Archive for November, 2008

We are home once again from our annual Thanksgiving road trip through Memphis and Mississippi. Jay and I are so blessed to have all of our grandmothers still living! Jay's Mimi lives in a nursing home in Maumelle, and both of my grandmothers (and one grandfather) live in Memphis. We had a few hours Wednesday afternoon visiting with my family in Memphis, then we got up early Thursday morning to drive down to Philadelphia, MS, where Jay's 95-year-old grandmother still lives by herself and prepares Thanksgiving lunch for her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. Ten of Mammaw Barrett's thirteen great-grandchildren were there, so our kids had plenty of second-cousins to play with! (As well as one first cousin, Hannah!) After lunch and visiting with family we usually only see once a year, we headed down to Brandon, MS, where Jay's mom lives, to spend the rest of the weekend.

Our visit went mostly well, except for the part where Eliza kept me up for 2-and-a-half hours in the middle of the night Thursday, crying and complaining about her ear hurting. I had to send Jay out in the rain at about 3-o'clock in the morning to get some Children's Tylenol, because I was getting desperate and so was Eliza. She kept begging me to take her back to bed, but she could never get comfortable and she wouldn't stop crying, so I finally turned the TV on and held her on the couch. Jay's mom woke up when Jay got back with the medicine, and came to see what the commotion was. She warmed up a sock-full of rice for Eliza to hold on her ear. At first Eliza was a little dubious, but it must have helped because she finally relaxed and started saying things like, "Ahhh, that feels good, Mama," and closing her eyes. Thankfully she slept the rest of the night, and we took her to a clinic the next morning, where they gave us some antibiotics and decongestants. We spent the rest of the day Friday trying to recuperate from our crazy night. Eliza slept great the rest of the trip, thanks to lots of drugs!

Saturday Jay had a 15-year high school reunion. We tried to plan a little family picnic for the class at a park for lunch, but it was a drizzly, gray day, and only about 6 people from Jay's class showed up. Three of them brought kids, so our kids did have some others to play with, but the playground was wet and sandy. That didn't stop them from playing, though! We left the kids with Mammaw Saturday night while Jay and I went to the "adult" party. It was interesting, with some yummy appetizers and a live band, but it just really isn't our thing. We don't drink, we don't really dance (at least not like that), so Jay tried to talk to some old friends, but it was really hard to hear anything over the loud music. Jay's mom said the kids did great while we were gone. They sat on the couch with her and watched movies. Eliza fell asleep half-way through the second movie, and James apparently decided when it ended that it was time for him to go to bed, as well. I guess he was pretty tired!

We did get to visit with some old friends of Jay's family, the Joneses. Jay's good friend Gabe has a 2-year-old, Abby, and Gabe's brother has a 1-year-old, Oliver, so our kids enjoyed playing with them, too. Overall, it was a good trip, and we are thankful for so many things. But right now, I think I am most thankful to be home!

Do you know what a spoonerism is? Merriam-Webster defines it as "a transposition of usually initial sounds of two or more words". Well, Eliza provided a perfect example of one today while we were driving down the road. We were talking about where we live, and I asked her if she remembered the name of our subdivision. She thought for a moment, then responded: "Broneystook?" We actually live in "Stoneybrook", but I think I like Broneystook better. :)

James' teacher sent home a sheet of paper called "How to cook a turkey according to Mrs. Doan's Class". She had asked each student the question, then wrote down their answers and compiled them for our reading pleasure. Some were very detailed, some were quite funny, but James' answer was by far the most far-fetched:

"This is how I would cook a turkey, but this won't really happen, but I would make a dragon cook the turkey with his fire and then eat it."

It is typical James: dream big, but acknowledge reality. I love that boy! :)

We had our annual Thanksgiving dinner at church last night, with the traditional fish, shrimp, hush-puppies, and fries. I'm not sure how that got started, but somehow it stuck, and now we look forward to a deep-fried meal before the days and days of turkey and dressing. I love to look back and remember last year's meal, as well as the one three years ago, and see how much my kids have grown and changed.

We have so much to be thankful for every year, and each year it seems we are more blessed than the last! When it came time to go around the table and say one thing we are thankful for, my kids did not disappoint. James was thankful for the sun. He had told me that earlier, and when I asked him why, he said something about it keeping us warm. Eliza is thankful for apples and butterflies. This, too, was rehearsed; at Cubbies Wednesday night they were asked what they were thankful for, and that was her answer. Jay said he was thankful to be able to be at the meal this year, since he was traveling last year. I decided that's what I was thankful for, too. In fact, I am very thankful Jay is not traveling this year!

There is so much more we have to be thankful for, especially our financial security in the economic turmoil our nation is facing right now. God has blessed us so much, and we are grateful. I love the old hymn, "Count Your Blessings":

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Eliza had a book character parade at preschool on Friday, meaning I had to dress her up as a character from a book. After agonizing all week over what to do, I finally decided she could be a princess and wear her Halloween costume that I spent so much time altering to look like Princess Peach. This time, I had the dress, I just needed a book about a princess. The Princess and the Pea seemed like a good choice, so I sent Jay to the bookstore to find a book with that story. He came home with a huge Fairy Tale book, which included the story as well as several others. I dressed Eliza in her princess dress and tiara, and gave her a green ball to hold that represented the pea. She and the rest of the preschool marched through the hallway, holding the books that their characters were from. Poor Eliza had to hold her pea in one hand and our new huge fairy tale book in the other, and because of her silky dress, the book kept sliding to the floor! It survived the first go-round of the parade, but I took it from her for their second lap around the building. I uploaded a few pictures from the parade.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for a little boy from church named Will, who is in our Sunday School class and is friends with Eliza. It was at Gymboree, which is an indoor play area for kids to romp, climb, and just have fun. It was a perfect day to play inside: cold and gloomy, and the kids had a great time running around. The cake and ice cream wasn't bad, either, except for the blue icing that wouldn't come off of Eliza's fingers. :)

Yesterday after school, I let the kids play on the playground for a few minutes before heading home. While they were playing, a little girl and two women came to the playground and were walking around, looking for something. I asked one of the ladies what they were looking for, and she said her niece had lost her glasses. So I started walking around, looking for the glasses, and I told James and Eliza to keep an eye out for them, too. James decided he would take charge of the search, and told the ladies and the girl that he would be the boss and tell them where to look. "Don't worry!" he said, "I'll look on the top of the playground and my sister will look underneath it!" I told him that he didn't even know where the girl had been playing, so he ran over to her and began interrogating her. She seemed a little annoyed by his interest, but her aunt was very amused by James' antics. Then James saw the principal walking from one building to another, and so he ran over, yelling, "Mr. Sellers!" I watched James converse with Mr. Sellers, then I heard Mr. Sellers say, "Okay, James, you're the boss…I'll look in here for the glasses." James had even enlisted the principal's help! We never found the glasses, but James had fun trying to be a good detective. I think he might have what it takes to be a good leader someday, if only we can keep him from thinking he has to be the boss!

After all our company went home Saturday night, I still had to prepare the Sunday School lesson for our 3-year-olds and think of a dessert to bring to community group Sunday night. Jay wasn't feeling well Sunday morning, so the kids and I went to church by ourselves, meaning that I had to wrangle five 3-year-olds by myself for an hour. The lesson went pretty well, though, and the kids even half-way listened. :)

I decided to make a Great Pumpkin Cake for community group, which I had made for Thanksgiving one year before we had kids. It's pretty easy to make, tastes great, and looks impressive…a winner in my book! So after lunch I ran to the store to get the ingredients, and then made the cake. The hardest part is getting the icing just the right color of orange, and then getting it spread evenly over the cake. My pumpkin cake has two different colors of orange, because I wanted to heat the last little bit of icing enough to be able to pour it over the cake, but I left it in the microwave just a tad too long, and it turned it a little darker. It ended up looking kind of cool; maybe next time I'll do it on purpose!

We were so excited to have Jay's sister and her family here for a couple of days! Jill and Robbie's little girl, Hannah, is 19 months old and my favorite niece (so far!) The kids had a lot of fun playing together…Hannah was especially fond of James. She has changed a lot since we saw her last, even though it was just in July! I loved how Hannah wanted me to pick her up sometimes, raising those little arms in my direction…precious! When she wants a drink, she says "meil" (milk), which makes her sound a little like a kitty cat.

Today Jay's Aunt Fran and his cousin Faran and her family (husband Marty and girls Zoe and Lily) came over to visit with all of us since Jill was in town. It was a house-full, and the kids really had a blast. Zoe is a few months older than James, and Lily is about 7 months older than Eliza, so they get along really well. We had fun catching up and eating hamburger-corn casserole, my go-to dish for a large group of people. I'm really quite predictable, but oh, well! The company seemed to enjoy it and that's all that matters, right?

This afternoon we visited Mimi at the nursing home with Jill, Robbie, and Hannah. Mimi was a little confused at first trying to figure out where we all fit in the family tree, but by the time we left she seemed to understand a little better. She was pleased to meet Hannah again (she did not remember their visit last year around this time), and was grateful, as always, for our visit.

After visiting Mimi, we went out to eat at Cracker Barrel (I told you I was predictable!) before sending Jill, Robbie, and Hannah on their way home to Jackson, TN. While we were eating, Hannah did something that accidentally hurt Jill, and Jill said, "Ow!" For some reason James thought that was kind of funny, so he started saying, "Ow, baby!" Every time he said it, Hannah giggled, so of course he said it over and over again. Then she started saying it, "Ow, baby," and they laughed and laughed. I think it was the last thing he said to her as we parted ways in the Cracker Barrel parking lot. Ahhh, memories. :)

Jay has put some pictures up on his flickr. It was so good to visit with Jay's family, especially Hannah. My kids are just so big these days, it's hard to even remember what it was like to have one that little. Maybe I'll go watch some old videos this week!

This week has been pretty uneventful, but it's about to get more exciting with the arrival of Jill, Robbie, and Hannah tomorrow! They are coming to visit with us and to see Mimi, who is Jill and Jay's grandmother that lives in a nursing home in Maumelle. We are so excited!

There were a few fun things that happened this week. My long-time friend (I mean, since we were babies!) Corrie came to see us Tuesday night. She recently started a new job at a Bryant school and so she stopped by after school was out. She lives in Beebe, which is a 55-minute drive north of here, but is hoping to move to Bryant soon. Her husband is in the military, and is in Iraq right now but is coming home in a month. How exciting! My kids were very entertaining for her (no surprise there!), and they said some pretty funny things, like, "Look at our clean house!" (Eliza) and "Boogers are dirt and germs" (James, quoting his teacher). Oh, well, at least we're not hiding anything!

Wednesday night the kids had AWANA as usual, and James was able to bring his best friend from school, Ethan, as his guest. Ethan is such a sweet boy, and they had so much fun playing the Wii before church and eating their McDonald's Happy Meals together. (I try really hard to be kids' favorite grownup…sometimes.) :) Anyway, I had to skip choir to get Ethan home at a decent hour, but it was worth it.

Speaking of choir, the other morning we were listening to my choir Christmas music in the car on the way to James' school. I am trying to learn it, and I knew I would be missing choir, so I decided I would practice in the car. After a few strong and worshipful (is that a word?) songs, we pulled into the parking lot of the school and I started to get out. James looked up and said, "I forgot I was going to school…that music made me think I was going to church!"

Jay put up some more pictures from our trip to Branson on his flickr page. Enjoy!