It's Going to be Fantastic!

I flipped the calendar today to take a peak at what I have already planned for December and holy cow, can we just say we are busy?  I try to always make a conscientious effort to do something "Christmas related" every day, but I don't think that is going to be a problem this year.  We have already started the Elf on the Shelf.  Cameron has already had to design her own Christmas tree to take to school and we are in the midst of preparing to make Christmas ornaments tomorrow for girl scouts.  This is going to be a great season of preparation for Jesus and the kids are just about as excited as I am. 

 This morning Brody was in the toilet water again.  The kid just doesn't give up.  So I mentioned that Brody might be on the naughty list this year if he doesn't quit playing in the toilet.  Five or ten minutes later Tucker came up to me.  Looked up all cute and innocent and said, "Mommy...if Santa puts Brody on the naughty list, I will share my toys with him, okay?"  I looked down at him and I saw so much love and concern for his little brother.  I realized that my kids are going to be alright.  No matter what path our lives take, they have each other and they have each other's backs. There is a bond there that is unbreakable.  I just wanted to hug him tight because he's so sweet.

Hopefully your family is feeling the season and looking forward to Jesus.  Happy December!

Elf on a Shelf

For the past couple of years I have been looking at the Elf on a Shelf online and in the stores and waiting until both Cameron and Tucker were old enough to enjoy this tradition.  And so this is the year that the elf arrived from the North Pole.

While out shopping today I grabbed one up and some shiny metallic bright red wrapping paper that looks like it comes straight from the North Pole.  It worked out perfectly.  While the kiddos were up in the bonus room playing the Wii, I wrapped the elf up downstairs.  I wrote a note that said, "From the NORTH POLE". 

I opened up the garage door and went out like I was going to throw out trash.  I then went around to the front door and put the shiny package on the front step and rang the doorbell about ten times "elf style" and ran back to the garage.  I could hear the kids crashing down the stairs and as soon as they ran past, I snuck back inside and came from behind them like I had been in the back room.  They never suspected a thing.

We had just put up our Christmas lights this weekend so they were on and it totally added to the magic of the event.  Cameron, always ready to outsmart you on every situation was completely dumbfounded.  Tucker, always a little more trusting was just excited to open the package. 

We read the story and were informed that we would need to pick a name for our elf.  Easier said than done with these two kiddos.  So we started with Cameron's choice, Jingle Bell.  Tucker wanted to just name him Tucker.  Then Brody.  Then Frosty.  Then he decided on Jingle Bell.  Then Matt tried to help out and got them even more confused with a variety of names, some inappropriate ones along the lines of Seymour Butts, etc.  Finally we agreed on Bubba Jingle. 

I am really looking forward to having something fun and magical for the kids, but I am especially looking forward to the fact that this elf will be reporting all behavior to Santa.  Of course we tried it tonight with going to bed and they didn't even flinch.  Just continued on with whatever they wanted.  So we will see how effective this little guy really is. 

I just did move him to his first location, which is in the hanging light in the dining room.  Looking forward to thinking of creative locations for the kids to find Bubba Jingle.  So what about you?  Have you used the Elf on a Shelf?  Any good suggestions for hiding places?  The countdown is on to Christmas and I am excited!

Pondering Gratitude With Kids

It is just a few days before Thanksgiving and the kids are home from school for.  the.  week.  Yeeeeessss.  They finished last Thursday and so we have been home Friday.  Saturday.  Sunday.  Monday.  And today is Tuesday.  We have strep throat in the house so we can't go anywhere.  And there's a greta thing about my kids....they never get really sick.  They just get whiny.  Even with strep and a fever.  No lying on the couch sleeping it off, resting quietly.  It's like they go into panic mode and just try to kill off the infection by incessant whining.  First we had to have water in a sippy cup.  Then it was dripping, even though it wasn't.  Then we had to have water in a sports cup because we apparantly outgrew sippys sometime this last week.  Then Brody touched the cup and we don't share germs so then we had to have a fresh sippy cup, which was the wrong color.  And Brody of course thinks they are all his and I am trying to keep him from catching strep, which is impossible, and I am going to loose my mind.  Please just lay in the couch.  Take a nap.  Rest it up.  Please.

And then I think about all the things I should be doing, but if I don't sit and "attend" to the one who is sick, they forget to rest.  So I sit here and we cruise through hours of tivo'd Cailous and Arthurs hoping he'll just get bored with it and rest.  But no naps happen in this house.  Ever. 

All the while, Cameron has lost the meaning behind her life and  is so bored because I have threatened her with her life to leave her poor brother alone. Without being able to boss and demand him to do things, she has the Easter eggs out and she and Brody are having Easter egg hunts.  Which means that I will be picking eggs out of the shelves, cupboards, and cushions for the next couple of days.  Why I save those things I have no idea! 

Yesterday was parent conferences for my oldest.  Being a teacher it's always a little interesting being on the "parent" side of the table.  But I can say I am so proud of Cameron because she is doing AWESOME!  She is becoming a reader right before our eyes and I just marvel at how far she has come in just three months of first grade.  My baby is gone and in place of her stands a well behaved, hard working little girl. 

I'm really trying to keep the focus on "Gratitude" in our house until after Thanksgiving.  It's so hard for kids to understand time and two months of Christmas hype is ridiculous for this age.  Toy catalogs in the mail, Christmas commercials, lights on houses already, I have even slipped and played a few Christmas songs.  Instrumental music only, but still.....  Cameron asked me if it was time to make a list for Santa yet.  So during this month we have been working on a "Gratitude" list.  She sits at the counter and writes things to be thankful for.  I spell them for her. The joys of having a first grader. 

Of course even after all the commentary on Gratitude and appreciating the fact that we are so blessed, and listing items and considering things that other people go without, I look on the bulletin board at Tucker's preschool and see that the one thing that Tucker is thankful for is....toys.  Out of family, friends, food, safety, our dog, all the things that we have listed on our Gratitude list, Tucker picks the toys.  Nothing wrong with it, really.  But I try so hard to instill a vision in my kids.  And it's toys. So we probably should have just started making that list for Santa back in October anyways.

I've posted this before, but it pretty much sums it up!

Anybody else feeling the pressure?

And behind all the sarcasm and cynicism, the truth comes out.  I am blessed and I know it. 

Project Life-1913



The Panama Mutual Life Assurance Society--Journal from 1913



Last time I was visiting with my Grandma, she pulled out this daily journal.  This was her father's journal that he kept during 1913.  He was young and single.  And he went South to work on the construction of the Panama Canal.  I couldn't help but appreciate this because it reminds me of my own Project Life Journal.

Journal Reads:  "Yesterday Grif and I were out to the Bathing beach.  Sally and all her pretty ones were there."

 I took the journal home and spent a good couple of hours just appreciating the records and the personal memories.  There is nothing like this anywhere else.  Nobody has these same accounts of what went on during this time.  This is what I hope to accomplish by using Project Life.

 My Great Grandfather wrote small snippets for each day that he was in Panama.  As you can see from the photo above, there was not a lot of space for each day. This is a lot like the amount of space allocated in my own journal.  He also included post cards, receipts, check stubs, invitations, doodles, and quotes. 



Journal reads: "There are over 1400 white school children on the Canal Zone.  And they go to school."



Some days were just a record of payments and money earned.

More photographs to go along with the journal entries

Population of the United States and possessions is over 100,000,000.

 1913.  In 1913 someone was recording their account through the small and mundane daily parts of life.  And now, almost 100 years later, it is being read and shared.  And it is an important documentation of life and heritage and history.  And I can't help but wonder who will come across my own Project Life journals in another hundred years. 
This inspires me to record even more...capture the moment....and consider all opportunities to record life.

This is our Foundation

This morning I stayed in bed and slept under the covers until about seven.  At about three my hubby got up and went to work.  I am typing this and it is about eight o clock  at night and he is still not home.  This is routine and this is how we make a living.  The logger works his tail off.  He puts in long hours, he works harder than any one I know.  He takes extra pride in a job well done.  He does more than is expected.  He never takes time off.  And while I gripe...and pout....and wish he had a nine to five job.....I know that what he does is all for the good of our family.  And because he does this, I get to stay home with my babies.  I get to complain because I never get away from the kids.  I get to never miss a second of this precious time that they are little.  And in the spirit of gratitude.  And Thanksgiving.  And the calm before the Christmas storm.  I just wanted to stop posting cute pictures of kiddos and parties and scrapbook pages and fun things.  And stop and share with you some of the background to my life.  This is logging.  This is what holds our family together.  This is what five generations of The Logger's family have built up and work their butts off every day to provide for all of us.  This is life.  This is something to be proud of.  This is something to be thankful for.

I went to the woods when we were first married.  I literally peed my pants because of the icy roads, the logging trucks coming off the hills, the cold and the wet and the misery.  And this is what The Logger does every day.  This is what puts our food on our table. 

I come from Logging on my side as well.  My Grandpa logged all of my life.  He passed away from cancer when I was in college, but all the way to the end you could find him out in his shop, maintaining his truck, working those long hours.  In fact, the photo of the truck loaded down is a load on his old truck. 
I used to spend the night with my Grandparents and I can remember getting up at 2 am with them, eating some scrambled eggs, trying not to fall back asleep at the kitchen table.  And then sneaking back to bed with Grandma after he left in the truck. 
There is something humble and proud about a job such as this, and I am forever thankful for the men in my life, but especially The Logger, for the hard work that they do to help build up our family, for their love, for their example, for their drive to endure.  Everyone should be so lucky to possess such a work ethic.  I am truly blessed.

Brody's First Birthday