4 Miles

Tonight, I was nursing Alex in the boys room and looking around the walls at the murals, trying to decide where I was going to hang some pictures.

(Aside–what murals, you ask? Have no fear, I'm working on a "Tour of our Home" for those of you who have never seen it. It's just waiting for me to hang those pictures I mentioned, take some pictures & add them to the tour. I'm hoping I'll be able to post it tomorrow.)

As I looked, I noticed by the windows, two of those temporary hooks used around the holiday times. We'd used them to hang up Christmas lights in Will's room last year for him.  Hmmm…nice of me to realize they probably should have come down about the time I'd be hanging them again.

Today Will & I were talking and he said "I'm going to be as big as Jesus when I grow up."  I asked him how big that was, and he said "Really big!"

I am thankful for his silly, funny or crazy comments. They keep me from going crazy when other times all he says is "What?" or "Why?"

Well…maybe not going strong, but I'm still going on my NaBloPoMo goal (of posting every day for the month of November). Since I left out something I was thankful for yesterday, you'll get a few bonus ones today.

• I am thankful I actually am craving food today (yesterday the smell of BROWNIES made me sick!!!)
• I am thankful I'm feeling better. (Yesterday was BAD. I have never had stomach problems like that before. I had been invited to a Mich. St./Ohio St. football party and I had to stay home.)
• I am thankful I successfully cooked my first turkey. I bought one, thinking we'd have our own turkey dinner before we went to my parents house on Thursday. I lost track of when Thanksgiving was and then I got sick and couldn't stomach the smell of any food. We had a very good roasted turkey for supper tonight. I must thank Aunt Betty & Aunt Nancy for the roasting pan and the cookbooks they gave me (um, 2 years ago) in anticipation of a Thanksgiving on our own that ended up not happening. 

Alex discovered other houses have cool things to play on called "stairs".  He could not be kept off them. And now he can crawl up them! You'll have to ask James how he gets down.

I mentioned in the last post about feeling sick. I still feel sick. I've been enjoying a varation of the BRAT diet.  I am calling it the "BRATY" diet (Bananas, Rice, Apple sauce, Toast & Yogurt). I branched out for some exciting chicke noodle soup and Triskets today, but I think that was a mistake.

It makes it difficult to find things to write about (because really, noone wants to hear about people being sick or what they are eating) or have the energy to write at all. James has been wonderful. He worked from home yesterday afternoon so I could sleep/stay in bed most of the afternoon. He has handled dinner duty both nights (Will has enjoyed his favorite, spaghetti & meatballs, so he likes Daddy cooking) as well as evening clean up & bed time.  So, something else I'm VERY thankful for (much more so then the garage) is that I am not doing this parenting thing alone.  I guess, in the week leading up to Thanksgiving I'll try to keep up the "What Am I Thankful For" theme. Oh wait–I mean, I planned this the whole time. That was my intent!

We've had two days of cold rain. Not cold enough to make it snow (if it was, we would be buried in 2-3 feet of snow right now), just that cold, dreary November rain.

I have become more and more thankful for our attached garage. In our previous house, we appreciated HAVING a garage. But it was unattached so this involved carrying a child up the steps of the deck and then unlocking the door it as you stood under the open sky, braving what ever elemnts were falling.  Now, as I've had to put two kids into car seats & load up things in the rain, it is so very nice to be able to come into the garage and not need to worry about the rain (or snow that maybe coming). 

Sorry for the light/boring posts. I'm fighting some bug here, but stubborn enough to stick to my goal of a post a day. We're 1/2 way there!!!

This conversation takes place in the car on the way home.  We were stopped at a red light with a car in front of us.  I will be playing the part of Daddy(D).  I was driving.  Tina was playing the part of Mommy(M) and she was sitting in the passenger seat next to me.  The Tort was sitting behind me in his back seat, drivers seat and will be playing himself(TT).

TT: Green Daddy, go, go, go
D: I can't go, I have to wait for the car in front of me to go.
TT: What?
D: I have to wait for the car in front of me to go.
TT: Why?
D: Because, if I don't, I will run into the back of them.  Do you want me to run into the back of them?
TT: Who are they?
D: I don't know.
TT: Maybe they are . . . maybe they are . . . maybe they are . . .
M: {interrupting} We don't know who they are.
TT: {with conviction} We don't know WHO they are daddy!

Like I was asking HIM who they were.  Right.  Good thing he can interpret his mommy for me.  I am sure Dave Barry has an article discussing the inability for a husband to understand his wife.  That is why God made 3 year olds.

The other day I let Will play with ANYTHING in the craft drawer he wanted. He picked the "messy fingerpaints". He did a great job, but as you can see, (click on the bold to see a close up of the work being discussed) the artist was was going through a "black" period. This is due to his black paint falling out of the container as a glob onto the paper. We were going to send it to Grandma Lo, but figured by the time it dried, she'd be back home and we could give it to her at Christmas.

Tonight I took the night off…from working or just being on the computer (until now, obviously).  I baked a coffee cake for Bible Study tomorrrow, worked on my study and then just enjoyed reading & soaking in a bath. And I listened to Christmas music all evening. James was out, at his first praise team practice, so I was able to pull out a Christmas CD and enjoy (he is a firm "Not Until After Thanksgiving" listener).  But I've been in the Christmas mindset, working on getting all the gift getting done before Thanksgiving, I felt it was time to indulge. And it was a very nice evening.

As we were getting in the car to go to the store, Will excidly pointed out a UPS turning down the street. I mentioned the mail truck will be coming to our house this week to deliever gifts we got for Aunt Heidi & Grandpa Harbin. The rest of the conversation (as we were driving to the store) cracked me up…

W: Did we get Shari a gift?
M: No
W: Why?
M: Because we take turns giving the grown-ups gifts and it wasn't our turn to give to her. We're going to get Uncle Teri a gift. But we get your cousins gifts, so we got Micah a gift.
W: We DID?
M: And Annika and Simeon and Britta
W: And we got Alex a gift.
M: Yes we did.
W: Are we going to get me a gift?
M: I don't know, do you think we should?
W: Yes!
M: What do you think would be a good gift for you?
W: Hmmm…. I don't know. Something green!
M: Something green? Can we get you broccoli?
W: NO! <In silly mommy tone> Broccoli isn't for Christmas!
M: It's not? Why?
W: Because it's for supper! I want something else green.