with her dollhouse in her room, completely content at what she was working on. I love seeing the kids play together, but its also nice to know they can entertain themselves alone.

Sunday was church and a Fortier party at Uncle Wally and Aunt Doreen's house. They rented a bounce house/slide! The kids had great fun. Once again I sat on the sidelines and watched their fun. Poor me, I couldn't join in... When I was a kid I used to think that grown-ups just didn't like to do the same stuff as kids but now I know better. We still like that stuff but don't join in for one reason or another. Like being too self-conscious. Or like being pregnant and not thinking it wise to bounce around too much. Oh well, maybe next time! It was a great party and we all had a good time, what a crowd of happy people!

Today was the best day of all, our seventh anniversary. We visited the botanical gardens and tried to tell the kids about our wedding day but they weren't too interested. David and I didn't get much time to reminisce, Archer and Shelly were too busy moving from one thing to the next and we had to focus on keeping up with them. Then we saw Toy Story 3. Then we came home and at the very last possible second decided to go to the fireworks. We staked out a spot at Zoo Beach and the kids entertained themselves playing in the sand. And then the show started and Shelly entertained herself playing in the sand... Oh well, she was happy, even if that's not what we went to do. Happy Anniversary David, what better way to spend it than with our children?