I just needed a relaxing Bath

Watching the first snow of the winter

Having made it through a day of school (homeschoolers don't get off for snow days), dinner, cleanup, and kids ready for bed, I handed off the baby to Rob and took my flu-ridden body up to my bathroom and locked myself in hoping to seek some relief from my discomfort in a warm bath. It's something I don't do too often truthfully. It's not practical. I don't have the time and it costs a small fortune to fill our bathtub. Tonight however, it was about the most practical thing I could do. Oh yeah, another thing I never do is lock the bathroom door. I don't know why, it usually doesn't bother me with three kids and a husband wandering in and out (Aubie doesn't wander yet). Tonight however, no one was getting in!

I settled down in the hot water and created a concoction of essential oils that I thought would doctor me to put into the water. I was soon relaxing and feeling just a little bit better when the first disturbance began. Alayna was talking in her loud voice. It's the one she uses most. I could hear her out in the hallway railing over something her brother Alton had done to her. Although she was venting to Avery, it was clear she wanted Alton and everyone else to hear her. "Alton is so mean and rude! He doesn't care about anyone's feelings!!" I then heard Avery sympathize in his most concerned tone "Ohhhh..." This followed after her every sentence. By now the two of them had made it to the bathroom door and were trying to get in because apparently Alayna wasn't sure that I heard her. "Mom, why is the door locked? I want in!" "Not right now. I'll be out in a little while, go find Daddy," was my annoyed response. Alton then arrived on the scene and the argument fired up again only this time Avery got involved. I'm sure he was feeling left out and so I heard him say to Alton accusingly, "You hit Alayna in the eye Alton!" This in fact, never occurred and so for a moment there was silence as Alton was probably trying to recall if in fact, he had hit Alayna in the eye and Alayna was probably trying to find a way to use this comment to her advantage. Fortunately, I heard them agree that this had not happened, but the arguement quickly resumed.

As I lay there soaking, I was wondering why my husband, whom I thought I had carefully briefed as to what was to occur during the minimal precious moments I was stealing away locked in the bathroom, was not with these children much less protecting me from the noise pollution outside the locked door. I decided to try calling him, "R-O-B!" This did not bring the aforementioned man whom I am sure knew he was in trouble by now, however it did seem to strike a little fear into the children who quieted down for just a bit until they too realized he was not coming. More noise, more sounds of trying to open the bathroom door. I sighed and sank my head deeper into the water. Perhaps that is why they made my bathtub so deep. They knew I would need to get as far underwater as possible.

A few minutes later, and Rob had casually made it upstairs. The noise subsided as he put the kids to bed. Strangely, with the sudden peace and quiet, I felt restless just laying there. I drained the water and got out feeling like I had at least enough energy to finish what was left of the day. Someday the kids will all be grown and out of the house and I can take all the peaceful baths I want, but I'm not sure that's such a good trade-off.

Beyond Christmas

After a quiet but happy Christmas and New Year's we're settling back into our routine. Rob had a couple of four day weekends over the holidays and so we were finally able to begin some home projects we've wanted to tackle, the biggest one being painting the interior of our home. It's going to take months doing it ourselves, but we have a pretty good system. I do the bulk of the painting and Rob comes back and does the details. He is unbelieveably detailed...

Excited for Christmas

It's easy to get so busy this time of year, I keep having to remind myself that I should really treasure the days and be more laid back about things. Rob and I won't always have 4 little excited people running all over the house giddy with the anticipation of Christmas morning. Okay, maybe only three are running around the house, next year it will be four.

The great thing about four kids is that the dynamics seem to change every year, especially with the space between their ages. Each one experiences Christmas differently.

Alton
Gone are the days when little $10 toys were a delight. His taste has grown expensive. He is very money conscious however, and so only asks for one or two things. He likes to give gifts, but can't resist a good bargain when doing so. We had the kids buy gifts for their siblings this year with their own money, which meant they had to save for awhile. Alton carefully plotted out these expenses. When he heard one thing his Dad wanted was a box of cordial cherries, Alton jumped at the chance to purchase them when he realized he could do so for $1.94.

Alayna

Christmas and all it's festivities are kept alive by this one. She eats, sleeps, and breathes the holidays. She is constantly under the tree analyzing gifts. She loves to give presents and will spare no expense to purchase what she thinks will please others. She spent close to $30 on Alton. Of course, all she wants for Christmas are her two front teeth...and a few other things.

Avery

He has probably been the most fun to watch this year as he really knows what's going on now. He is very excited and can't get enough of Christmas music. We quickly realized that we can no longer shop for him or others by sneaking things in the cart while he is with us in a store thinking he won't notice. Alton purchased a bulldozer for him during a family trip to Sam's. We thought we had been sneaky enough, but Avery keeps referring to the red present containing his bulldozer. He also brought the wrapped box of cordial cherries to Rob and said, "Daddy! Chocolate!" Apparently there is no fooling him! Mid-season we began purchasing gifts when he wasn't around!

Aubie

He's the easiest and most unassuming member of the family. A great Christmas for him will be a full tummy, lots of cuddles, and a semi-comfortable place to nap. It is always fun to have a baby around this time of year.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys their family as much as I do!

Visiting Santa

We journeyed far and braved the obscene D.C. traffic just to visit the infamous Tysons' Corner Santa.

Scenes from our Week

Life at our house is by no means boring lately. There just doesn't seem to be time to blog about it.

Here are some scenes from our week:

Regarding History which we all love. Me, because I'm learning so much I didn't already know, Alton, because he finds it so interesting and Alayna because, well, here's a quote:

"Mom, do you know why I love Europe?"
"Why?"
"Because it sounds like syrup."
Me looking at her with a blank stare.


Hopefully, she will get more out of the living history books we read everyday as she gets older.

Then there was the picture of James Madison I found with a speech bubble containing a quote I had never seen before.

Actually, Alton has me laughing more and more these days. His sense of humor is finally becoming more on an adult level.

Tooth Loss Mayhem:

Lately, Alton and Alayna have been losing teeth like crazy. I think there have been five in the last six weeks and both have more loose ones in their mouths! It was hard for the tooth fairy to keep up. Especially perplexing was the issue of what to do when Alton lost one of his molars last week and apparently didn't know it. He just woke up and it was gone...it hasn't turned up either.

These circumstances have brought about some questions regarding the tooth fairy. Here is a recent conversation I was privy to:

Alayna: "Lily says she doesn't believe in the tooth fairy."

Alton: "That's crazy. Where does she think the teeth go? I mean, why would your parents want to steal your teeth?

Alayna: "I know, they can't plant them to grow stars and all that."

I know what some of you are probably thinking, but basically my view is there will be far too many years of life facing very realistic circumstances and that every child should get as many years as possible to believe like only children do. I do not expect they will be bringing baggage into their adult years as a result of my decision. I have chosen, however to answer questions carefully these days and if one of them asks me point blank, then I will answer. That hasn't happened yet. So far, the only recent question has been when Alton asked me if the government funded Santa Clause. I truthfully responded, "No."

Innocent Village Savagely Attacked!

Traditions at Christmas time are such a wonderful part of the season. Each year we try to do the same things we've done in years past because we usually have great memories of each tradition.

Sometimes however, it can be fulfilling to break tradition and do something spontaneously different. In my family growing up, we always opened presents on Christmas morning. We didn't dare think of doing otherwise, but I remember one year when that didn't happen. Every Christmas Eve we opened up one present; usually not a real big one. For some reason, that year, we unanimously agreed that we should not stop at just one. What occured next was a spontaneous early Christmas that left us with happy memories of breaking tradition. Perhaps we had a few regrets the next morning when we had already opened all the presents.

Now I have my own family, and have instituted some new traditions as well as the ones I grew up with. For instance, each year we put together a gingerbread house. In the early years, it was mostly me putting it together and the kids sneaking the candy. Lately however, they've been able to help out more.

This year, we deviated from the norm a little by purchasing a Wilton Minature Gingerbread Village. It looked adorable and perhaps simpler because all the pieces were so little. As we got into the process, I began to realize that it was going to indeed be far more difficult to assemble the cute little village of five buildings than it would've been just to build one house. I knew it was very important to the kids so I began to press on thinking it was going to be an all night affair. Rob sat holding Aubin and became noticeably strained at how tedious the task was. We didn't get past the separating of all the gingerbread pieces (each building had to have the pieces cut with a knife, it was like performing surgery), when Rob made a suggestion. "What do you say to just cutting our losses and eating it?" All activity stopped as we stared at Rob with mouths wide open. The nerve just to suggest such a thing! After a moments contemplation it sounded like a good idea to us all! I was so relieved as we scrapped the project and just gobbled it up. Anyone can admit that gingerbread houses are a frustating thing anyway because you can't eat them. Well, we did, and we liked it! There will be no gingerbread house at our house this year, only pleasant memories of the year we just ate it.

A Quiet Thanksgiving

None of these pictures are from today. They are merely pacifiers for some Grandmas that wish they were holding him.

This Thanksgiving found us by ourselves. We couldn't really get to family and our friends all left town. I had pretty low expectations, but surprisingly the day turned out quite nice.

Rob wanted everything low maintenance. He didn't want a turkey, just a ham. The kids were disappointed at first, but in the end I think they enjoyed it. I made a few side dishes and bought what I thought was a pumpkin pie from Sam's. Turns out it was a sweet potato pie (they look very much the same) which happens to be the only kind of pie in life that Rob detests! He of course, did not understand how anyone could make this mistake when there was a giant sticker on the pie that said sweet potato. I didn't even see the sticker. It looked like a pumpkin pie to me and having no previous experience with a sweet potato pie, I was duped. The kids and I liked it just fine. Rob, for the first time in the history of his 38 Thanksgivings...went without.

While at the table we went around and said what we were thankful for (it would be un-American not to right?). Alton went first and said he was thankful that we had food to eat and that he lived in a free country. I beamed at this response because I attribute it to all the American history we've been studying this year. Alayna was thankful for a Mom and Dad and food, and when asked, Avery was thankful for...food. We did break out the china for the event so whatever time I saved in the kitchen cooking, I made up for washing dishes! I have a wash cycle just for china on my dishwasher, but I'm afraid to try it. Has anyone used this before? Let me know. The rest of the day was relaxing with stuffed tummy induced napping and watching three hours of Fiddler on the Roof. Don't ask me why. I thought there would be some good Christmas movies on, but no. Alton and Alayna actually watched the whole thing!

After the kids went to bed, Rob and I mapped out our plan of attack for Christmas shopping tomorrow. This year, Rob will go. Somehow I don't have the energy to tackle the traffic around here and the mayhem of shopping for Christmas!