Say It Enough, You'll Start to Believe It
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The pictures above are older as evidence by the cast on Landon’s arm and the fact that Lee and I are standing stop the Duomo in Sienna, Italy. But they depict the people for whom I am most thankful during this season.
I’m a blessed woman.
Oh…and everyone slept all night last night. Well, that’s not entirely true. Landon got up at 2:00 but he went straight back to sleep and so did I. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep will do for your perspective!
I hereby officially love Tuesday.
My sister-in-law (who is all kinds of awesome) is doing a month long series in which she details that which she is thankful for. Imagine that! Giving thanks in the month of Novemeber…who ever heard of such a thing?
I, personally, love the idea of focusing on that for which I am thankful. It’s so easy to get bogged down in the negative, in the business and craziness and OMGI’MNOTGONNASURVIVETHIS moments of life that sometimes I have to stop myself and remember the happy.
In general I’m not much of an Eyeore type person. I’m thankful for that because with some of the heartaches that I have faced in the past, it would be very easy to be an Eyeore. But then again, it’s that way for all of us, isn’t it? We’ve all faced pain, heartache, trial, hurt. We all have the choice to dwell in the pain, live in the past and simmer in the hurt.
Or…
We can move on, step forward and let the past fade in the distance. For some, that’s easy to do. For others, it’s much harder due to deeper wounds, harsher trials or simply because they are hardwired from conception to stew, analyze and think.
So today I’m focusing on the thankful. I have been so bogged down lately that I really haven’t had time to stop and think and…thank.
Outside of the obvious (my husband and kids…what kind of wife and mom would I be if I didn’t mention them, right?) I’m thankful for where we are in our lives right now. We’ve walked a bit of a tightrope in the last few months and it had every potential end in a stomach dropping plunge. But, instead, the tightrope has slwoly widened and we are once again feeling a bit more secure. Not comfortable, of course, as we are ever on our guard, but we have definately seen blessing in the last month.
I’m thankful for that.
I’m thankful for the memories I made travelling Europe with my husband where he snapped the above picture on our last day in Italy as I lounged in a park in Bellagio. I was looking at the mountains across Lake Como and marvelling at God’s majesty, totally in awe of creation. I’m thankful for that day, for that moment and for the many pictures that are seared into my brain from across the seas.
I’m thankful for the career I’m slowly but surely beginning to develop in writing, editing and social media. I wasn’t looking for this and it kind of fell in my lap and I just have to say – I’m having the time of my life. I’m still navigating the waters of what is feasible for me to pursue and what needs to be sacrificed as I also tend to my young brood. But I’m thankful for opportunity, whatever it might be, that comes my way and I’m totally enjoying the ride.
I’m thankful for Nutella. It’s just so very, very good. On everything. Including pizza crust, on which we slathered an entire can a couple of weeks ago and presented it to the kids as dinner. Which leads me to the next thing:
I’m thankful that I can still please my kids with a Boboli Pizza crust and a can of Nutella. I’m thankful that my seven year old still thinks it’s cool when I accompany him on field trips. I’m thankful that my four year old still wants to hold my hand and sit in my lap. I’m thankful that my two year old tells me I’m beautiful almost every day and then squints his eyes in a mischevious grin because he knows it melts my heart.
I’m thankful for my soft bed and thick pillows even though I don’t get to enjoy those as much as I would like to.
I’m thankful.
I’m also now craving Nutella.
I’m thankful that Target is only a couple of minutes away and they faithfully stock Nutella on their shelves.
What are you thankful for?
Post edit: This post is not meant to condemn anyone who has given their child a Nintendo DS or DSi. I do not oppose gaming devices in general, however, at this point in time they are not right for our family. My intent in posting this is not to make anyone feel bad but to get feedback on what the heck to buy my children for Christmas!!!
Carry on…
Hey guys. So Christmas is around the corner. I’m not sure if you were aware of that fact. I mean, you know, if you’ve been hiding under a rock you might not have realized, but for the rest of us who are already being bombarded with decorations and music it’s pretty dang hard to ignore.
Christmas is coming and somewhere someone’s goose is getting fat. Poor Thanksgiving…it is the forgotten holiday.
So here’s my yuletide dilemma. My seven year old is at the age where gift buying is becoming a bit difficult. He still likes toys (praise God), but he’s not as easy to please as he once was. I believe we have one more year before buying gifts to satisfy his maturing tastes will become harder…and more expensive.
This year, he has his sweet little heart set on a Nintendo Dsi. He talks about it incessantly. He wants to check them out every time we enter The Holy Land Target and he tells everyone he sees that he’s getting one for Christmas. Here’s the thing, though.
He’s not.
Lee and I have decided that right now we are not ready to introduce hand held gaming devices into our children’s lives. There are a couple of reasons for this:
1.) I just don’t think it’s necessary at seven to have a Nintendo Dsi. I’m not opposed to them, but I find it to be an awfully expensive gift for such a young child.
2.) I think there are better things to do with one’s time than play video games. We have a Wii and it gets played some, but repeated and extended periods of play are off limits.
3.) I am not ready for the battles that will inevitably come with a NDsi (don’t want to type it all out again). Sloan is actually very responsible when it comes to TV and video games. He does not have much of an addictive personality and he is not one to sit for hours with his eyes glued to the tube. He gets bored and loses interest quickly and can go months without playing the Wii at all. Landon, however, is already showing addictive tendencies in that he wants to watch TV or play the Wii all the flippin’ time. It’s already a daily battle with him resulting in many tears shed. A NDsi would inevitably become a battle zone between Sloan and his siblings and, quite honestly, I can’t handle one more battle.
Are we being unfair? I don’t feel like it, but it really does break my heart not to give Sloan what he wants because he’s such a good kid. I tried to break it to him gently the other day that this year would likely not be the year he received an NDsi. His reponse?
“That’s okay. I’ll ask Santa to bring it to me!”
Crap! Am I going to crush his dreams and destroy Santa all in one year? Hey…welcome to the Stuart home where we take your dreams and roll them inthumb tacks then light them on fire.
Thanks for stopping by!
When I told Lee of Sloan’s reponse he came up with the brilliant solution of telling Sloan that Santa doesn’t bring such expensive gifts – he lets the parents buy those presents. I have tasked Lee with preparing Sloan to not find a NDsi under the tree this Christmas while still preserving the magic of Santa for one more year. I’m counting on my man to come through on this one!
My question is, though, what should we get the poor boy for Christmas? Yes, he will receive clothes, a few books and probably some new art supplies. But what do we get him for that one special toy that’s going to light up his face when he walks around the corner Christmas morning?!
I need your advice! What are you getting your kids for Christmas? I have a few ideas, but nothing seems to take the place of his beloved NDsi, which he will likely receive at some point, but just not now.
I do hereby open the comments up for suggestions. This is my sad attempt to see if I can break the ten comment barrier I seem to have on my posts. Come on, folks, don’t let me down. I am officially begging for your comments! My motherly angst has reduced me to this…a comment whore mooch.
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Okay, I can’t let the last word of a post be whore mooch so I’m going to share a picture that has nothing to do with this post but I just want to share it. It’s Tia, in her Little Miss Matched tights, which I told you about here and her glasses which make her look way too old.
Merry Christmas.
No! Happy Thanksgiving.
First of all, I am very pleased with the way that elections turned out last night. There were a couple of issues that disappointed me and the fact that Harry Reid is still in office annoys me to no end, but more than anything I’m glad that there is a better balance of power in Washington now. Perhaps we can finally have reasonable discourse and work toward the good of the people. For a great analysis of how I feel about all this, visit Nicole’s blog. She essentially said everything I want to say and said it better than I could have.
I’m going to have to bail on a post today. I’m trying to do a better job of not posting bad, rambling posts on the days when I don’t really have anything good to say. Actually, I’ve got a couple of posts rolling around in my head but I just don’t have the time to write them well right now. You see, I’m smack in the middle of a little editing project. My deadline is 13 days away so I need to hunker down and dig in my heels. Let me just tell you – trying to work from home when you have small kids is hard. I have a newfound respect for working moms. And I have a newfound respect for the 5:00am hour. Me and 5:00 are becoming well acquainted.
I don’t like 5:00. AM or PM, come to think of it.
On top of that it’s Holiday season which means there are class parties, birthday parties, Christmas parties and every other kind of party you can imagine to plan and prepare for. And rehearsals for our church’s Christmas Musical (which is going to be amazing – tickets go on sale this Sunday!) And field trips. And big, fat giveaways on 5 Minutes for Mom coming your way – be on the lookout!
There’s also election night coverage to watch, which I know I don’t have to do but it’s so entertaining to listen to husband pants yell at the TV that I can’t pull myself away. There is food to be cooked, lunches to be made and boo boo’s to be kissed. I am speaking on a panel in a couple of weeks at the St. Louis Women in Media’s Fall Networking Event alongside several other amazing women so I need to prepare myself for that, and I need to find a baby sitter and I need to find a babysitter for a date night next week.
Date night! I love date night.
I’m not complaining. Life is full right now. I love it. I go to bed knowing that my day was packed and productive. But life is also tiring right now and I’m learning to say no. It’s hard to say no. But I am doing it. I said no twice today. It hurt because they were big no’s. But for now, no will do.
Oh, I forgot to add that I need to do laundry. I feel like I mention my laundry woes here quite a bit. It’s probably because I’m always waist deep in laundry. How does that happen?
Speaking of laundry – for those of you who are the mother’s of little girls, you must invest in several pairs of socks from Little Miss Matched. It’s the most brilliant idea ever conceived. Sell socks in packs of three, all of which coordinate but don’t match. This way you never have to worry about trying to match socks. There are leg warmers and underwear and shirts and tights and even dresses like this one:
I am going to sign off now because the whole point of this post was to tell you that I’m not going to post today. See? This is exactly the type of rambling, boring post I’m trying to avoid.
Clearly I need to work a little harder on that goal of mine.
*a disclaimer: My husband rightly pointed out in the comments that the Halloween Fairy idea was not ours. We heard it from a friend at church and loved it. Thanks Paul! 🙂 And now…read on.
Dear Halloween Fairy,
It was a beautiful Halloween night. Seriously. As lovely as Halloween nights come ’round these parts.
Some of us even played a little football in our underwear before the festivities began. Naturally.
Of course once dinner was over, we made sure each costume was put on lovingly, with great care and precision.
Anakin, Cheerleader Tia and Woody were all ready to go. See the attention to detail in the costumes?
With great impatience they endured picture time as we waited for the sun to go down so we could stroll the neighborhood demanding candy from all of our neighbors.
We were all thankful to have Boss and Byshka in town for a few days.
But then someone else showed up and nobody knew what to think of him.
Landon in particular was a little leary of the man in the mask. Once we figured out that it was only Boss, though, we all enjoyed trying it on.
Even Monkey got in on the action.
We got a decent family picture for once. It was like a Halloween Miracle!
And we lit our pumpkins, which mommy lovingly carved (read: she mumbled and groaned the entire two hours) and we decorated with a Sharpie when she wasn’t looking.
After meeting up with neighbors and friends, we hit the pavement. It was exciting and fun and filled with laughter. Of course, Landon only made it a quarter of the way before getting tired and needing a ride in his cadillac.
Here’s the thing, though, Halloween Fairy. We ended up with just a little bit more candy than we could ever possibly know what to do with. It’s enough to make sure all three kids need massive dental work for the next eighteen years. Here is an example. This is just one kid’s bag.
So here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to take a little bit of this candy out, and lay the rest on the front porch tonight. We would like you, Halloween Fairy, to come pick up the candy and do with it what you wish. You can dispose of it, you can donate it…just don’t eat it. You don’t need to do that to yourself. And in it’s place would you please leave a special toy for each child?
That would be great. Thanksomuch.
The last two posts were fun for me to write. I like creative writing and I love to write about the moments in my past that comprise who I am today.
What I don’t like, however, is loading you all down with too many wordy, serious posts. Life’s too short for that, yes? So today I will merely throw up a couple of pictures before I tackle the pit that used to be my home. First things first…diging myself out from under the laundry that appears to be reproducing at night while I sleep. Seriously. Piles of clothes everywhere.
This little girl is going to be sporting a very different look possibly by as early as this afternoon, but definately by Monday. More pictures to come.
What better way to spend your morning off school than looking at a toy catalog and telling each other what you want for Christmas?
I’ve been going to Rambach’s Pumpkin Patch since I was a kid and for nine Halloween’s we haven’t missed visiting this patch with our kids. (The first year I was pregnant with Sloan).
So Sunday when the weather was balmy hot we decided to make the trek out there. It feels a little sacreligious to visit the Pumpkin Patch in shorts and T-shirts, but given the fact that I loathe cold weather I wasn’t overly concerned about. And the best part of this year’s visist was the fact that we got in and out of there without spending a dime.
Because we rock.
The trick is to go without money. And leave your ATM card in the car so you’re not tempted to get cash out while there. Then you can honestly tell the kids you don’t have any money. And you know what? They didn’t really care. They were happy to play on the playground, run through the pumpkins and simply enjoy being outdoors. They didn’t need overpriced pony rides and I had already told them we would buy our Pumpkins at Trader Joes because they’re cheaper.
And so I give you…the Pumpkin Patch of 2010. And a lame blog post. Sorry.
Alternately titled: I hope all the women in our lives like to smell good because you’re getting soap for Christmas…
We were in Hallstatt, Austria. It was our second day there and the weather was spectacular. Before heading up the mountain, we decided to walk through town and shop in the local shops. The night before we had walked by a shop filled with the most beautiful soap I had ever seen. It was all different colors and flavors and it smelled amazing.
“Let’s get some soap tomorrow to give our moms for Christmas,” I suggested. I don’t know why I suggested this. Who wants soap for Christmas?
*pause for flashback scene*
When I was in first grade, we had our annual Christmas party. As is tradition in every single elementary school since the very beginning of time itself, we drew names and had a Secret Santa giveaway in which we bought a small, inexpnsive present for someone in the class.
My name was drawn by a boy named Troy. Apparently his mom did not have girls and did not know what to get a little girl…so while everyone else got cute little Hello Kitty trinkets and bracelet, I got a bar of soap. The class played with their toys and I held my…soap.
Second grade, Christmas rolls around again. My name is, yet again, drawn by a boy. I don’t remember his name. What’s another good ’80’s name we could give him? How about Brandon. Let’s go with that.
“Brandon” got me soap. It was shaped like a Hippopotomos and it was pink. I tried not to cry because dangit! I didn’t want soap. My friend Leslie got Poochie stickers. I got soap.
Third grade. Mr. Stephens class. My name drawn yet again by a boy. I think it was David, but I’m not entirely sure. And I’ll give you a second to guess what I got.
I know. It’s almost unbelievable, but my mom will vouch for me. I got soap. SOAP! It was a little red, Christmasy roller thing of soap. Like a bar of deoderant…but soap.
I didn’t even try to hide my disappointment that year. I burst into tears and my mom had to usher me out of the room.
I never received soap again at a class party after that, thankfully. But my faithful parents, being the loving, supportive people they are – they give me soap in my stocking every year. Hardy har har.
So now you know my background with soap and Christmas.
* End flashback. *
Which is why it is odd that I would choose to buy someone soap for Christmas. But these little bars were so pretty and they were made in the most beautiful town on earth so it seemed like a good idea.
When we walked by the store, the overwhelming aroma took over us. It was like drugs. And the prices seemed so…inviting.
“Hey,” Lee said. “This stuff is cheap. Let’s get some for everyone.” At a Euro or two a bar, this felt like a steal so we grabbed a basket and started filling it. Lemon Verbena, Chocolate, Lavendar, Honey Suckle….so many enticing flavors. We grabbed something for everyone and danced to the register, our basket overflowing.
I handed the woman our basket and credit card. I was adding up the soap in my head and figured we had about 35 Euros worth of soap. Still a little much, but I figured it would cover several people for Christmas so no big deal.
She handed back my credit card and the receipt and pointed at my total.
96 Euro.
Let me say that again.
96 Euro.
That equals 127 dollars. On soap. SOAP!
And then it hit me. We weren’t paying a Euro a bar…we were paying by the gram. Sweet Mother of God! We spent 127 dollars on soap. I don’t even like soap. And I certainly don’t like to give it for Christmas.
To the women in our lives…I hope you like soap. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, right?! Don’t take it personally. We don’t think you stink. We just can’t afford to buy you anything else. Because we spent 127 dollars on soap.
Soap!
Merry Christmas…er…
Ahem.
A one year old Sloan being ever so patriotic.
We are laboring today. We’re laboring about whether or not to get out of our jammies or simply stay in them all morning.
We’re laboring over whether to make breakfast here at home or go out.
We’re laboring over whether to be productive or sit on our duffs watching football and eating snacks all day.
We’re laboring over whether to make beds or simply let them sit in their sleeped in states all day.
We’re laboring today over maps of Italy and Austria as we plan our anniversary trip, which we leave for in ELEVEN DAYS!
Yes…we are laboring today. It’s the greatest labor of all.
Happy Labor Day!
Trying to stay dry from the rain that fell for about ten minutes before the fireworks started.
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