What was your Thanksgiving missing?

What an awesome Thanksgiving!  We didn't have to leave home, we saw all of our family (within the last week)--even Chris' family in Alabama!  We had incredible food, played games, watched the Colts win, and enjoyed the season's first snow.  Overall, it was just fabulous.  As I was putting the girls to bed last night we talked about what a great Thanksgiving we'd had and how thankful we are for so many things.  Anna said, "yeah, but we should have had salami."  Salami?  I've never served it and it took until later today to figure out that a little girl in her preschool class brought salami to school last week.  Evidently we had it all...all except salami.

Uh oh...

We started our impromptu trip to Alabama together from IUPUI yesterday afternoon. Chris and the kids picked me up and we headed south. We were not yet even to interstate 65 when McKenna asked, "Are we there yet?" Oh dear. Seriously, we were only about 2 miles into the trip. Our drive was mostly through a torrential downpour. We were so blessed, though, with a safe trip. After arriving at Wendy's house we learned that we had driven right through where a tornado had been. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been in southern Tennessee at the same time we were. Praise the Lord for our safety and for a productive day today! Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a little farther into our return trip before anyone asks "the question"!

Take a breath....

After yesterday, it's good to stop and take a breath!  The kids and I had church in the morning--Anna had preschool, McKenna and Sam had MDO, and I got to be a substitute teacher in one of the MDO rooms.  After a harried morning (spilled cocoa krispies on the brown hardwood floor on the way out the door qualify as part of a harried morning), it was good to get to church and get started with our activities.  It was after 10am when I had a moment of panic.  It was "Dad's Day" in Anna's class.  All the dads were coming and I just knew that Chris had forgotten.  I had forgotten.  It had been a full week since we'd talked about it.  Panic.  I just couldn't bear to think about how sad Anna would have been if Chris hadn't been there.  THANKFULLY, I was able to get in touch with Chris and since he just works a few minutes away he was able to leave for a little while and be there before the Dad's Day festivities began--at 10:30.  After noon Chris and I began to plan a trip to Alabama to help his folks with some "stuff".  We'll be leaving as soon as I finish my statistics test in a couple hours.  So, then, came the packing and preparing, and all that kind of stuff.  On top of that, because we're leaving today, I had to do the take-home portion of my exam last night (very difficult).  Sleep?  Who needs it!

Samuel is so entertaining right now!  I really like all the development that happens in the first few years.  This, though, has to be one of my favorite stages.  He's saying new words every day.  Yesterday he worked a whole puzzle without getting distracted or throwing any pieces.  Big milestone.  He also told me what the pieces were as he was working it.  Bigger.  I just can't get enough of that little guy!  

Dad was working on the kitchen floor last night, using a pry bar and hammer to remove some of the boards.  Samuel entered the scene and the boy was in heaven!  He'd never looked as happy!  He pointed to dad's hammer and squealed an "ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh" and then labeled it as a "bam bam".  It only got better for him when he realized there was another "bam bam".  Sam used the pry bar appropriately, had fun with the hammer, and cried when he had to leave the construction site to go to bed.  Oh, to be one.  Chris and I are hoping that my dad can teach Samuel all he knows and that Samuel will be as talented as dad.  Then when Dad's not around to fix and build things, we can call Samuel.  

Have a nice day!

There's a new favorite toy at home.  The cardboard box.  It's big enough for two children to sit inside and it has holes at what becomes eye level for the sitting preschooler inside.  It's the perfect Starbucks drive-through, I've discovered.  The girls have spent the last few days playing Starbucks.  They would make great barristas!  They greet you nicely, ask if they can make you an orange mocha or a peppermint mocha, take your "money" (usually pieces from the Winnie the Pooh memory game), give you change (more memory pieces), grind the coffee beans (they make the same noise as beans grinding), pour your drink, hand it to you with a smile and wave you off saying, "Have a nice day!".  Oh, dear.

Party reflections

The last couple of times I've tried to post pictures, I've encountered errors preventing such displays.  Grrrr.  I wanted to share a couple pictures from the girls' birthday party last night!  They looked so cute in their rhinestone "3" and "4" shirts--thanks, Laura!  They had a good time at "McKenna and Anna's Pumpkin Patch" where each kiddo got to search the back acre for a pumpkin to decorate.  There were some adults who may have questioned the use of permanent marker as means for decoration, but all jackets and children and pants came out unscathed so far as we could tell, Samuel included.  Amazing.  The weather was absolutely perfect for hot dogs over the fire pit and hot chocolate with colored marshmallows (Anna's request).  We all had a good time during this joint birthday party.  Perhaps the girls won't remember that we used Colts plates at their party.  That's one of the drawbacks of being a girl with a fall birthday in the Clark family!

Average day

Things I chuckled at today...

McKenna telling Anna to "Hustle!" when they were washing their hands before dinner...

Anna saying, "I can carry my own ketsup" when I put her in bed after falling asleep on my bed...

Watching Samuel play without making eye contact with me after I told him it was time to get out of the bathtub.  I could just see him thinking, "If I don't make eye contact she'll forget that I'm here and I can just sit here and play in these bubbles forever."

The kids and I actually skipped the state cross country meet today.  We had a huge Saturday breakfast and nice, lazy morning instead. They are quite excited about their birthday party tomorrow afternoon.  They helped me create their pumpkin patch in the back acre this afternoon.  What a fun weekend...

It's nice to be wanted

This afternoon Chris and I took the kids to the zoo--we love doing this, particularly on a beautiful fall day!  We took in the Oceans exhibit first, and it was by far my favorite today.  Samuel just loves watching the sharks.  He could do this all day.  Today was a little different, though, because he didn't want to watch them alone.  Every time I left his side to see what the girls were up to, he'd run over to me, say "Mama!" and pull me back over to the shark tank.  He must have done this a half dozen times!  Talk about heart warming...

And we realized that our fearless McKenna does in fact have a fear or two.  As we approached the snake exhibit, McKenna insisted on being carried and then whispered in my ear, "It's going to be dark.  And I don't like snakes."  When I felt her clutching me tighter with every step toward the snakes, I figured she was serious and she and I got to sit that one out.  What a blessing it is to enjoy these moments with my children!