my sister started it

...Yesterday, Krista posted about how good her memory is and also about Santa. First, her memory is amazing. Secondly, I, too, have been thinking about Santa a lot lately especially because my 2 sons are asking many questions that I am having a hard time answering.

Question: Does Santa have money to pay for all these toys that he gives?

Noah has asked this question many times. At first, I answered yes. (easiest) Then I changed my mind. Because, as my sister pointed out, many kids less fortunate than mine don't not get gifts because they are bad so I can't say that Santa is shelling out money for some and not for others. That wouldn't be fair.

Question: Do I use the "Santa is watching you" line on my boys?

Absolutely. I have been singing it to them every time they fight. Hey, it gets them to stop! I don't ever say that they won't get gifts if they are not good but I guess that is implied in the song. I have also told them their uncle got a jar of tears one year for crying too much. (Isn't it funny how strong a memory that is?) They don't take it too seriously though.

Question: Do you have to have faith in Santa?

Rhett asked this question last night. We were listening to a story about having faith in the Christmas spirit and he got confused. I tried to explain that Santa came each year to give kids an example of the spirit of giving. Because that is what he is all about. He gives, without thanks, without expecting anything in return, because he wants to. It is very beautiful when you think about it. I have heard many stories over the years about adults teaching children who are too old to "believe" about this spirit of giving and how it is so important as a human to have an unselfish heart. I think the poem, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" and my favorite story from when I was a child, "The Littlest Christmas Tree" are two such stories for me.

Question: Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Rhett also asked me this question. I know he is getting close to figuring out something. In school they are studying different countries and how they celebrate Christmas and he said that some people in Mexico don't believe in Santa. I also know some kids in his class already don't believe.

I answered "Yes." Just like my mom did when I asked her. She never told me no. Ever. Do I think she is a liar? No. I think she was being true to her heart. Like I am now. I don't ever want to tell my sons that I don't believe. And for reasons such as the one stated above, I won't. Really, isn't it much more fun to believe in something so good and so kind than to not?

I do remember the year I left Santa milk and cookies and I got a letter from "him" thanking me. The moment I looked at the note, I knew. It was my mom's handwriting. (She has the neatest handwriting!) And it broke my heart. Still, I told myself that he was still real and I hung that letter up on my bulletin board. I kept it there for most of the year. And every time I looked at it, I knew the big truth. At first I was mad. How could he not be real? Then I came to understand what Santa was all about and why mom was adament in her belief. And, then, the next Christmas, I too, found mom's hiding spot for gifts. So life was good again. :)

Question: So what will I do when my boys stop believing?

Cry. Ha! Well, maybe. But first, I'll find that poem and then I'll tell them my story and how much fun it is to be someone else's "Santa." And I'll find a better hiding spot for gifts other than my closet because really, that is the first place they will look. (Sorry mom.)

sweet and sour

...Noah is getting to be quite famous. It seems as if all the bus drivers know that he will stand there waving and showing toys to whoever drives the bus. The regular bus driver has been gone for the past week and I promise, when the substitute driver opened the doors, he smiled wide when he saw Noah. My neightbor says .must be a photo of Noah saying: "This kid will show you toys. You'll love him!"

His teachers love, love, love him.

Other parents tell me he is such a cutie.

He has a smile that will light up a room.

I have seen him hug on his friends and be so kind to them.

Noah can be so sweet. To other people.

But to his family, he can be so sour. He actually told me today that he was never listening to me again. I told him: "Fine. I just won't talk to you again." He said: "Ahh, you'll forget." Humpph. (Yeah, I felt like I was a little girl fighting with my brother at that moment.)

When he was in the car with my parents the other day, I think he almost drove them crazy because of his complaining and whining.

His aunt was trying to get a picture of him, Rhett and her two kids and he absolved into tears and screaming. (He is almost 5!)

He can be downright mean to his brother.

I guess it is good that he shows his sweet side to others. It could be the other way around and then everyone would dread the little kid.

Oh, he does show his sweetness to us every once in awhile. And I do treasure those moments. Just a few seconds ago, he said he was sorry for saying he would make me pay! because I told him to get his shoes on.

That's something at least.

The Year With 2 Trees

...I put up 2 Christmas trees this year. In retrospect, I realize how silly it is to have two trees one room apart from each other and Seth agreed. But let me explain. This year, I let the boys decorate our tree how they wanted it. They wanted the multi-colored lights and I like the white lights. But I said okay. I didn't help them with the ornaments and saw that all of their ornaments filled the tree. It looked great. But a little part of me wanted the tree I saw in my mind. So I got out our other tree has white lights pre-strung on it (thank goodness) and decorated it with red, white and silver ornaments. Rhett helped me with this and I love how it looks. I don't regret doing it. We had fun doing both trees. And if you sit in the chair in our living room, you can see both. (This is the chair Seth usually sits in, so lucky him!)

The boys did wonder if this means they will be getting double the presents. No. Well, would Santa know which tree to put the presents under?

I told them Santa knows that their mom went a little overboard this year and he would know exactly which tree was the present tree.

And if he gets confused, we won't have to look far for the gifts. It is only one room away.

sad heart

...Julie Lyons passed away this past weekend. I am sad. I never met her but as a mom, my heart hurts for her children and husband. From reading about her on her blog, I could tell she was a special woman with a strong and loving heart.

thank you

...Today Rhett and his class will have their Thanksgiving play. Rhett has a few lines. Let's hope his nerves do not get in the way. Noah is going to come with me. Let's hope he just does not get in the way.

I pray that everyone who is traveling will be safe this holiday. Have a great and wonderful Thanksgiving. And maybe help your mom or mother-in-law with the dishes. And spend some extra minutes with your spouse, even if it means watching football. And even go play outside (if it is not too cold) with your kids. That is what I am planning on doing.

Here are a few quotes for the holiday:

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~Erma Bombeck

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. ~Cicero

O Lord that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.~William Shakespeare

And one more thing: Thank you for coming here and reading my blog. I know I don't always have something worth reading, but I thank you for stopping by to check. If you leave a comment, an extra thanks. Know that I think of each one of you, even if I do not know you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

four things

...Today I am thankful for:

*our fence is finished! Seth did such an amazing job. I did help, but he did the bulk of the work and it took him 3 weekends. But he is done and it looks great!

*getting ready for Christmas. I am cleaning house today and decided to start putting out decorations. And it made me excited for the holidays. Thanksgiving is going to be fun and then the boys' birthdays are around the corner and then Christmas! I love this time of year!

*Rhett wanting to "have conversations" with me. :)

*getting organized. again.

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Mom!

...Noah says: Happy Birthday, Grandmom! And also, I want to tell her what we bought.

I say: No.

Rhett says: Happy Birthday Grandmom! Happy Thanksgiving anyway. I love you Grandmom. I hope you have a good birthday. I'll see you at Thanksgiving. I believe you are 20.

Noah says again: I believe you're 30. I hope you have a good birthday Grandmom. Why does Gary have to go to golf courses?

Rhett says: Write a message back to Rhett and Noah!

I say: Mom, have a wonderful day tomorrow! We all love you and think you are the best.

this is why moms don't have nice things

...The other day the boys were outside and they ran around my little tile-top table ($15 at Kohls) and it fell over and some of the little tiles fell off. Well, the boys were very apologetic and I said it was really okay but they insisted on helping me fix it. So I got some glue and we glued the tiles back on the table. Now, you can tell where the tiles fell off, it doesn't look the same and really to anyone, it doesn't look all that great.l

But to me, it is beautiful.

And every time I look at it, I will remember how they worked together and glued on over 50 tiles on that table. Even though they thought it was so hard. They were so concerned because they thought it was an expensive table! I didn't want to tell them there was no way I would ever spend a lot on a table that was bound to get knocked over by two little boys. Because I guess that point didn't matter. What mattered is they tried to fix their mistake.

I am thankful that they cared at that moment.

And I am thankful that I have had that moment to remember these past few days when the boys have been fighting, pouring pepper into cereal, spilling things, and being whiny.

And I am thankful I have that moment to remind me not to buy nice things.

he was sorry

...Noah came in my bathroom this morning while I was fixing my hair.

N: Mom, I am so sorry.
me: What happened?
N: (big sad pout on face) I accidently poured my broder's cereal.
me: You...poured...out? your brother's cereal?
N: Yeah. I said I was so sorry.
by this time, Rhett comes in, nose covered by hand.
R: My nose still stings.
me: What?
R: From the pepper.
N: I said I was so sorry!
me: Wait. Noah, did you pour pepper into your brother's cereal?
N: I said I was so sorry. It was an accident. (wailing cry)

Sigh. Somedays, I think I want to move to Austraila.

don't fence out your friends

...Today I am thankful that my boys have friends. Does that sound funny? I hope not. It is just kind of a relief to know that they have good friends. Good friends are hard to find and not everyone is so lucky. Rhett is going home with a friend--he is a car-rider today and that has gotten him so worried! I told him to just follow his friend and he should be fine--and Noah has a friend over right now. They love playing with their friends and it makes me happy to see them surrounded by kids that love to have fun.

I am also thankful that they have neighbors to play with. This weekend Seth and I worked on our new fence and so I was glad they had playmates to keep them busy.

Our fence is looking wonderful by the way. It is made out of cedar and is tall and there is no way our dogs can get out. Yay!

And yes, I see the contrast of this post. I am saying how wonderful it is to have friends and neighbors but then I am talking about a tall fence that we are building to keep people out. But Seth and I really like knowing we can go into our backyard and not have the whole neighborhood peeking in. Not that they are or even want to, just nice to know we have some privacy. Not that we are doing anything that warrants that. It is just nice.

But just so you know, our neighbors are always welcome. Well, mostly always.

I hope you have a great day!!

sweet-smelling reindeer

...I saw this cute little reindeer ornament in the Pottery Barn magazine and thought instantly, "I've got to make this!" So I picked up some cinnamon sticks and silver paint and add a little hot glue and a cute red ribbon, and now I have 2 little reindeer that smell subtly of cinnamon!

If you are wondering why I just didn't buy it, well I have to thank my mom for that too. I remember doing all sorts of Christmas crafts growing up--a wreath made out of yarn and a hanger, our names made out of wooden letters and ribbon are two that come to mind--and now when I see something the first thing I think of is: Can I make this? If I can then I am not going to buy it! Silly! :) It is so much more fun to make things and now I just have to work on letting my kids help me more. Hee! Hee! Noah did help with the paint some but I am thinking I need to make some more and let them paint the whole thing. I found everything at Hobby Lobby by the way. Maybe I've inspired you to make these somewhat primative reindeer or something else out of cinnamon sticks. If so, I hope you tell me about it! :)

Have a great day!

my dogs will thank me when it's cold

...I am thankful that my mom taught me the basics of sewing. I've been thinking about getting the dogs a bed for the cold months to put in their dog house or cage when they are in the garage, but I really did not want to spend at $50 to buy them. So today I got the idea that I just needed to sew my own. I have already put one together using felt, cotton and burlap but I need something to fill it. I am going to have a velco opening so I am thinking small wood chips/shavings. Pillow fluff won't work-it will get stinky. Do you have any other ideas?

That is what I've been doing today. Lots of fun. And it will only cost me about $15 for 4 pillows. (I got way too much fabric so I'll just make 4). But that is a lot of money saved, right Seth? ;)

it's that time again

...time to enjoy looking at the fall colors, time to start snuggling under more covers at night, time for Christmas songs to start playing in stores (it gets earlier every year), time to be thinking about the holidays, and time to start my Thankful List! I did this last year--every day in November (that I blogged) I wrote about something I am thankful for. It really is good for the soul to think about things you appreciate, so I am doing it again.

I am thankful...

...that I have gotten a jump start on my holiday prep. Today I ordered my Christmas cards! Woohoo! Believe me when I say I did a dance `a la Evan Almighty when I got that done. I know the most time-consuming part is still to come (addressing) but I really am okay with that. I am happy because it means Christmas is coming. It means that people will be sending us Christmas cards. I love opening the mailbox and seeing different colored envelopes in the mix of bills and junk. It means that people cared enough to write our address (or type it out) on it to send it to us. In this techo world where email has replaced most mail correspondance, it means a lot. So, I am thankful for friends and family sending Christmas cards too. :)

Have a great day!

writings by Rhett and Noah

This is something that Rhett wrote this morning before going to school:

I am six 6

I have a Bruthr that is named after Noah and The arc. his Name is Noah too and I thot That he is Luckee.
I am Luckee Too. I have 95$ and with 55$

And this is what Noah wrote shortly after (with spelling help from me):

IAMNOAHONTHEARK

:)
Have a wonderful day!

Halloween redo

Noah tells everyone to have a Happy Halloween! He was most excited that the day finally was here, but he was not interested in wearing his Pokeman costume again, so he was Spider-Man for the second time. I think maybe that all the festivities of Halloween are becoming an overkill. Let's see...we had a costume birthday party to attend, a Fall Festival, trick or treating at the lake, halloween party at school, a festival at Seth's work, and finally trick or treating. I am thinking that is way too much Halloweening for me.

Rhett in his redone Spongebob costume that no, did not get worn on Halloween night either. I had to paint the face on a t-shirt instead of the posterboard so Rhett could bend down. He decided to be a cowboy for Halloween. Sigh.

And finally, the pumpkin Rhett and I carved for the fall festival. Isn't it hilarious? We didn't win first but second was pretty great!

Trick or Treating last night was fun. The boys filled their bags up to the top so they were happy. Some people were handing out full-sized candy bars! Those may have to become missing...:)

Have a great first day of November! It's my grandad's birthday so Happy Birthday Grandad!!