Fall Fun

Today is the first of November.  Seriously?  Now that is spooky.  It seemed like it was just the first week of October a few days ago.  At the rate time is flying by I should have finished my holiday shopping two weeks ago, because Christmas will be in a half-an-hour. 

Besides some minor miscommunications (haha!) - this fall has been quite fun.  I've really enjoyed my part-time job at the school.  We've gone on several fun field trips, and had some great learning experience days - everything from learning about the legislative process to making our own scratch plate prints to playing chemists.  I started a little blog for all of the parents/students to follow: fridayenrichment.blogspot.com

We've also had a great time with our MOPS group.  Here are some pictures from our meeting this week - got to love the kiddos in their costumes: 

And look as this cutey-patootie!

Last weekend we took a road trip and met up with Seth's parents.  They took Juliette to the children's musuem while we met up with a dear friend of ours and went to our first ever pro-football game. 

Our team played atrosiously - but we had a great time and enjoyed some good laughs. 

It's been a fun fall, and with the glorious weather we've had I'm pretty sure it's my favorite time of year!

Better Than A Not-Me-Monday

This weekend Seth and I had a communication mix-up to beat all.  We have had plenty of these before - but this one definitely takes the cake.

Hunting season started on Labor day, and seeing that it has two more weeks until it's over, a lot of wives on the High Arid Plains are feeling a little stir crazy these days - myself being no exception.  Seth also agreed to help hang gutter at the church building on Saturday, so his weekend was very full.  So while he stayed up late Friday night loading his gear, and left the house early Saturday morning to squeeze in as much elk hunting as he could before hanging gutters, I stayed home to try and recover from the stomach bug that has been haunting our town for several weeks now.  Besides being sick and a bit stir crazy, Juliette and I also had an off-week.  She had more temper tantrums and defiant moments over the week than she has had in her entire life- it's like someone told her she was two or something - and being sick I had little patience for it.

So after a day of feeling puny and trying to corral a very active, stubborn, and whiny child - I called Seth and told him that I needed him home NOW!  He said that they needed to finish, and I didn't bother telling him why I was so upset, but just hung up the phone in a huff.  At that point I decided to try and feed Juliette dinner.  She didn't like what I offered her, and she was upset that we didn't have any milk, so I decided to put MYSELF in a time-out and went into my room and shut the door for a few minutes.  Realizing that she still wasn't getting what she wanted, Juliette proceeded to bang on the door and cry even louder - resulting in her knocking a picture off the wall. 

At the sound of the crashing glass, I rushed out of my room, scooped her up, and decided we both needed to get out of the house for awhile.  I'd clean the mess up later - when I had regained my patience. 

We hopped in the car, grabbed a snack from the convenience store, and proceed to drive.  There was a road that I'd always wanted to explore, and I had heard rumors that it went to a neighboring town, so we took off down the dirt.  At one point I realized that I'd left my phone behind in my hurry - but I didn't think much about it.  The whir of the wheels and the Veggie Tales Sunday School Songs soundtrack soothed Juliette into contentment, and I drank in the breathtaking vistas punctuated with the last of the fall foliage.  Finally - a little peace!

In the meantime . . .

Seth decided that my desperate phone call, accentuated with Juliette's screams in the background, might mean that something was seriously wrong - so he left the church building and headed home.  On the way he tried to call me a few times, but couldn't get through. 

When he got to the house, he noticed that my car was gone, that Juliette's food was on the table, and that there was a huge pile of glass shards in the hallway.  Instantly he thought that one of us must have gotten hurt.  He looked for a note - but of course there wasn't one.  He tried calling my phone, only to discover that I'd left it behind.  Clearly, her injuries must have been so bad that she's left everything behind in her hurry to get to medical care - he thought. 

He drove down to the clinic, but didn't find us there.  He noticed the ambulance was out of the station - so that worried him even more.  He called our friends, our doctor, the emergency room in the neighboring town, the police dispatch, everyone he could think of.  And of course, they hadn't seen or heard anything about me or the accident.

Finally, he decided that we must be in route to the emergency room, so he took off to the nearest one (45 miles one way!).  When he got there, we were no where to be found.  I'd disappeared.  He worried that maybe I went to the next biggest town's emergency room, but he admitted that it just didn't make a whole lot of sense. He decided to head back to the house to regroup. 

In the meantime . . .

Even though we had such a nice, peaceful drive, I was quite perturbed when I drove into our driveway and noticed that Seth was not home.  It had been several hours since my initial SOS call, and he still wasn't back.  Humph - I thought to myself - I better get a big apology out of this one!

I unloaded Juliette from the car, settled her in the living room, and started cleaning up the broken glass when I heard Seth come through the door.  Honey, is that you?  Are you all right?  Where have you been?  I thought something was really wrong.  I thought you or Juliette were really hurt! The words poured from his lips, as the look of concern melted from his eyes.  As he relayed the story - I couldn't help but stop rehearsing the You-Owe-Me-Big-Time-Buddy-Speech I'd been playing through my head for the past few hours.

You what? I asked him.  You did what?  He had to start his whole story over again.  But why did you think we were hurt? I asked, putting slivers of glass into the black plastic bag.  He explained it yet again, and as I looked at the circumstances from his eyes, I couldn't help but giggle.  Oh honey - what a mix-up!

He had to call our friends and tell them Juliette and I were okay.  I had to explain to the police officer that visited us a few minutes later that not only were we okay, but we'd never been hurt in the first place. Seth had to admit that he sort of went a little overboard.  I had to apologize for being so rude, for forgetting my phone, and for scaring him so unnecessarily.  We both had to laugh.

Seth preached the next day in a neighboring town.  As we were driving along, I asked him what his topic was, and he looked at me and grinned. How about 'Communication,' he teased.

Humor Me

Humor me a minute . . . but I need to vent.

Tonight Seth and I attended the open forum our town was holding for all candidates who were running for state and local office.  The good news was that the attendance was up - compared to the forum that was held prior to the primary elections.  And our town is small, and our county pretty sparsely populated, and there were a lot of other events going on tonight - BUT SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, WHERE WERE YOU? 

I get that politics isn't everybody's forte.  I understand that people are disillusioned and frustrated by what they've seen and continue to see in Washington - or even at a state level.  But candidates don't just get their jobs magically - they get there because of voters just like you and me.  And if we blindly go to vote and have no idea who we are voting for, or recognize the names on the ballot, or have a face for that name, or any clue about what ideas might be rolling around in the brain behind that face - aren't we just as guilty for the state of the nation as those who make the decisions?

And to my generation who was woefully underrepresented tonight - SERIOUSLY, WHERE WERE YOU?  I know we are busy with our careers, and raising children, and watching the Biggest Loser but we are adults now - it's time we started acting like it.  It's time we stood up and accepted our civic responsibilities.

I don't watch CSPAN on a regular basis - I've never contributed to a campaign - and when I turned eighteen I didn't register to vote in time for the election that year.  But seriously, I do believe there is value in being an informed voter - and when the candidates come to our backyard, surely we all should jump at the opportunity to get to know them a little better.  SO, WHERE WERE YOU?

I hope I don't have to complain about the attendance at tomorrow night's local candidates forum.   I'd certainly hate to ask you to humor me again. 

Sometimes We Just Need To

Juliette lightly bumped her foot against the sideboard, and she ran to me with huge tears welling in her eyes, as her voice reached an all-time record on the whiny scale.  She is generally pretty tough when it comes to things like this, but she was having an off day, on top of being hungry and tired.  I was feeling exhausted, and I was tempted to briskly tell her that she was okay, and that she needed to stop her blubbering.  And then the thought occurred to me, "I'm the one she runs to". 

What a thought . . . what an honor!  When she is hurting she wants me to hold her, she wants me to rock her, she wants me to kiss her boo-boos and stroke her back.   She wants me to tell her that everything is all right.  She wants to know that I care, that I love her, and that I'll be there the next time she needs comforting.  

As I scooped her up in my arms, and lavished as much love as I could on that stubbed toe, I suddenly caught a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father must feel when we come to him with our bumps, scrapes, and emotional wounds.  He, being the Perfect Parent, actually can heal our life-owies, and I don't think He every runs short on patience or tenderness.  He wants to be the One we run to - and He is waiting with open arms.  Oh to be childlike enough to run to Him without a moment's hesitation, with complete and wild abandon - confident of His comfort, secure in His love.

Sweet little Jewel, you teach me more and more about Jesus everyday.  I sure am lucky to me your mama!

~~~

"As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you . . . " - Isaiah 66:13

~~~

Before we got married, a very wise, married man pulled Seth aside for some words of advice.  This man is a salt-of-the-earth, quiet-mannered car mechanic.  He is unassuming in every way, and yet he is one of the most gentle, caring servants I've ever known.  He is not the type to spout out opinions, so when he pulled Seth aside, Seth listened carefully. 

Since I wasn't there, I don't know exactly how the conversation went or the exact words that were said, but Seth told me later that our friend said something like this:  "Sometimes girls just need to cry.  They don't need a reason and you don't need to try and make them stop or fix' anything.  Just hold them and let them cry.  Sometimes they just need to do that." 

EVERY man needs to hear those words.  Because I'm pretty sure EVERY girl has moments like that.  At least they do around this house.  And EVERY time those moments come, I'm so thankful for an unassuming, salt-of-the-earth mechanic who took a few moments to share his wisdom, and for a husband willing to listen to sage advice. 

Words of Wisdom

"Life is too short to refrain from eating jam out of the jar."

- The Mountain Goats, "Jam Eater Blues"

Cake Know-How

So in researching how to make an Elmo Cake I came across this great website: http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/

This site is an open forum for individuals to post pictures and how-to steps for cakes that they've created.  Everything from animal and animated cakes to vehicle cakes and sport themed cakes.  They had over 7 pages of Elmo cakes alone!  It was very helpful to browse through other people's ideas and suggestions, and I definitely think I'll be checking out their site next time a novelty cake is requested. 

But if the amount of times Juliette has asked for Elmo cake since her birthday is any indication, I may be making the same cake for years to come.

Not-Me-Monday: Parenting Adventures

This week Juliette did not decide to expand her artistic repertoire to include such mediums as our beige ottomans.  And espying our beige furniture "decorated" with dark ball-point pen, I did not throw a fit that would make any two-year-old jealous.  I did not act like they were expensive, irreplaceable items that had been in the family for centuries  instead of cheap, poorly made footrests that were already championing some stains from Seth's late night snacking.  Nope, not me!

At Juliette's preschool's open house, she did not try to eat the plastic cheese.  I did not try to discreetly smuggle the pretend food away from her and into the back where I rinsed it off either.  Not me!

I did not let Juliette "help" can peaches by merely giving her a bowl full of pits and peels.   She did not then proceed to eat the peels and suck on the pits.  That's just cruel.

Later I did not find that she had managed to get her hands on a "real" peach, only to apparently find it rather boring.  Certainly not.

Juliette is not obsessed with rocks.  I do not find them littered about my house, nor do we have to stop every fifteen feet whenever we are outside in order to let her pick up and closely inspect a "better" rock.  They are not stacked up on our porch, nor did I actually find one this week, the size of a orange, rolled up in her sheets.  I did not add "check bed for rocks" to my mental list for her bedtime routine.  Nope not me! 

Parenting is most definitely not full of adventures!