groundspeed

Good Friday at the Beach

Psalm 8

¹ LORD, our Lord, 
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
  You have set your glory 
   in the heavens.  

We HEARD the waves while still walking up the sidewalk, long before pavement gave way to sand. And then... Red flag. High tide. We weren't sure how our beach day was going to work out.

² Through the praise of children and infants 
   you have established a stronghold against your enemies, 
   to silence the foe and the avenger. 

The kids enjoyed dancing in front of the waves but even later in the day when the tide receded and things smoothed out, Kaden was too scared to get in the water. He'd heard and seen the strength of those wave breaks...

³ When I consider your heavens, 
   the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
   which you have set in place, 

Meanwhile Kevin fully enjoyed God's handiwork.

⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 
   human beings that you care for them?

Big waves. Small man.

 ⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned them with glory and honor. 

This troublemaker? A little lower than angels? God IS gracious. :-)

⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands; 
   you put everything under their feet: 
⁷ all flocks and herds, 
   and the animals of the wild, 
⁸ the birds in the sky, 
   and the fish in the sea, 
   all that swim the paths of the seas.

And brothers. Because here Toby has his brothers under his feet.

 ⁹ LORD, our Lord, 
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Yesterday it was animals. Today it was ocean, surf, and sand. There have been times in my faith walk when my intellectual side has leaned toward atheism (just being honest) but in creation... I can't imagine it all occuring by chance. Surely this beach, yesterday's peacock were the design of The Artist.

And if I accept a Master Designer, then I can accept that He is perfect, and I am not, and there must be a bridge to overcome that gap.

Today, more than any day, I humbly acknowledge Christ's sacrifice in creating that bridge. 

But on this side of the cross, it's not such a solemn day. There may be the dark skies, heavy thunderous waves... but they give way. The skies brighten.  The sea calms.  The beauty reveals. 

I know. I've seen.

In nature. In my life. In the life of my kids.

So this solemn day was not so solemn. We played at the beach. We lunched at the Jensen Beach Mulligans. We napped and watched Star Wars. I shopped for our church's Easter breakfast and worked on vases for table decorations. Preparations... 

THE day of celebration for Christians is almost here!

35 Kevin and Birthday Related Things

1. 

2. Kevin flew yesterday - a long day where he was out of the house around 5am and home a little after 8pm.  The day after he flies he doesn't go into work until 9am so he can then bring Kaden and Blue to school first. For some reason, being dropped off by Daddy is waaaayyyyyy cooler than being dropped off by Mommy, so the boys love these mornings.

2. According to Blue the things Daddy can do well are: read, canoe, and fly airplanes.

3. So good at canoeing in fact that I skipped my undergrad college graduation ceremony and Kevin and I went canoeing instead. Seriously.

4. But when he graduated the following December did he replay me that kindness? Nope. I then sat through my first UF graduation....

5. Kevin shares his birthday with his (now deceased) maternal grandfather.

6. And Flava Flav.

7. The number one song on March 16, 1977, the day Kevin was born, was Love Theme from 'A Star is Born' by Barbara Streisand.

8. Daddy's birthday fell on Blue's St. Patrick's party day.


Blue came home looking even more like a feisty leprechaun than usual.

9. Blue's leprechaun hat doesn't fit Kevin.

10. Poor Kevin. Toby wants nothing to do with him these days. If Kevin tries to pick him up he just starts hollering Mommy.  Last night when Kevin got home, Toby was still awake and talking in his bed, so Kevin went in to say goodnight. When the door opened Toby said, "Mommy!" Then he saw it was Kevin and said, "Bye bye."

11.Five years ago... March 2007 Kevin and Kaden feeding ducks at a Longview, TX park. 

12. Those are the sunglasses Toby broke last weekend so Kevin will be replacing them with his birthday money this year.

13. Kevin has $100 in extra birthday money because I put $10 worth of scratch-off/lotto tix in his bday card and we won $14. He then used ten of that and bought one scratch-off that won him $100. (For the record adding a few scratch-offs to bday cards or Christmas stockings is the only time such things get bought around here.)

14. I think this will always be my favorite picture of Kevin and any excuse to post and repost should be taken...

(summer of 1999)

15. Every year since I've known Kevin you could ask me what his favorite food is and I'd have been able to say home-grilled, medium rare hamburgers with all the fixin's. Oh and the ketchup has to be room temperature.

16. Then, last summer, he had to go and watch King Corn and Food Inc and he banished factory farmed meat from his diet so he's like 98% vegetarian, and I have no idea what his favorite food is. 12+ years as a couple and I can't even tell you his favorite food. Sheesh.

17. He can do basic car repairs, basic plumbing, electrical work, anything woodwork related, flooring... I'm telling ya, super convenient guy to have around.

18. He loves planning things to do with the boys. (Camping last weekend, St. Lucie Mets training game tomorrow.) And oh how I love him for that.

19. Before we were officially a couple Kevin and I used to use 90210 as an excuse to get together. It was its last season and really, really bad, but every week, there we were in my apartment... Clearly destined to be married.

20. He always beats me at Scrabble.

21. If you had asked me the odds of Kevin watching Midnight in Paris, I'd have said slim to none. But the week before the Oscars that's the movie he spontaneously redboxed. We both loved it.

22. He's read The Hunger Games trilogy.

23. And all the Twilight Books.

24. But after Eclipse he told me he won't go to any more of the movies with me. I can respect that.

25. Now's he on a kick where he alternates fiction and nonfiction and his nonfictions kicks of late... Cival War era U.S., Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and Greedy Bastards

26. He has the worst eczema on his hands and feet and has no fingerprints. This was a big fat pain when we were adopting Kaden from Russia and we needed to be fingerprinted. Nowadays he uses the "hands hurt" excuse to get out of doing things like chopping onions and putting away laundry.

27. This is a shame because he is much better food dicer than I am.

28. Just heard him say, "Come on Florida State." I thought this was blasphemy in our house, but I guess it helps his bracket if they win a few...

29. Of course he's got brackets... entered in a pool.... for money.  He plays fantasy football too.

30. How many pilots out there have a degree in Chemical Engineering? At least one.

31. His trunk is full of old lobster traps. Ask him about it.

32. He loves to snow ski and golf but alas, now that he's a family man, never gets to do either.

33. I am NOT shy, but Kevin is definitely the outgoing one in our relationship.

34. We spent a bunch of money last year on new dressy clothes for Kevin. Tonight we're going to the MFI banquet and Kevin's back in his old clothes. Now that's he's a vegetarian he can't stop losing weight. 

35. This morning:


 

Crazy Campers

Friday night we headed down to Jonathan Dickinson State Park for a one night camping trip.

Kevin and I had some big camping adventures pre-kids. 

We went tent camping once when it was just Kaden.

Kevin took Kaden and Blue a few times last year.

This was the first time we went with all five of us. 

It was... a good decent first try. We were all set to book a site in the Keys/Bahia Honda  for a longer family camping trip later this year, but now we're thinking we're gonna wait on that.

Set up in the evening was fine. Picnic dinner. Tossing around the baseball. Roasting marshmallows. The boys inviting a stranger for some marshmallows (they did, we shared, it was fine). Kaden read the littler boys a few stories.

Blue eating attacking a marshmallow.

Reading in the tent time.

I'm so talented.  I can hold a flashlight and take pictures.

Aside from some sand fleas and the fact that Kevin beat me at Scrabble, it was a nice evening.

And then came bedtime.

Toby just didn't sleep. First he wouldn't go to sleep. Luckily our tent is so big it actually has two rooms, so finally we zipped him into his own room and let him cry and fuss until he passed out. That was around 9:30pm. He slept soundly till about 2am and then that was it. He woke up and thought it was time to get up.  Blue slept through everything. The rest of us? Notsomuch.

Finally around 6am he crashed again for about an hour.

And then, big surprise, we had a cranky fussy Toby the next day.

We went on a short walk to a river overlook.

Some of the time Toby was into it and walking.

Most of the time he decided to stop. Because, you know, pine needles and sand are so fascinating.

So we took turns carrying him. This worked when Mom did the carrying, but if Daddy tried it was all squiggles and shouting for Mommy.

So that didn't work, but we still made it.



But then, for some reason (oh right, no sleep) Toby threw a big fit when it was time to walk back. Sadly for me, big fits these days involve scratching and hair pulling.  Finally, beyond frustrated, I threw him in Daddy's arms and ran ahead on the path. Without me to act up for, he chilled and came along. 

In addition to Toby's tired-two-year-old temper, there was another big hazard to this walk. Apparently there was a giant on the path ahead of us. He left some crazy tracks.

I did find it a little suspicious that the word "giant" was written in the middle of this print and that Kaden was walking ahead of us with a stick in his hand, but... you never know. If you go for a walk at Jonathan Dickinson and you come across a giant on the path, don't say I didn't warn you.

We survived.

We had a little playground time where Kaden and Blue played happily and Toby stomped around uber cranky at one point even breaking Daddy's sunglasses when Kevin went to fetch him because he'd stomped too far away. Oy.

Then Toby and I sent Kevin, Kaden and Blue off into the Loxahatchee river (we borrowed a canoe from one of Kevin's coworkers) and Toby and I continued on to a birthday party in West Palm.

Wait. What?

In that state I took Toby to a birthday party? Am I CRAZY?

Yes. There's that. 

It still seemed a better option then sticking the kid in a canoe.

Also, I figured he'd get a needed nap during the 40 minute drive and if worse came to worse I'd just let him sleep. 

He did nap, but I didn't let him keep sleeping. He wasn't happy about being woken up and right away getting a diaper change, but he was soothed by Teddy Grahams and a fruit bar and I got him composed before we entered the bounce house! kids! snow cones! and petting zoo! birthday hoopla.

Actually the petty zoo was what I'd known would be our saving grace. Toby loves "anmals."

There were baby chicks, bunnies, a piglet, a rooster, two ducks, a mini cow, a goat and two baby goats. I didn't take many pictures because I was too busy making sure Toby was being gentle.

Yup, a traveling petting zoo for a barnyard themed birthday party. LOVE it.

After leaving the party we returned to the park to fetch the rest of the fam. Poor Kevin... About twenty minutes before we got back it had started POURING. Kaden and Blue didn't mind because they love to play in the rain. Kevin was a bit grumpy, and of course it didn't let up for the packing up, canoe mounting, but by the time we were out of the car and gassing up? Clear skies.

Is there any better way to end a camping trip? 

Terrible Monday Vs Terrific Husband

Score one for the husband.

But first a little back story:

In the past, around Valentines day, I've taken time to blog about my all my boyfriends. (As in, Kevin and the kids.) Well, it's still February and I wanna take a moment to brag on my main love, The Husband.

Valentines Day was oh-so-romantic. Kevin had to fly and was gone before I got out of bed. I woke up to a text wishing my a happy Valentine's and reminding me to make Kaden wear his cup that evening at his baseball game. Ah, thirty-something love when you have young kids.

The next night I made the shrimp linguine dish that is our tradition.

And that was our Valentines. I wrote Kevin a love note and he bought me a little journal where he wrote something sweet. The purpose of this journal is for HIM to keep adding to it.  Sounds romantic, huh.  Uh yeah, until he said, "See! This way I never have to buy you cards anymore." Points canceled. That was it for presents. In January we bought a van and new phones. That's enough in the present department until... maybe forever.

Friday night we had dinner at my mom's and then left the kids behind. Woo-hoo! Except what do you do when you're trying not to spend any money and you have a date planned for the following evening? (Add to the van, iphone list the fact that in January we paid our property taxes and our conference fees for the 2012 Fragile X conference in Miami - we are so broke.)

We could have redboxed a movie but we were going to the movies the next night (gift cards! free date!) so what do broke nerds do for fun? We downloaded scrabble to our phones for $1 and sat shoulder to shoulder on the couch for some fierce word combat. (Ok, that wasn't our only fun for the evening, but this is supposed to be a G rated blog.)

Saturday night, mom still had the kids, and we went out on our gift cards - Chilis and a movie (The Vow - it was, after all, our belated Valentines date) and then we went to Barnes and Noble. In the old days we would go to Barnes and Noble, split a frappe, and read things to each other from magazines or books we'd picked up. This past weekend we split the frappe and played more scrabble. Because playing scrabble isn't nerdy enough - we had to up the ante and play scrabble in a bookstore.

That is my very long and overly detailed way of saying we are so made for each other.

And then came Monday.

Oh Monday. President's Day. All the kids home, so a leisurely morning because we didn't have anywhere to be until Toby's 9:30 speech apt. All was well. All were dressed, fed, there was laundry in the washer, laundry in the drier, laundry in a basket half-way put away - good start to the day. Until Toby throws a fit in the driveway instead of being his usual merry self who climbs into the van and sometimes even lets Kaden buckle him. It took much strength to pin and strap and confine, but finally he was rightly buckled and we were back on track, a favorite CD working some calming-down magic.

Speech was fine. Next up my monthly "back crack." Toby is always with me on these apts. He keeps the desk gals on their toes, but it's usually a quick 20 minutes and we all survive. With brothers to entertain it should be an even easier visit. Ha! 

Walk through the door and Toby throws himself on the ground and starts kicking. Oh no, that's not embarrassing. I thought I was going to have to go back to the car and fetch snacks, but then I noticed a basket of Valentine candy on the counter and grabbed a pack of conversation hearts. Slowly doled, the hearts lasted us until I needed to pay and re-schedule.  Mega-fit Toby returned. I picked him up and he beat and scratched me. Embarrassing AND painful. I managed to pay and said I'd call to reschedule. 

More muscles needed to pin and buckle as Toby fought me and his car seat. I was starting to lose it.

Next up - the beach.

And I so was NOT excited because A. Toby was being unpredictable and B. it was chilly. Sunday was 82 and then no-school Monday and the temps barely brush 70. What is that about?  But the beach bag and a picnic lunch were packed and I didn't have an alternate plan so.... off we went.

Get to the beach, unload, hand Blue and Kaden stuff to carry, try to do a quick change on Toby only to discover he'd pooped. Quick changes are done standing up, so I had a toddler with poop exposed hanging out in my month-old van. I reached those wipes in the front seat FAST. Clean up, move out. Then I'm spreading out a towel and Kaden says, "Toby has poop on his leg."  

Of course he does.

What had I missed? Nothing. This was clearly a new batch. Everywhere. At pools we use swim diapers but they give Toby diaper rash so at the beach we chance it and I just pack an extra suit. Never had a problem until... Strip off grossness while Kaden is filling a bucket with water for clean up efforts then I can't find Toby's extra swim suit. And it's back to the van for everyone...

Ok. Second try. Things are good. Kaden and Blue are enjoying the fact that our gulf stream waters make it warmer to be in the water rather than out. Toby and I eat our lunch and then play in the sand.  Ater about a half hour, Blue decides he's done and comes to help the digging project. After fifteen minutes of watching Blue's teeth chatter, I tell him to either get back in the water or let me bury him.  He chooses the sand blanket and seriously stayed there until we left. Toby proceeds to decide he's had enough. But Blue and Kaden are happy so I (stupid, stupid me) decide to stretch him. 

And the last thirty minutes of our beach time were horrific. Toby is in and out but Kaden wants to be buried too, so I manage that and then let him sit there under his sand blanket for all of five minutes before announcing it was time to rinse off and pack it up.  By this point Toby was at uncontrollable screaming, kicking and hitting mode.

Makes the rinsing and packing up part SO not fun.

We survived. Toby fell asleep on the way home, but in spite of a 30 minute car nap and bubble bath tub time in my big tub when we got home, he proceeded to throw fits on and off all afternoon.  

I managed some laundry and reading with Kaden, a whole separate kind of frustration since, upon finishing the chapter he could not answer a single question about it correctly, so then we had to go back through the chapter reading various sections again. Deep. Sigh.

That was the afternoon. Dinner never came together. I'd gotten as far as placing brown rice, green beans and cabbage on the counter, because these were things I knew I wanted to include in dinner (the green beans and cabbage needed to get eaten, the brown rice seemed a good base).  

Back to The Husband and how he saved my Monday.

He enters the scene at 5pm and I'm like - uh, I'm out of here, going jogging. By the way there's no dinner plans, just some ingredients on the counter. See ya later. 

And while I am gone for about 45 minutes he:

A. Ordered pizza

B. Did nothing, figuring I'd come up with something when I got back

C. Turned cabbage, green beans, and brown rice into a yummy Asian stir fry that two out of three kids were super excited about. (There was no pleasing Toby at that point - the kid ate raisins and strawberries for dinner).

Ok, you already saw his facebook status you know.

The answer is C, and obviously, if the answer is C, our marriage is not in trouble, so back off, he's MINE.

THEN (there's more), after dinner, I reminded him that it was Monday night, the night I like to hole myself in the office by 7pm and pretend I'm writing a novel.

So he did the dishes and put the kids to bed.


 
Love. Him.

Marriage Conference and Monster Trucks

A four-day, kid-free trip to Key West - great for a marriage.

A Friday night and all day Saturday, kid-free marriage conference at church - great for a marriage.

The dream I had last night where Kevin failed to make a reservation at the restaurant where I wanted to eat and then acted pissy with me when we ended up at McDonald's - not so great for a marriage. I mean, I'm well into the day after, and I still get annoyed when I think about it.

Emotions. So fickle.

And that connects to monster trucks how?

My mom watched the boys when we went to The Keys but this past weekend our church was hosting a marriage conference we wanted to attend. We weren't about to hit my mom up for extended babysitting so soon. Instead, Kevin parents came over from Tampa. For their long stretch on Saturday we planned a few activities. In the morning Gran brought Toby to My Gym* for the free play hour and Papa made Monster Trucks with the big boys. 

My brother works at Lowes so he collected a ton of the kids-build projects and passed them on to my boys this Christmas. We've been so busy that this was their first go at one of them.

The trucks even have a light that lights up on top. Totally cool. Totally great Gran and Papa time for the boys.

*When I take Toby to My Gym for free play, most of the time he just sits on me and watches the other kids play. When Kevin or Gran take Toby he's off and playing. His class teacher was there this Saturdy and even commented about it. It stinks that I'm so cool, huh? 

Out With the Old...

We have rung in the new year.  

Here we go.

I'm not making any resolutions because 2011 was not, in any way, what I expected.

My husband now considers green pepper, cucumber and humus his number one snack food and is pretty much a vegetarian.  

Um, WHAT?!

In support of this new found vegetarianism 2011 was the year I began cooking with eggplant (in my veggie pasta spaghetti sauce, eggplant parmesan, and I'm so practiced at baba ghanoush I don't even have to look at the recipe anymore). 

If you know Kevin and haven't talked to us much this year, you think I am straight up lying to you.  

CUCUMBER. KEVIN EATS CUCUMBER. Yup, 2011 = the year of big food shockers.

It was also the year I learned what hives looked like. I still haven't given Toby shellfish since his July bout. But luckily we haven't seen any recurrences. Very lucky since we never invested in the $150 in an epipen that was set to expire a few months after purchase.

In 2011 we ripped out the carpet in the Kaden and Blue's room, and instead painted and sealed the concrete. The carpet was less than a year old, looked great, but smelled like urine. Hmmmm, why could that be? 

An entire week of 2011 was devoted to scrubbing my favorite chair. Again, urine.

In 2011 I walked into Pet Smart and asked what worked best on urine smells. The guy said, "Cat or dog?" I said, 'Kid."

No. I was NOT expecting Blue's-defiance-issues-through-urine when I made 2011 resolutions. 

In 2011 I hoped to lose weight (because I'm a girl and I always hope to lose weight) but instead I went on a pill that caused me to balloon up another 15 pounds and this was even with some serious dieting when I first noticed the gain and doubling my walking route. Ugh.

In 2011 I wanted to write a novel. 40 pages is not a novel. (But it is 40 pages.)

In 2011 Kevin wanted us to have dinner guests at least every week. We managed to have dinner guests (other than my mom) about monthly but we also had a Superbowl party, Blue's t-ball party, my mom's birthday party, our small group Christmas party, and hosted Thanksgiving all at our house. We also hosted a number of out of town / over-night guests. Overall, I'm pleased with how often we had friends at our table. 

In 2011 I did more reading than in 2009 and 2010 combined. (Escaping perhaps?)

Ups. (Montana! Panama City Beach!)

Downs. (Transmission dropping in the van. Every time I heard Kaden yell out, "Blue..." The amount I spent on my long-neglected teeth.)

I just went through our 2011 album (it will be my 4th annual, 12X12, maximum-pages-they-allow Shutterfly album) I finished up the Christmas pages and spot proofed throughout before hitting the "order" button. (Got it in tonight for the 40% savings!) And it looked like a pretty friggin' fantastic time. Beach days and zoo days. Pumpkin painting and school festivities. Friends over and baseball. You know. You've seen it here.

So maybe, since we have survived it after all, mostly ups.

As for 2012...

I hope I lose that 15 pounds. (Plus another 5? 10?)  I'm two weeks off that pill and Kevin tells me we start P90X after my birthday cake is gone (dang January birthdays).

Read less if it means I write more. 

Say NO to projects (no pinterest for me) if they take away from writing. (But I do have this great idea for a trail ride/bon fire party for Kaden's 8th birthday in March...)

I hope I don't have to go back to the psychiatrist with Blue.

I hope we are happy in May when Toby transitions from Early Steps to the school board in terms of his special needs services.

I hope Blue learns how to read.

And Toby takes to the new potty seat I bought him today.

I hope we do a better job of getting to know our neighbors.

And for us, there are always trips.

Key West Literary Seminar!

Miami Fragile X Conference!

Kevin's Deportation - we plan to get the whole family back to Texas for a visit.

Hoping and praying for these things, but trusting and seeking no matter what 2012 brings. Because with my crazy guys... you just never know.

Merry Christmas 2011

If you haven't already gotten our photo card/Christmas newsletter. Um, it's probably not coming. Sorry. But! Now! Here! Tonight! You can get the pictures and Christmas letter part of that mail-out sans the tree-killing and carbon omitting postal services. Super awesome!!

(I like using extra exclamation points in and around Christmas letters because of the David Sedaris short story, Season's Greetings. If Santa has never brought you a copy of Barrel Fever, you need to have a talk with him... OR! get over it, and listen to this story on youtube: part one, part two.)

Alright, alright... the official letter:

Merry Christmas! We hope you have had a happy and fulfilling 2011.

No worries, no one fell off the dock.

When I write these annual Christmas letters I’m conscious of how to convey the fun! celebrations!! of our year!!!! without glossing over… ya know, reality. So, reality: For the first half of 2011 my world smelled like pee. (Merry Christmas!!!) Somehow a button got pushed in Blue, our middle kiddo, and he just went out of control. He began breaking things, sweeping his arms across a shelf to crash its contents to the ground, and peeing on things on purpose. Every day. Multiple times a day. I was going Out. Of. My. Mind. Blue and I started meeting with a psychiatrist, and after many failed efforts (good job dollars, star charts, putting fun things in the toilet to pee on) either our consistency, your prayers, or Blue’s boredom with the whole thing brought us out of it. By the middle of summer things started turning around.  PRAISE GOD. (Because you surely didn’t want to read an entire letter about bad behavior; you can watch Super Nanny for that.)

 

He sure looks cute and normal, doesn't he?

In other, more fun, news: The boys started t-ball/baseball for the first time. Kevin coached Blue’s team and we hosted Blue’s end-of-season party. In March Kaden turned 7 and we celebrated by taking a few friends to see a Disney on Ice show. In May Toby turned 2 and right around his birthday he and I traveled to Chapel Hill for a research study on the brains of kids with Fragile X. Toby continues doing numerous therapies and we’ve added a membership to “My Gym” a kids gym with directed classes for little tykes.

Love those laughs!
In the summer Kaden and Blue went to a VBS and a number of camps, but the best camp, from my perspective, was “Camp Gran and Papa” where they went for a week (with Toby too) so Kevin and I could enjoy a tenth anniversary trip WITHOUT KIDS! We spent one night in New Orleans and then continued on to Montana where we met up with our friends Ryan and Courtney Tucker. We rented a cabin in Red Lodge so we could spend our days hiking around the Bear Tooth Mountains and Yellowstone. We had perfect weather for our hikes, lots of animal sightings but no animal encounters, and a hot tub at our cabin where we watched shooting stars each night.  Perfect. 

In the fall Kaden started second grade… twice.  He returned to the school where he’s been enrolled since we moved to Port St Lucie, but two weeks into the semester we got a letter saying he could move to a school where we’d had him on a waiting list. He’s much closer to home which makes the drop off / pick up routine nicer. Also, he has more church friends at his new school, so we’re pleased with the change. 

How can he already be in 2nd grade?!

Blue attends the same school where he went 2 afternoons a week last year, but now he goes every morning as part of the free Voluntary Pre Kindergarten program in the state of Florida. We love his Christian school and we love that the state pays for it! 

In October we celebrated the wedding of my oldest niece. Blue and Kaden served as ring bearers. It was a destination wedding to Panama City Beach for the Tennessee bride and groom so all the family made a vacation out of it. We were able to rent a small beach house that the boys are still talking about. (When are we going back to that little gray house with the pool and the Wii?) Unfortunately, while en route to PCB the transmission of our van died. Because it had close to 200k miles we chose to sell it without fixing it.  Right now we’re adding to our savings for a down payment on a new van and in the meantime borrowing Kevin’s father’s old car. I begrudgingly became a minivan mom, but now, not two months away from van driving, I sorely miss it!

Kaden just wrapped up spring baseball (two seasons and one camp in, and we’ve seen big improvements!) and is now beginning practice for his first time playing Upward Basketball. On December 1^st Blue turned 5. He had a Kung Fu Panda party at a Martial Arts Studio.  Blue recently began taking karate at his preschool one day a week. He loves it! (Gotta direct that energy somehow.) 

We’ve been through a lot this year watching one of our sons get so off track. It was particularly hard on me because I saw a lot of personal goals go unmet as I poured all of my energy into managing Blue. In September, part of a women’s conference I attended in Orlando, I was able to go to Casting Crowns concert. The lead singer shared about trials he’s been through getting his daughter, adopted from China, healthy. They then went into their song, Praise You In the Storm. I felt like such a whiner! With both Kaden and Blue we knew that even though the adoptions were finalized, their places in our family sealed, that adoption would always be an on-going journey. Blue’s journey hit a bumpy patch (Behaviorally, Blue is underdeveloped and resorts to “primitive behaviors.” Thank you, psychiatrist.) and where was my praise?  (1 Thess 5:18 Give thanks in ALL circumstances.) It’s easier now that we’ve gone on two restorative trips and Blue has improved, but I hope to be better equipped no matter what our family faces in 2012.

And if, between all that news and the family blog, you still haven’t gotten enough Stratton news, we have a guest bedroom! Come visit! Merry Christmas! Happy 2012!! Love!!! Faydra!!!! (and the boys!)

 

Tree Tour

Our Christmas tree is, for the most part, a travel memory tree.  In fact a lot of our Christmas decorations are. We have Santas, nativities, and ornaments from all over the world.

Some of my favorites:

A Lladro I bought the semester I studied in Spain. 

A Santa from Russia we bought while there adopting Kaden.

A bright and happy fish, reminding us of a bright and happy honeymoon in St. Lucia.

A first aniversary trip to the Biltmore Esate in Ashville, NC.

Venetian glass angel from Venice, Italy.

Scrap metal butterfly from Haiti.

German nativity is their traditional wooden style. (Lots of German ornaments on our tree but this is my favorite.)

God bless Texas. I may have moved there kicking and screaming but we are so thankful for the years we called Texas home.

Not travel related, but Kevin's baby ornament. Officially the oldest ornament on our tree!

(Anyone else want to post a tree tour and post the link in the comments? I'd love to "see" your tree!)

Santa's Christmas Tree Village

First and foremost Kevin and I are REAL tree people. I think if one of us ever waffeled on this it could be a deal breaker in the relationship.

We usually get our tree from Home Depot. And when I say always, I mean way back in 1999 or 2000 when Kevin and I were dating we went over to the Gainesville Home Depot and picked out a tree for my apartment.

Home Depot for trees - it's a little lame I know, but the price is usually right and their trees are always in early. It's convenient. 

Wednesday night we went to Home Depot and a whole section of trees were sold out (On NOVEMBER 30th!) and we weren't excited about the trees we saw plus the price was higher... so we left. Without a tree.  But we didn't know where else to go. We called someone and they suggested a tree lot on PSL Blvd and we found a good tree for a good enough price.  All is well.

But.  

Next year we are going to Santa's Christmas Tree Village on US 1 just into Fort Pierce if you're driving up from Port St Lucie. Apparently it's been there 25 years now!

Blue had a class field trip there today. (A field trip on his birthday!) Toby and I should have been at My Gym but, of course, for Blue's birthday we had to go on the field trip and bring along a special birthday snack for the class.  (Did you know Panera sells its hot chocolate in those big coffee boxes? Good for when you're trying to bring hot chocolate to a preschool class out on a field trip. Ya know, in case that ever happens to you.)

Anyway, the tree village.

Gorgeous trees. Three different kinds of trees. All are set up so as you pick out your tree it's as though you're wandering through a Christmasy forest. Up high they have a "snow" blower. (Soap.) Free hayrides. Fun decorations and the prices are comparable to everywhere else. Um, why would you go anywhere else? (Well, because we didn't know about it. But now we do.)

As for the field trip...

First it was learn about tree time:

Can you spot Toby acting like a 4/5 year old?  Yeah. He thought he was cool

Then it was wander through the forest time. Sounds fun, but there were risks.

Then a happy class photo.

Then a craft. I thought if I stood Toby at the table but didn't give him any glue... well, how much damage could he do? As it turns out plenty. But, again, he thought he was way cool standing at the table acting like the big boys.

Most mornings when I drop off Blue, Toby is always T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Maybe it's because he's mad he doesn't get to stay too.

After craft, hay ride:

We even sang carols.  

Then I ran to the car to get the cookies and still-warm Panera hot chocolate.

I'm sending my mom to get her tree at the Village Saturday and making Kevin and the boys go too so I can get them out of the house while I take some time for party prep. (Blue's Kung Fu Panda bash is Sunday and pretty much all I've done is bought some stuff and thrown it in a pile. Need to get on that.) So even though we didn't get our tree there at least someone in the family will.

Great morning of Christmas fun. 

Celebrating Thankfulness

And food. We celebrated lots and lots of food.

There was a moment this morning when I was in the kitchen listening to the soft pops of cranberries bursting open in the pan, becoming sauce and to Toby who kept clinking the silverware on my set tables, the parade was just beginning, and I thought, I SO love this day. One day. One big 'ol meal.

Focusing on what we have and NOT what we want.

Fant-tas-tic.

(You people who buy the canned stuff - why? One bag of cranberries, some water, 1/2 cup of sugar, some lemon, some orange juice if you have it, some cinnamon - bring to boil, simmer about 15 minutes, remove from heat - that's it! And so yummy!) 

I did most of my prep Wednesday. Salad, with the exception of dressing, made. Sweet potato casserole made - just needed to be baked. Spinach dip - made. Rolls and ice cream for pies other people were baking - bought. Linens ironed. Centerpieces made. Tables set. Easy, 2-seconds-to-make banner made and hung.

Here's Blue last week cutting feathers for pine cone turkey centerpieces.

The main table. Napkin "rings" ended up being more leaves I cut for our Thankfulness Tree tied around with raffia. If guests wanted, they could write on their leaf and add it to our tree. It was fun to read leaves after everyone went home.

All I had to do Thanksgiving day was make my cranberry sauce, deviled eggs and the punch. I had even frozen ice cubes for the punch the night before. (Cranberries floating in any drink makes it seem so much more festive.)

So I made my sauce and then Toby, Blue, and I went on our usual 2-mile stroller-roll/bike-ride/walk through the neighborhood. (Meanwhile Kevin was driving half-way across the state to collect Kaden from Papa who was doing the same so they could transfer our boy who we had left behind in Tampa last weekend.)

Later in the morning I set about making snacks. Parade on. Kaden and Blue doing puzzles. Daddy trying to keep Toby away from puzzles.

Mmmmm. Snacks.

Around noon, some friends, a family of five like us, arrived. Their youngest daughter, a 5th grader, is Toby's favorite person, so pretty much the kids then disappeared. I arranged casseroles to stay warm in the oven. Football watching commenced. 

The chaos began as my mother, who was assigned one free-range turkey and stuffing, arrived with her turkey, duck, ham, stuffing, but not gravy because that had spilled all over her car. She quickly barked orders for sour cream and flour to make more gravy and I quickly got to pulling out more platters and rearranging the counter for all her food.  

Soon enough carving commenced:

And then, right on time at 2pm, the eating commenced:

Including our family, we were fifteen in all, that we could all be together was our first reason to be thankful as Tony, an MFI volunteer, had to be in the hospital yesterday and we were worried for awhile that he and his wife wouldn't be able to come. For Tony's sake and because his wife, Patricia, was making the apple pie - it was important they came!

One more picture. Blue, for reasons only known to Blue, emerged from his room playing his guitar while wearing his pilgrim hat, beads, and some 3D glasses.

Food. Friends. Goofy, dancing Blue.

We are blessed.

Now we commence to avoid all things Gray Thursday and Black Friday.

Kevin is movie watching. I, after blogging, will be reading. And tomorrow...

Kevin will be hanging outside lights and I have a wreath project I'm a little nervous about, but with enough glue in the glue gun all things are possible, right?