Thanksgiving Part 1

Two significant things happened over Thanksgiving. We went to visit my parents, and Hub's maternal grandmother died. I want to talk about both, but feel like they should have separate posts so I will start with Grandma L.

Grandma was 95 years old. She was about 4 feet tall and the feistiest lady you've ever met. She was funny, and honest, and it will be strange to have family dinners without her there. She had 7 children, 45 grandchildren, and currently has 98 great grandchildren (though I'm sure more will come). I looked around an almost full chapel to realize that most people there were relatives. It has been easy to love Hub's family on that side. Everywhere I looked there were amazing people who I admire and genuinely enjoy being around. No one is perfect, and no one claims to be. They are just good loving people that anyone would be happy to know. Grandma left a wonderful legacy in that way.

After the funeral a few people got up to share stories about Grandma. I didn't feel comfortable saying anything but I do have a story that is dear to me.

When Hubs and I were dating, it started out sort of rocky. I thought that he was a big geek and he didn't do much to dispel those impressions. As I got to know him over time, he came to impress me more and more, though I still wasn't entirely sure about him. I just kept wondering, "Could I really see myself having a serious future with this guy?"

One night, Hubs came over to my apartment to hang out and informed me that we could do whatever we wanted but first he needed to run over to his grandma's house and help her take her newspapers out to be recycled. I thought this was pretty sweet, and agreed to go with him to meet his grandma. We drove over to her condo and he quickly took care of her papers. Then he proceeded to walk through her condo with her and listen as she pointed out other quick fixes he could do for her. I stood and talked with Grandma as he crawled under her sink and fixed a pipe, worked with lights in her bathroom, and any other little projects that needed to be done.

Then she sat down on her bed and told me about Grandpa (who had passed away when Hubs was in high school). She told me how wonderful he had been and how he had been forgiven his debt at her family's general store in a small Montana town when he wrote on a piece of brown wrapping paper that he would either pay his bill or take their daughter off their hands. She showed me the paper framed on her wall by a small picture of them when they were younger. I looked at Hubs and told him I saw him in his grandpa. Both of their eyes lit up and Hub's eyes crinkled when he broke into a huge grin. As I looked at him talking with his grandma and smiling at the thought of being like his grandpa I had the thought, "I could love this man, and maybe I already do." It was the first time I had had that thought and I still remember it clearly.

So in a way, I credit Grandma L for Hubs and my falling in love. Maybe it would have happened anyway, but seeing him there and his love for his grandmother certainly helped.

We will miss Grandma, but we know she has been missing her husband for a long time and are happy that they are together again. I am excited to know them better someday and get to hear all of the stories and join in the laughter. They certainly raised a family that loves God and loves life and I am glad to have had the chance to know them.

Sorry if you were offended by the last post. Hubs was worried that the content was a bit much. We'll try to keep it rated G.

One more gem

A couple of days ago G and I were talking about what you should call your teacher...

G: But your students have to call you doctor because you are a doctor. 

Me: Yes, that's right. 

G: Yeah, but you're not a doctor that helps people. 

Quotes and stuff

A few things...


G seems to have received his self esteem from his father's side of the family, as is evidenced by this recent conversation.
G: All of the girls in my class have a crush on me.
Me: Really? How do you know.
G: They tell me.
Me: Oh. What do you say?
G: I don't say anything because I don't want to hurt their feelings.
Me: Oh, ok. Is there anyone in your class that you have a crush on?
G: No. Just Kallie** (a good friend of his in his church class). We like each other a lot.
Me: Well it is good to be friends with girls but you are too young to go on dates or anything with them. (Then, in reference to an earlier conversation) Does that one girl in your class still try to kiss you all the time?
G: No she's pretty much stopped.
Me: That's good. Did the teacher ever see her and tell her to stop.
G: Well she saw her once but she didn't tell her to stop.
Me: What???
G: But now we have a new rule, No kissing.
Me: Oh, ok. You know you are too young to kiss, right? You tell those girls that your mom says you can't kiss.
G: Yeah, I have to be like in college to kiss or go on dates with girls.

**Little does he know that the girl he has a crush on changes her mind about him monthly. I see a very heartbreaking future for him if he retains such loyalty. You can't help but love him for it, though.

A couple of days ago I was downstairs doing laundry when G comes running in...
G: E and Miss H are working together to get candy out of the cabinet!!
Me: Oh those little stinkers. Alright give me a minute.
G: (running off) Ok. I'll go karate chop them.

The other night E stayed up late and hung out with me
E: Mom do you want to play a game?
Me: Ok. What do we do?
E: (grabs my arms and starts swinging them at me) Don't hit yourself, stop hitting yourself!
Me: Where did you learn this game?
E: Nursery
Me: Who taught it to you?
E: Chris. (Our neighbor/friend)
The first answer was a bit of a surprise, the second was less so. :-) 


Today after dinner E started walking around with his stomach pushed out in a weird way. Then he started doing some hand flourishes and twirling in circles. He finally ended with his arm in the air.
Me: What are you doing, E?
E: I'm latin Buzz Lightyear. (from Toy Story 3)
I'll video tape it. It was HILARIOUS. 


To our dismay, E's trend of staying up late every night is continuing. He watched part of a movie with us wherein I had seen someone eating tacos and made a joke that we should go buy some. Later when Hubs finally went and laid down with him in bed...
E: But Dad, I don't want to go to bed! I want to stay up late with you and mom and eat tacos.

Me: E stop eating CAT FOOD.
E: BUT I'M HUNGRY
Me: You are a boy. Eat human food.
E: NO I am a KITTY.
Me: YOU ARE A BOY.
E: Ughhh. Fine mom.
(Sorry if I've written this one before. He does it a lot.)

Finally, Miss H isn't super articulate yet. She does maintain, however, the illustrious honor of being our first child to call 911. For the first time in his life, Hubs was home and had to deal with the aftermath. Please excuse my evil laugh, Wha Ha Ha HA!

Would you like to see some pictures of the awful things our children have done recently? Yes? Ok good.

That would be an entire 25 lb bag of cat food. It made it so he couldn't open the door and was locked in the room. I debated leaving him there forever. 

This would be an entire tupperware of rice leftover from our dinner the previous night. Would you like to guess who was behind this one too? I'll give you one good one...

If you plan on telling me what a crappy mom I am, don't worry, a lady at the mall made sure I knew today when she turned to her friend and said, "at least our kids aren't doing that!" and pointed at my kids. 

And now a letter

Dear Children, 

I will accept your apology letters at any time. Just know that they will be that much sweeter when I come over to your house and find you cleaning up rice one grain at a time. Then I will smile and hand your children Mountain Dew mixed with Red Kool-Aide. 

All my love,

Mom

Halloween

We had an excellent Halloween. We ate a gross looking dinner, wore store bought costumes, and collected way to much candy which we allowed our children to gorge on. We didn't carve pumpkins and I have to say that I am not the least bit sorry. Look, judge me all you want but this is just how I roll. For all who are interested, here are some pictures of the blessed event. 

 G wore his costume all day, including dinner. 

Miss H the Peacock

 E's best pirate face

 G's best Batman stance

 Cutest baby ever

Miss H collected about 10 candies, then sat and chewed through the wrappers on all of them until she could eat them. By the end of the night she was in a sugar coma. It was pretty funny. 

G Turns Six!

You know it's the end of the year when we start celebrating birthdays left and right. 

G just celebrated his six birthday. 

 We started out the day with the doughnut game. Notice how it is dark outside? When I say started, it was as early as possible. Not by parental choice.

We played with G's baloons...(As a side note, one time a kid in the ward saw Miss H wearing these pajamas and refused to believe that she was a girl. Look, when you have two older brothers you get some boy hand-me-downs mixed in.)

  Then we opened presents. My parents always made us wait until after dinner, so I'm sure I'm ruining my children's ability to delay gratification. Oh well, just put it on my therapy tab. 

 G got real walkie talkies from my mom and dad. (He has already had Hubs take one to work and talk to him the whole way there.)

 

He also got a batman costume, which E promptly put on. 

 And then Miss H decided she wanted to be Batman

 Finally G got his turn. Even Batman enjoys a glass of milk once in a while, mmmkay?

 This year, G said he wanted his cake to be a giant doughnut. 

 And for dinner he said he wanted "Dead Man's Meatloaf." Notice the blood and the knife sticking out of our meatloaf man. Awesome. 

 We had some friends over and Hub's mom and we had cake and ice cream and a few more presents. 

Overall it was a lot of fun and G had a great day. 

It's weird to think that we are old enough to have such a grown up kid. Six years ago G made me a mom. Most days I'm pretty sure I'm not doing it right, but I know that Heavenly Father sent us G for a reason. He probably knew that if we had any other kid first, we never would have had a second! 

G is smart, and funny, and tender hearted. He tries to be responsible, and wants to do what is right. He thinks deeply about things, and stores knowledge until he can integrate it into other problems or situations. It's amazing to see how his mind works. He isn't perfect, but he is perfect for our family.

We love you G!