Today I am thankful for sibling love.

This morning while Eve was painting at the easel, Lex noticed a rainbow from our new window prism. He said, “Look! A rainbow! It makes your painting almost as beautiful as you are, Eve.” How’s that for a sweet brother thing to say?!

I’m having trouble choosing just one thankful for today. I had one earlier, then another, now a third. It’s a tough problem to have, really.

{Patience} I am thankful that our mudroom is finally done. D.O.N.E. And beautiful! It has been a long road, but so worth it. I smile every time I open the door. Alan deserves a big round of applause.

DONE. Except… a few small details. We are going to get a vinyl quote to put on the wall in place of artwork, but we have to decide on a quote first. And I like the curtain fabric and I like the floor mat, but they don’t seem to like each other. One will have to be changed. Just little details. But otherwise DONE!

{Bravery} I am also thankful that I survived my first day of substitute teaching. Was it in the quiet library where I’ve been helping out for the past year? Or a nice classroom? Nope. It was PE! (formally known as gym class!) The teacher left two games, one for the older grades (3-5) and one for the younger grade (K-2). Both were fun, but neither held the kids attention for the whole period so for every class I found myself improvising for the second half of the period. I should have been better prepared, except I just got the phone call last night. The principal said, “I’m having trouble finding someone to substitute for the PE teacher.” That should have been my first clue! :) Seriously though, it was fun. Mostly. The younger grades were fun. The one older class I had was NO fun! They were loud and rude and didn’t listen at all to me. Guess when the principal decided to come in and check on things?! I felt like I was doing an awful job, but he later said I was handling them just fine. Eeek! I was happy to get the kindergarteners back again. Anyway, first day down. We’ll see what comes next.

{Patience and Bravery} My final thought comes from this evening. Eve and Lex were cracking walnuts to use the shells to make turtles. Just an ordinary day around here. I told them they could do so as long as they ate the walnuts as well. Both agreed. When it came time to clean up and get ready for dinner they both fussed about having to eat the walnuts. We’re talking 1/3 cup here for them to share. Pure torture, right? Eve fussed, but sat down and ate her share. Lex pitched a royal tantrum! Throwing things, crying, fighting. We don’t fight often anymore, but when we do it sucks! I told him he had to try one walnut because he promised me he would. I’ll spare you the gory details, but after awhile I got him settled down and we discussed things and he decided to give it a try. Just one tiny bite. He broke off a piece the size of a pencil eraser and basically scraped it across his teeth. Brave, huh? :) Then he announced that it doesn’t taste like anything! I told him to pop the whole piece in his mouth. He took a mouse bite, intrigued now because it still didn’t taste like anything. I thanked him for trying and as I was getting his dinner off the counter he popped the whole thing in his mouth. “Hey, I do kind of like them!” Thank you, thank you Sam-I-Am! He proceeded to eat the rest of the bowl! (only about 1/4c. but still!) In bed tonight he said that walnuts taste like sweet water and that he was going to have some more for snack tomorrow.

I hate fighting with him, but I’m always so pleased when I’m able to get him over his fear and he tries something new. He tried it because of our discussions, not the fight, but he didn’t come around to discussion until after a fight. He went to bed feeling so proud of himself for being brave and trying a new food. I feel bad for him that it takes so much bravery. I can understand though. I’m not much into trying new foods either!

Today I am thankful that my kids go to a really great elementary school. (details tomorrow after my videos finish uploading to Youtube!)

Tomorrow I will be the gym teacher there!! My first day of substitute teaching. Wish me luck! I told Lex tonight that I was nervous that the kids wouldn’t listen to me and they would be too crazy in the gym. He says, “Do you want to know a little trick Mr. White uses to get the kids attention?” And then he shared some good insider info with me! Then he said, “And I’ll try to listen and behave in gym class too, to help you out.” Sweet boy. He’s pretty excited that I’ll be his gym teacher tomorrow. I’m kinda terrified! I hope there’s no skull-cracking activities!

Some days it’s a challenge to come up with a “thankful,” but I think the effort of looking through the daily annoyances to see the bigger picture is so worthwhile. Today I am thankful that my husband has a stable job that he enjoys and I have job opportunities, allowing us to make frivolous purchase sometimes and buy gifts without going into debt.

Today I am thankful for me. How’s that for confidence?! I have been around for awhile now. I’ve lived in many places, many states, and even two countries. I’ve travelled, I’ve explored, and I have settled. Hopefully more travelling and exploring in the future though! I have found a strong and caring man to share my life with. I am raising two kind and intelligent children. I have friends and family around. I have work and peace. I am a daughter and a sister, a wife and a mother, a friend and a confidant. I love and I am loved. I am truly blessed to see these 36 years and hope to see many, many more.

We had a lovely day. I slept in a bit (thanks Alan!) and exercised (a sorry attempt to balance all the deliciousness I’ve been eating lately!). The kids played happily together all day, except for the times they didn’t, of course.

The kids spent the morning making presents for me. Mostly making wrapping paper and wrapping presents for me!

It was sunny and in the 50’s today so we went outside and played for awhile. I got the gardens “winterized” while the kids played on the swings and hung out with neighbors. Then back inside for lunch, crazy goodbyes with my parents, then quite time. Ahhh… quiet time. Eve crashed hard and slept for several hours (until I woke her at 4pm!). Lex and I read some Harry Potter and played a game of Scrabble. He also spent a lot of time finishing a birthday message on the tablet that he had started a few days ago. He’s so smart! He figured out how to insert pictures into his note, add sound and video, etc. He amazes (and infuriates) me on a daily basis.

Just before we left for dinner they let me open the presents.

A box of rocks! Just what I’ve always wanted!! (and had sitting in my office since our trip to Ruggles Mine this summer) The real gift was the effort and cooperation that went into the wrapping and cards. :)

This is the back of Lex’s birthday card for me. Now I understand why he takes pictures of cards… perhaps it’s because I always take pictures of the creative cards the kids make. :)

The inside of Lex’s card. Underneath that door on the left is a little pop-up “Happy Birthday” message.

Eve had a lovely card for me too, but I don’t seem to have taken a picture of it. She also gave me this lovely card from my mom. Mema is a great artist!! :)

After presents we met Alan at Jesse’s for dinner. It was delicious, though quite a different experience from my friend’s birthday dinner on Friday night. :) I guess that’s what you get with kids though!

Happy birthday to me!!

Parrish came over the other day with a box of Harry Potter Jelly Beans that he was generously sharing with Lex and Eve. They were intrigued by the different flavors. Eve picked a jelly bean out and the conversation went as such:

Parrish: “That’s a booger one!”
Eve, pauses, shrugs: “I eat my own boogers.” Pop, into the mouth goes the jelly bean.
Parrish: “Yeah, I eat my boogers too.”
Lex: “Me too.”

All said quite calmly and factually, then the conversation moved on to other flavors. Yuck!

According to That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion, a book I heard about on NPR last year, “disgusting” is a learned emotion. There is an inherent level of disgust that humans are born with, necessary for self preservation in the caveman days, but there is also a learned level of disgust that is different in different cultures. Apparently children generally first hear about “disgusting” during potty training and then slowly, slloowwwly, learn what is considered culturally acceptable and what isn’t. I remind myself of this book often, even though I’ve never even read it! What we, as grownups, think is disgusting apparently isn’t considered disgusting about the 5-7yr old crowd.

I’m having trouble coming up with a “thankful” for today. Not because there are none, but because there are many. It was a beautiful November day today. The sun was shining, the temps were moderate, and we had tickets to a Dartmouth football game. We had a rough morning (mid-day, really) and almost didn’t make it, but I’m so glad we did. We had a ton of fun. The game was close and exciting, but Dartmouth lost in the last two minutes.

Eve is shocked that I would ask her to turn her back to the game for a quick photo!

Football!

The cheerleaders! The kids cheered right along with them.

Half-time fun!

More half-time fun. The kids had fun playing with these practice pads.

I have no idea what this thing is called, but all the kids loved it! It was like a weeble / heavy bag combo.

Coming back for the second half. The kids were thrilled to get so close!

I was happy with how many players acknowledged the kids and slapped their little outstretched hands as they went by. Some in the middle even leaned over to reach the kids’ hands. I thought it was really nice of the players and the kids were super excited about how many high-fives they got!! :)

Brown scored a touchdown at 1:30 left in the game. which pulled them ahead. The kids cheered for Dartmouth to the very, very end! They are great cheerleaders!

Even with all the fun of the day, I’m also thankful for having a functional washer and dryer in my house! I folded six (!!!) loads of laundry today (several were washed yesterday) and I am so thankful that we have the freedom and ability to wash what we need to when we want to. No digging up quarters and trips to the laundromat. I have done that before and that makes me even more thankful for the quality appliances we have.