True Halloween Spirit

The Sweetest Treat: A Boo Baby       

Most of the time we went to houses in our neighborhood, but one especially memorable evening that forever changed our family was unusual in more ways than one.  My grandma was in town, and arrangements were made for us to go trick-or-treating with one of our neighborhood friends and her brother.  Their dad drove us all to an apartment complex where we could get more candy and cover more ground than would be possible on the relatively small cul-de-sac we lived on off of River Road back then.  My sister and I were smitten with the prospect of collecting so much candy.  Our sort of make-shift, last minute costumes didn’t bother us much. 

     
We were used to having our parents walk with us to each house, but our friend’s brother was a little older, so his dad just drove around following us from one section of apartments to another.  He had “Monster Mash” blasting out of the car speakers.  The windows were down and the sunroof was open. 

     
Back before cellphones were mainstream, and when car phones were still exceptionally rare, we received an extra special message.  Suddenly, “The Monster Mash” stopped playing and we heard the life-changing words: “You have a new baby sister!”  Our lives were never the same.    

The Costume Kid Turned Dancing Diva

The year she turned one, my youngest sister had a really cute cow costume.  Friends of ours owned a donut shop, and my mom took a picture of her and wrote a sign by it “Got milk?” which they had up at Daylight Donuts for quite some time in the 90s.    

     
As a little girl, she loved Disney, dress-up clothes and had an unbelievably wide selection of pretty costumes to choose from since a close family friend would get discount costumes from Wolff Fording to use for the annual Musical Revue she put together at St. Mary’s School.  My sister owned a ton of princess costumes which she insisted on wearing everywhere during that particular period in her life.  Some people thought it was really cute and endearing, but as a teenager, I was mortified to have to go around with my youngest sibling dressed in some get-up.     

     
I grew up taking dance, mostly ballet, tap, and jazz, so I had a number of costumes for recitals that doubled as ones for Halloween.  I’ve even worn a couple of costumes "Miss Reesa Lynn" wore in her later dance recitals to parties. 

     
I had perhaps a little too much fun one year decorating for my sister’s Halloween/birthday sleepover party.  She had a large Lamb Chop's play along stuffed animal which I dressed in a black graduation gown and hung.  I also stuffed a pair of striped stockings with stuff to make it look like a witch had crash landed into the shower in the basement.

     
When in high school, the dancing diva told us she wanted all of us to dress up as Disney characters.  Our middle sister asked if she was kidding.  Obviously not, since she’d gotten a Tinkerbell costume to wear that year.  During the day, Kevin had a costume contest at Circuit City.  We dressed up as Men in Black, both in blacks suits, white collared shirts, black ties, and sunglasses.  Kevin went so far as to paint a water gun we had to make it look a bit more like the weapons they use in the movie.  Then that evening, I turned into Mulan for my sister’s Disney themed birthday party. 

  

This is our absolute favorite Halloween bit from Seinfeld’s “I’m Telling You for the Last Time:” Jerry Seinfeld on Halloween (Stand-up in New York).

"Trick or Trunk?!"    

I’ve heard of the popular custom of having kids don their costumes to go to a church parking lot and “trick-or-treat” from one car trunk to the next, but I am a bit concerned by the sign outside of one church that I saw advertising a Halloween “Trick or Trunk.”  I’m not sure quite what this entails, but I had visions of extreme trick-or-treating scenarios and possible outcomes.  It sounds like something that a gang might come up with—either that or a group of parents of wayward adolescents that have had enough and are ready to take drastic measures.  Of course, this suggestion also seems very much like one father of three silly sisters would come up with as an advisable alternative to dressing up your kids in costumes and walking them around the neighborhood ringing doorbells and demanding candy from strangers.    

Back in the Day

For a while, because my birthday is near Halloween, we’d have costume parades or parties for my celebration.  There are pictures of a morning costume parade in our neighborhood and donuts that marked one of my under five birthday celebrations. When we were growing up, we didn’t use those little plastic pumpkin buckets for our candy.  We got pretty hardcore after a while and used pillowcases, since those were easy to carry, and you can fit a whole lot of candy in them.  We’d walk as far as we could talk our parents into going. 

     
Our ritual at home was the same every year.  We’d sit down on the living room floor and dump all of our candy out in a pile, so our parents could check it for anything suspicious (or particularly delicious).  Our main concern was counting how many pieces we had, in hopes that we’d somehow gotten more loot than the other person.  Then it was time to trade for the candy we liked most with the yucky stuff that we’d resort to only once we’d eaten all of the name brand candy.

Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing

One of “my two little guys” who is now in his double digits is going to Disney World with his family for Halloween.  That has got to be such a cool place to be when half the people in there are already in costumes.  I’m looking forward to seeing the photos. 

     
I couldn’t resist dressing one of the boys up in the shark costume he had for Halloween and taking him to visit Kevin at West Marine, the retail store where he was working at the time.  I brought goldfish crackers for the boys to eat, and let them play around the dinghies and small personal watercraft on display in front of the store to get some really cute photos. 

A Celebration's In Order

Today we’re looking forward to celebrating Theresa’s birthday as well as our brother-in-law Jordan’s as a family.  I can't imagine what this life or our family would be like without my youngest sister Theresa in it. She has brought so much joy, smiles, laughter, love, and hope into our family. May the Lord continue to bless you, love you, and keep you ever close to Him as you use the many gifts He's given you to inspire others. We love you dearly! Looking forward to celebrating this evening.

    
My mom’s famous homemade chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, and apple pie are going to be involved.  We’re also hoping to see the cutest mailman on the planet.  Our nephew’s dream is coming true: he gets to be a mailman for the day.

    
Happy Halloween!  Lord of all souls, Father of all creation, thank You for the gift of loved ones, for the joy of new life, and the hope of eternal life You have given us.  All you holy men and women, pray for us!

Christmas Merry-Making Mishaps Series Entry # 2 Cookie Decorating

Cutting and Decorating

 

A friend with a wacky sense of humor joined us when my mom, sisters, and I were making Christmas cookies one year.  We had the usual snowflakes, snowmen, trees, angels, gingerbread men, bells, and stars to decorate, but that was not all, oh no that was not all.  Among the most unique cookie creations carved free-hand were a potato and a dreidel.  I have a picture of the friend with blue frosting on her face using the microwave as a mirror and pretending to shave it off with a butter knife.

For Art’s Sake

Most of the time, my mom, sisters, and I will go to great lengths to decorate cookies that are particularly pretty, ornate, and intricate, but a month and a half after my youngest sister was born, we were having fun putting all sorts of decorations, in copious amounts, on the baked goodies.  We got so into it that we ran out of traditional cookie decorations, and for the sake of peace and a few more minutes of us being happily occupied doing something harmless together, my mom let my sister and I use Breathsavers and other such unlikely and unsavory pieces of candy and trim. 

    
I doubt anyone made it through a cookie with sugar-free breath mints on top, but it gave my mom a few more minutes of rocking my baby sister while watching The Sound of Music in the family room to allow my other sister and I to have a fabulous time making a royal and fully-sanctioned mess of the kitchen.

A Note about my Christmas Merrymaking Mishaps Series I’m not sure about you, but my family and friends have had some rather amusing and entertaining incidents that have occurred when engaging in some very popular holiday traditions such as: Christmas Caroling, Cookie Decorating, Christmas Tree selection, and Nativity set-up.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 130) Storytelling, Silly Songs, & the Cookie Caper Question

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Grace is…a delicious Thanksgiving feast shared with family, having my youngest sister home even for a brief visit, Mom’s homemade apple pie, wanting to be a better servant of the Lord, working at being more Christ-like by doing small things with great love, genuine encouragement and inspiration from those who love you, the sense to stay in on Black Friday, playing with your youngest nephew, the vulnerability it takes to be honest in kind and gentle ways…

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Thanksgiving Across the Years This Thanksgiving was a really nice one for Kevin and me.  We began the day by going to Mass to celebrate the ultimate feast, the Eucharist (the word literally means “thanksgiving”).  Later we headed over to my sister and brother-in-law’s house for the family meal and visiting.  The food was delicious and the quality time together very enjoyable!  To read about some of our past Thanksgiving adventures, mishaps, and traditions, click here.     

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It’s Your Fault! Yesterday, my sister and I broke into a song about rubber duckies that my mom used to sing to us when we were little.  My other sister and my mom looked at each other and made faces at us.  I elbowed my mom, and informed her: “It’s your fault!”  And really it is.  She’s the one who stayed home with us when we were little and sang to us, danced with us, read to us, played with us, and inspired a love for little people that she passed on to each one of us.  

     The song my sister and I were singing is from Sesame Street.  You might recognize it.

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10 Facts about Advent I happened upon this article the other day, and it’s a great starting point for remembering what Advent is about.  Here’s a hint: it has nothing at all to do with the craziness of Black Friday, but is an important precursor to Christmas and the prelude to Good Friday.  The actual Advent wreath that Kevin and I have and will be putting out this weekend is a very special one that was made by a friend of ours who is hardcore about spreading hope.   

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Run that by me again! Sunshine has a very active imagination.  Sometimes, I’m not sure right away if she’s telling me about something that has actually happened or if it’s another one of her pretend stories.  Either way, I try to listen closely and follow along.  Not too long ago, she told me that her grandma and grandpa don’t like rabbits, so she doesn’t either.  I had no way of verifying that, but since her grandparents do have a farm, I deduced it was at least possible.  This week, she was a good two minutes into her story before I figured out that we were in a real world with real people fairy tale.  What tipped me off?  Suddenly she was the one driving mommy and daddy’s van to go find her mom, who had left her at school while she went to Walmart.    

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Last Night Kids concept of time is amusing.  Lately, Sunshine typically begins and/or ends each of her stories with “last night.”  This has occasionally helped me in the department of distinguishing fact from fiction, though, with her it can be a very convincing mix of the two.  Knowing that her parents had trouble with the minivan’s alarm going off by itself, I was incredibly impressed when in subsequent weeks, she spun a very animated, action-packed, high adrenalin story about a school bus needing to be fixed and babies crying because of a loud alarm that went off when a battery died.  Kevin was visiting us at the time and got to witness this based on a real life event story, and we were both amused and awed.  Just remember, your children are always recording audio and video whether you want them to or not.

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The Cookie Caper Question I have a tendency to take things personally and assume that people think the worst of me.  Here’s a hypothetical situation that closely resembles my line of thinking: If Kevin were to ask me why cookies were being stolen from the cookie jar in a household of three or more individuals all capable of reaching the container, I would typically assume that he was informing me of a problem while at the same time accusing me of stealing the cookies and/or blaming me for not having a better system for keeping track of the baked goods in question even if this wasn’t at all his intent or line of thinking.  (Truth be told, I do find it very difficult to resist the urge to consume baked goodies when they are left out or easily accessible.) 

     Like most people, I prefer to be informed of a problem and asked questions rather than immediately accused of being the culprit when I’m just as likely a suspect as the next person.  If the cookies have some type of chocolate in them, it might be most efficient and also highly likely to assume that I have been one of the people responsible for the disappearance and consumption of some of the cookies.  Though it would be unfair and presumptuous to believe that I am the only guilty party involved in the case of the missing cookies, it isn’t unjust, given my appreciation for goodies, to think that I’m among the likely suspects…

     I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you are willing to share your holiday baked goods with whoever comes to call this Advent and Christmas.                  

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary. 

Best Scare-Fest EVER! A Halloween Haunted Warehouse with the Roanoke Jaycees

The absolute best scare-fest ever was one I got to participate in from “the dark side.”

The whole thing was set up in this big old warehouse that you walked through, room by room, one frightening scene after another, really dark walkways, a guide in front of you with a flashlight pointed at the ground, monsters and mass murderers in convincing make-up and costumes pawing at you as you pass by, and a number of surprising, hair-raising twists and turns that managed to give even the most macho men a good startle. 

   
I went with some other friends from Hollins University to help out the Roanoke Jaycees with their haunted exhibit (which is unfortunately closed this year-2013), now known as the FEAR FACTORY. 

   
They had tons and tons of volunteers involved.  The decorating was really remarkable and detailed that they did to make this place genuinely spooky.  When we were given a walk-through tour I was very grateful that the lights were still on.  I quickly determined from this well-lit tour that I’d be okay taking people’s tickets at the door before entering this place, but that walking through that series of twists, turns, scary sights, and sudden frights multiple times with a group of people counting on me not to drop the flashlight and run screaming for the nearest door would be asking a bit much.

   
I still remember the sheer terror I felt during the latter part of a hayride a friend and I went on one October when I was trying to squeeze through a little space then run as fast as possible in a real forest in the dark from the crazy guy with a chainsaw.  It turns out I don’t like people running after me with chainsaws in a dark forest even if I know they aren’t really going to cut me into little pieces.  It seems even more ridiculous (at least to me) when I thought about the fact that I had paid to have someone inflict this punishment upon me.  I don’t watch horror flicks.  I’ve had enough real-life scary stuff happen that I don’t need the adrenalin-rush from something that’s not actually life-threatening or worthy of complete panic.

   
The Roanoke Jaycees went all-out.  The most shocking scare that particular year came near the end.  It’s dark, and you can see a sliver of light from outside, so you think the tour is almost over.  You’re looking forward, going towards the light when all of a sudden, headlights come on, a horn is blasting, and the front of a real car falls right into where you are standing with your mouth and eyes wide open and at the last minute hits a barrier that’s disguised on the other side of a farm-like wooden fence.  As you can probably imagine, some people were screaming their heads off at this point, which was kind of a cool additional real-life sound effect for those about to enter the haunted house or those already in it.

   
After a few seconds to recover from such a jolt and start breathing again, the group can clearly see that they are just steps away from the exit now, and can carry on laughing about the whole thing.  That’s where I came in.  There was less than two feet of space between the wall they’d constructed as part of the you’re-going-to-get-hit-by-a-car attraction and one of the actual walls of the building.  It was a dark and vacant little hiding spot.

When I crouched down, I just could just barely squeeze into the space and scoot far enough back that I could see out, but I couldn’t be seen.  When a group came to the final stretch of the fear factory, I would hear the car horn, see the headlights and get ready.  I’d hear people screaming, a few gasped and then laughed, one or two were startled, but did their best to hide it. 

   
Inevitably, they’d stand there and stare at the car that had almost hit them and admire the set-up while getting their heartbeat back to a normal level.  They leave the last staged scary scene, heading towards the exit which is clearly in sight, and I would let out this piercing, bloodcurdling scream that went on for as long as I could hold it.

I got a big kick out of watching people jump about two feet in the air.  Even people who knew about the car ahead of time or for whatever reason weren’t really startled by that were genuinely flipped out when they heard a real live, full-fledged scream coming from very close by.

People would look around and ask where that had come from, but I’d never come out while they were still inside the building.  It was funny, because the guides knew what was on the tour, but they didn’t know about me hiding and screaming at the end, and they couldn’t see me, either, so they were startled as well the first time through with a group after I took up my new post.

  
At the end of the night, one of the Jaycees asked if he could videotape me doing what I had been doing throughout the evening for each group even after I started losing my voice (which probably made it sound even more frightening).  I let him record me screaming my head off from my little hiding spot.  It was long enough ago that I’m not too worried about it showing up on Youtube.

What's really funny is I got to count my time there as part of my community service hours for the month.  I'm not quite sure the community would have considered it a service, but I was participating in one of their major fundraisers.    

I never knew I’d have fun working in a haunted house, but that year I had a blast!

Climbing to New Heights (My Nanny Diary)

I knew the time would come and probably sooner than later for these two, but oh-my-goodness, watch the heck out, the twins are climbing and scaling stuff!  By the time I’ve taken one of their trays into the kitchen, someone’s usually standing up on the sofa or the recliner trying to launch herself over the top of it.  The other day, one little livewire had climbed up into one highchair and had one foot in her seat and her other in her sister’s highchair, and she was looking upward likely wondering the best way to scale the wall.  Fortunately, her mom and I were both in the room watching her while we were talking, so we took turns pulling her down from her new favorite perch.   

    
Every stool, chair, sofa, shelf, toy of a certain height is an irresistible temptation for this dynamic duo.  With Sunshine using the potty and, at times, staying in the bathroom forever and a day “dawdling” (at least she knows a sophisticated word for what she’s doing), I often worry about making sure she closes the door while she’s in there and once she’s finished.  Her sisters make a beeline for that mostly off-limits room whenever they get a chance.  The step stool Sunshine uses would only give them extra help in falling headfirst into the toilet.  Since we have a little one using the potty somewhat frequently a child safety lock on the toilet would probably cause more accidents than it would be worth, so hyper-vigilance is definitely in order.   

   
They already trip, fall, roll over toys, run into furniture often enough that I can’t always pinpoint which particular incident it was that resulted in the bump on their head, the latest bruise on their arm, or scratch on their legs.  Heck, most of the time, I can’t even pinpoint exactly when I got most of my bumps, scratches, and bruises after a day with them. 

    
I never realized that I’d ever recall a little wistfully the days when I took care of two infant boys for several hours at a time predominantly in the kitchen and the bar room/area next to it when we were at one of the boys’ homes.  There wasn’t a whole heck of a lot for them to climb on.  They got to do most of their climbing at the nearby playgrounds in the neighborhood. 

    
Only in retrospect am I able to appreciate how convenient it was that the furniture in that section of the one house where I took care of them was so very sparse.  Two very tall chairs and a tall end table in between them (all too difficult for them to scale, thank goodness) were the only pieces in there when I started.  Eventually, a big leather bench and two highchairs were added along with a chair brought in for me from another room.  (Spending most of the eleven hours I took care of them sitting on the floor did not bode well for my back even when I was still in my twenties). 

    
When the boys got old enough to walk, everything (except for the bench that weighed probably over a 100 lbs) they regularly moved around both rooms.  The toy box they could climb up on and jump off of without getting hurt, and though they’d deposit lots of toys into the silver trash can where the dog food was kept, they weren’t able to scale it (or at least they refrained from doing so in my presence).  The safety issue there was the interesting allure of partaking in the dog’s sustenance, which was just big enough that it was a significant choking hazard. 

    
My toddler tagteam rearranged what little furniture they had access to more times than Martha Stewart probably does for a photo shoot.  I figured it was all good since they were building their muscles, keeping active without being violent or causing harm to anything, and their escapades weren’t leaving any marks on the tiled floor.  There was a time when I amused myself with the thought of hiring them out as moving guys because they became so efficient at it.  It got to a point when I’d be sitting in a chair reading to them one minute, then I’d get something from the kitchen and return to find my chair on the opposite side of the room.  Come to think of it, they couldn’t have been hired out as movers because they were actually efficient and didn’t break anything.  (Truth be told, my family has moved a ton of times, and we’ve had some incredibly hard-working, very careful movers over the years which mostly balance out those who have been a bit more lackadaisical when it comes to working and breakable items.) 

This week the twins have become proficient in climbing up into their high chairs, the recliner, the sofa, chairs, and if given the chance will begin to scale them.  It’s time to batten down that hatches, put plug covers in every plug that isn’t being used, lock-up the poisonous substances, latch the heavy furniture to the walls, and thank the Lord for guardian angels.

The Outer Limits of: French, Food, Fun, and Laughter

Speaking French, funny stories, rollercoasters, West African music and dance, an assortment of photos, video clips, and discussions made this evening quite enjoyable.  My youngest sister is in town for a couple weeks, and I hadn’t seen her since my mom and I went up to Ohio back in April to see her performances. 

    
Since then she’s been to Burkina Faso for the second time and loved it.  I was excited to hear about her trip and looking forward to speaking with her in French, which she’d really like to keep up.  We hung out at my mom’s.  Kevin came over after work and grocery shopping and cut up fruit for us all to eat while we were talking. 

Food Matters

We laughed about some amusing moments from when we were growing up, one of those being the day that my mom quickly packed my sister “a lunch” for the day she was spending with me while I took care of “my two little guys.”  (For further explanation, see My Nanny Diary.)  The contents of said lunch were rather interesting: 1. a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread 2. a box of individual packets of hot cocoa mix.

   
Opening a package of crackers and eating a couple that were starting to go stale, my sister said she didn’t mind them.  I told her that she should have known they were stale since there wasn’t FRESH written on the side of the package in black permanent marker.  Writing FRESH in black marker was a trick a household member had for identifying the cereal purchased most recently that was least likely to be stale.  Rather than throw the stale cereal out, this individual helpfully marked the new box as FRESH.

Enjoy the Ride

My mom and sister just got back from some time in Rochester, New York, so we were talking about the people and places they visited up there and got onto the subject of roller coasters.  There is a rather small (in terms of other amusement parks we’ve gone to) place with rides and a water park that’s been in its current location since before I was born.  Often when we’d go up to Rochester to visit my grandma, grandpa, uncles, and my parents' friends from college, we would spend a day at Seabreeze where they have such rides as the Jack Rabbit, a wooden rollercoaster that my parents went on years before we were even a twinkle in their eyes.  My sister and cousins went to the park for a quick visit to hit the highlights at Seabreeze before they closed the gates. 

This got us into a discussion about rollercoasters at different amusement parks and how family members responded to those at Seabreeze, King’s Dominion, and Busch Gardens.  Kevin had to tell the story about the time we were at King’s Dominion for the day, and we rode the Outer Limits rollercoaster for the first time.  Afterward, we decided to have lunch.  I went up to an open window and asked for “two orders of stricken chips.” 

The person looked at me quite confused.  I didn’t even realize what I’d said until Kevin stepped forward and said, “I’m sorry.  We just got off a rollercoaster.  What she meant to say is that we’d like two orders of chicken strips, please.”  We spent the entire lunch laughing hysterically as we ate our chicken and fries, and later I drew a little picture of a house and wrote "Home for Abused Chips" on the front of one of the many letters I sent him back then when we were still dating. 

   
Kevin's kept every card, note, and letter I sent him from when we first met throughout the entire time we were dating, so I came across the envelope the other day when I was rereading cards, letters, and things I'd sent him which are now mixed in with the letters and cards he sent me way back when.

The Pirates Who Get into Everything (My Nanny Diary)

Sometimes Vivi calls me Captain Trisha, and I’m fine with that.  “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” is a wonderful Veggie Tales song and hilarious full-length movie which Kevin and I have counted among our favorites for quite some time.  I’ve made up a dance to the song that I do with the five and under crowd at school, particularly on rainy days when we can’t go out on the playground.  It’s one of the classic Veggie Tales songs on the CD Vivi requests we listen to daily, sometimes multiple times a day. 

    
The three girls have had a blast playing with their new water table, which is a pirate ship complete with a mast.  (Hopefully, it won’t confuse them later on that it’s best not to let your boat fill up with water).  I’ve decided that the girls are the pirates who get into everything, but who act as if they haven’t done anything.  It is amazing all of the things they manage to get into while inside, outside, even upside down.  For further details about our pirate-y adventures, check out Treasure Chest Surprises (My Nanny Diary).

Yesterday, when there were a plethora of water toys available, Livie decided to pull the pinwheel out of the planter.  I let her carry it around.  She even tried to blow on it to get it to spin.  As soon as she put the dirty wooden part in her mouth, I took it and showed her how to blow the pinwheel.  She took it back and was walking around the deck trying at random to get it to spin around. 

   
 At one point, Sophie got the pinwheel.  She was playing with it for less than 60 seconds before she put the dirt-covered wooden part in her mouth.  This occurred after she disassembled the pinwheel and tossed part of it into the garden.  I took the pinwheel and the dirt-encrusted stick to the trash only to turn around, and find Sophie sucking on the wooden pin that had been holding the toy together.  I thought it was lost forever in the garden, but apparently not.  In her defense, it looked a lot like a lollipop made of wood.    

    
I find it amusing that Vivi and the girls are so into Jake and the Never Land Pirates.  Her grandma got her purple sweatpants, a pink shirt, a little pouch, a pink bandanna, and brown boots so she can dress up as Izzy.  I lost count how many times we read the book The Croc Takes the Cake today.   

    
I can still vividly remember the two children (a 5-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother) I babysat regularly when I was in high school.  The two of them absolutely loved Disney’s animated Peter Pan.  They were thrilled dressing up and pretending they were the characters, reading the books, watching the movie, and singing the songs. 

    
When I nannied for “my two little guys,” both of their parents got some books in French for me to read to the boys.  I was quite tickled that the two French books the boys requested that I read the most often both involved pirates.  In one, a grandmother is kidnapped by pirates, and her grandchildren have to go rescue her.  In the other, the main character of the book is the daughter of the most famous pirate in the world; she has to travel with a crew of pirates to different places around the globe on a scavenger hunt that leads her to the best treasure of all.  

    
Both books are actually pretty hilarious, so I was happy to read them over and over and over again.  I had to change the words at the end of one book after the first time I shouted them out before realizing exactly what was being said.  When we reached the end of Grandmère et Les Pirates which said “Mon dieu, ou est passé le bateau?!” I replaced it with a new beginning of oh  là  là! followed by the French equivalent of (where’s the ship gone?!).

I was given most of the books in French after taking care of the boys since neither set of parents spoke the language, but they hung onto the favorite ones.  I’d like to get those two books again to have as part of the collection I have at home to bring to work and/or school to share with kids.

Treasure Chest Surprises (My Nanny Diary)

A few weeks ago, Sophie began pulling up on the treasure chest, then perching on top of it for a bit.  Over the past week, Sophie and Livie have been very interested in climbing into the Minnie Mouse treasure chest Vivi received as one of her turning 3 birthday gifts. 

At first, Sophie would approach the open treasure chest filled with wooden blocks and Duplos and gingerly sit on it with one leg hanging off the side.  Mastering this trick, she decided to climb in, make herself as comfy as possible while sitting on blocks and even cross her ankles. 

    
Today Livie is sitting in the treasure chest facing backward, trying to pull the lid down on herself which goes about as well as you can imagine it would.  Earlier both of the twins managed to wedge themselves in there with the colorful assortment of blocks. 

    
Vivi is a big fan of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, which I’ve never watched on TV, though I’ve read some of the board books about them.  This fascination with the Peter Pan spin-off is why she refers to the treasure chest as the “team treasure chest.”  Her mom has let me know that on the show and movies they call it a team treasure chest, because they all put their gold doubloons in there once they’ve done a good deed.

    

Salty, Yet Satisfying

Honestly, I don’t really know what my shoelaces taste like, but the twins do.  I’m fairly certain the only day in a month or so that I didn’t find one or the other of the girls sucking on my shoelaces was this past Monday evening when I came over after their parents put them to bed (or were about to) for the night, so mom and dad could go out for a nice dinner.  I’m not quite certain what the draw is to my shoes, other than that I put them on before I go outside. 

    
They seem to take an interest in their parents’ sneakers, but they usually aren’t quite as determined to munch on their treads or chew on their laces when mine are available. Vivi’s shoes are also particularly tasty, because they’re easily the second favorite choice if they’re within reach.   

   
As a mentioned not too long ago, Vivi loves to wind my shoelaces around and loop them over and under until it takes me as long as it takes her to put her shoes on (that includes the persuasive arguments as to why she needs footwear if we're going outside along with a refresher on how I know it's best not to help her put her shoes, clothes, sunglasses, hat, underwear...on when she can do it herself).

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 99)

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Fun with Watercolors I’ve had fun painting with watercolors, one of Vivi’s favorite past-times as well.  Occasionally, I have an opportunity to paint with her.  Over the weekend, I felt like painting with watercolors.  Once the little pictures dried, I enhanced them with details drawn with colored pencils.    

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Uploaded Wednesday Kevin brought pizza over to Carl and Jess’s for dinner, and we hung out with Jess and the girls while Carl was at an interest meeting for volunteers.  I finally remembered that I have about 600 some photos on my computer of the girls that I’ve been meeting to put on a flash drive or something for them.  I uploaded the photos and videos onto a flash drive, so their parents can enjoy them and pass them along to other members of the girls’ fan club.   

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Overheard It always makes me smile and sometimes laugh right out loud when I hear Vivi singing a song or quoting a phrase from a favorite book, especially when it’s a little off from what the actual lyrics are.  The quotes from books, of course her faves by Dr. Seuss, are completely accurate. 

     Thursday, as she ran around in a little circle in the living room she randomly came up with the following lyrics to the tune of Jingle Bells: “Thank you wish, thank you wish, thank you, Santa Claus.”  I have no idea what made her think of Santa or jingle bells, but the fact that thank you is in the lyrics makes me very happy.  I’m also excited that she remembers to say: “May I please…”  Also this week, she's been singing: Where is pumpkin? Where is pumpkin? to tune of  “Where Is Thumpkin?”

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Conversation for the Soul My friend Michele just found out that she'll be entering the Sisters by the Sea cloistered community in Carmel, California, August 6, 2013. She came over Tuesday afternoon so we could catch up.  Five hours later, we'd covered quite a bit.  We both enjoyed sharing our God-incidents and experiences from our recent trips—neither of which went the way we envisioned.  As usual, Michele had some amusing stories to share about her retreat, which didn’t end up being much of a retreat.  It was uplifting to hear the many instances in which God orchestrated things in ways Michele couldn’t have planned or even thought to ask for that made for quite memorable blessings.  One example, she was asked to perform her play "Teresita" for the cloistered sisters in the community where she staying at a hermitage in Pennsylvania for her "retreat," and when she finished, they sang to her the poem “In the Hands of God” on which her piece was largely inspired.  They’d set the poem to music for a special occasion the week before, a novice making her final vows.    

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Now what?! One of my favorite quotes from our soul-spilling epic conversation with my beloved sister in Christ Michele came in the form of a clarification on the role of prayer and its affect on family relations: "I don't think that if I pray enough my family's not gonna act stupid anymore.”  Nothing’s impossible with God, but it’s highly probable that members of the same family are going to rile each other up (sometimes accidentally), have differences in opinion, and varying views on pretty much everything.

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Heaven-Sent by God "We seldom realize fully that we are sent to fulfill God-given tasks. We act as if we have to choose how, where, and with whom to live. We act as if we were simply plopped down in creation and have to decide how to entertain ourselves until we die. But we were sent into the world by God, just as Jesus was. Once we start living our lives with that conviction, we will soon know what we were sent to do." -Henri Nouwen  I receive daily reflections from the Henri Nouwen Society via e-mail.  You can check them out and do the same here.

     

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Kermit on Trial No, I’m not suggesting that Jim Henson’s green, lovable friend is on trial (that would actually get widespread news coverage and genuine concern about the injustices in life).  I’m talking about the Kermit who no one wants to talk about because it might look bad for the abortion industry to discuss how some abortionists have been killing babies after delivering them from the womb.  If you have any question about whether or not our media is biased, check out the media block-out of this trial.

                  

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 94)

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Mass Effect Had some really good prayer time Tuesday. Kevin and I enjoyed that evening’s Mass at St. Benedict's for the Feast of St. Joseph and the Installation of Pope Francis. I got to have dinner with a dear friend/sister/spiritual diva, then our fave brother in Christ called to catch up for a bit. Lord, thank You for lovelines family!

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Lucky for Laughter Me: “I have a leprechaun in my pocket.  A girl at school colored it in, cut it out and gave it to me.”  A little later, after his third failed attempt to toss something into the recycling, Kevin says: “I didn’t have anybody give me a leprechaun today, so I’m fresh outta luck.”  Lord, thank You for my husband and his sense of humor!

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Thank Heavens for Sisters in Christ  Was just going through all of my Christ Renews His Parish photos. Everything from retreat planning meetings, Halloween and Christmas parties, book studies, and prayer sessions to being there for community outreach projects.  Wow! It's hard to believe that I first met this amazing group of women back in February 2010.  We've had some really fun times CRHP sistas! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again very soon.  One of our sisters who had a little baby girl in December will be coming to this gathering.  I'm looking forward to meeting her for the first time and taking part in a send-off party for her mom. 

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Goes Hard Even at Home Had a wicked headache that started Thursday afternoon when Livie “the livewire” as I like to call her launched herself at my face for the millionth time in a nine hour period, and that time smashed into my nose with the part of her skull that is already formed and freakin' hard. Ouch!  My head was still hurting when I went to bed.  Watch out for the head-banger!  

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Tell-tale Poop I have learned many things over my twenty plus years of taking care of children.  One of those things is that the proof is in the poop.  When little ones aren't able to mash up their food due to lack of teeth or additional need for chewing practice once teeth have come in, the things they are unable to mash on their own and therefore can't digest (or get nutritional value from) end up basically whole in their diapers.  
     Seemingly small finger foods easy to make and grab can be deceptively enticing, though not the best of ideas.  Peas, corn, peppers, pretty much any veggies with skin on them, need to be pureed or mashed, otherwise, they go in one end and come undigested out the other.  Blueberries are another one, and of course grapes.  The other drawback to finger foods with skin they can't chew through is that they make for really messy poopy diapers and a higher chance of diaper rash.  

     Good rule of tongue: if you can't mash it or mush it up with your tongue and the roof of your mouth, then your little one isn't likely to be able to mash it with anywhere from 2-4 teeth enough to digest it.

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Give Me a Beat Vivi, Livie, and Sophie absolutely love music.  Singing, dancing, playing instruments (actual or make-shift) are high on their list of favorites.  Since I really like the music from Step Up 4, I've been playing the final mob dance scene on Youtube so we can dance to it.  I pull up a blank screen so they aren't watching the video (which certainly isn't meant for kids), but it's been fun to see how they dance and move to different beats and how they respond to me doing various types of dance.  Vivi's had lots of fun with the baby cello Holly gave me to pass along to her.              
     

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Fringe Benefits It never ceases to amaze me how much the things we use daily can quickly become a source of joy, fascination, and no small amount of giggling for small children and those taking care of them.  The girls love one of the blankets in the living room.  It's one of those you can make fairly easily by cutting one inch strips of material and knotting two panels together.  Vivi is always inviting everyone to "go hiding" with her.  Regardless of what else has been going on, playing with the blanket usually gets everyone in a better mood.     

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 91)

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Still Have Hope “But I always knew that the Lord is in the boat, and I always knew that the boat of the Church is not mine, not ours, but it is His. And He will not let her sink, it is He who leads it, certainly also through the men he has chosen, because so He has willed it. This was and is a certainty, that nothing can obscure. And that is why today my heart is filled with gratitude to God because He has never left me or the Church without His consolation, His light, His love,” the Holy Father said.  To read the full article about Pope Benedict XVI's words and sentiments from a credible source (obviously NOT the mainstream media), click here. 

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Past Due Praying for my sister, who could go into labor any minute (her due date was February 26) the baby we'll soon get to see and hold, and my brother-in-law that all will go smoothly for the birth whenever it happens and that peace and joy will radiate in ways only God could bring about for all three of them.  Pray for my mom as well.  It's killing her to have to wait even longer to hold her first grandchild than she thought.  

           

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Vivi Turns Three: Sunday we celebrated Vivi’s third birthday.  “Princess Vivi” as she often calls herself had a lovely Minnie Mouse party with family (and those adopted as such Kevin and me).  Her mom helped her practice blowing out candles so she’d be ready for her big day.  Just as impressive was getting to see Vivi actually eat some of the cake (since she usually won’t touch it, too much like bread, which she has no interest in at all).    

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Birthday Balloon Hands-down one of Vivi’s favorite gifts that has continued to bring her great joy is the birthday Minnie Mouse helium balloon her mom brought home for her last Friday.  She was immediately smitten with it, and she and her sisters have had lots of fun with it ever since.  (Yes, I know balloons are major choking hazards and strings are strangling hazards.  Vivi’s not interested in eating the balloon, and I only let her sisters play with it when I’m sitting with them, watching them like a hawk.) 

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Team Treasure Chest Another of Vivi’s new prized possessions is a Minnie Mouse treasure chest which she refers to as her “Team Treasure Chest,” because she is an avid fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates (a cartoon spin-off of Peter Pan that involves Captain Hook which I’ve never seen, but I’ve heard much about and read some of the children’s books).  She loves dragging it around the room, sitting on it, and putting her other new toys in it, then locking it so her sisters can’t get to them.  I’m just happy she hasn’t tried (at least while I’m watching) to stuff one of her sisters in it and lock it.  Though, with how adept Livie is at getting into things and out of other things, she’d probably bust out rather quickly.  Sophie we’d discover quickly from the piercing screeches issuing forth from the box.     

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No Whining There was one day in particular this week during which the tone of voice in which every word that came out of a certain someone’s mouth was to my sensitive ears like fingernails on a chalkboard, the drill at the dentist’s office, or a young, unhappy child who needs more to eat or more sleep or something but can’t tell you what it is she wants/needs only the 5,243 things she doesn’t want in a voice that makes you want to scream, but you know that won’t help, either.  I knew Kevin had a long day at work and was worn down by negativity.  He was being very quiet knowing I, too, had a long day.  I informed him after a few minutes of needed silence that I was ready to listen if he wanted to tell me about his day, even if he wanted to complain, as long as he did it in a normal voice.    
     

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Skyfall Great James Bond Flick!  One of the fringe benefits of nannying for the girls is that their parents have one of the largest modern movie collections of anyone I know.  While I only on rare occasions watch a DVD with the girls (and then it’s usually a Broadway musical or Disney classic) I get to borrow movies Kevin and I didn’t see in the theater, can’t afford to purchase, and otherwise may not get around to viewing until they are being shown on TV years after the fact.  Kevin and I both loved watching Skyfall, the latest Bond movie on Blue-ray this evening.       

Check out Jen Fulwiler’s tradition of 7 Quick Takes Friday at her tremendously popular blog Conversion Diary.

The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's

     Somewhere over the rainbow, there’s a group of Christians having a whole lot of fun creating hilarious programs that will have you and your whole family laughing out loud.  My husband and I have never heard or seen a Veggie Tales song or DVD we didn’t like.  Of course, some are fresher in our minds than others, while certain silly songs and clever twists on Bible stories are forever ingrained in our minds and likely to creep into our conversations. 

     Whenever we hear Bible readings at Mass that remind us of stories covered by this ace team of very inspired personnel, we look at each other and smile.  On occasion we’ve been known to whisper to each other and laugh.     
     The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s is another hit DVD from the Veggie Tales gang.  After a long, rather exhausting week, I knew Kevin and I would need something to make us laugh, so I asked to borrow this DVD we hadn’t yet seen from the family for whom I nanny.  Make no mistake; though Kevin and I don’t have children of our own, we still have a small collection of Veggie Tales DVDs and CDs at home.  We just don’t have this one nor had we seen it before. 
     This parody of The Wizard of Oz written to tell children the story of the prodigal son cracked us up.  Two of our favorites plays on the original work had to be “Follow Old Yellow McToad” and “Ohioans and fifers and mares, Oh My!”  Trust the creative geniuses behind Veggie Tales to come up with a memorable, kid-friendly version of the parable of a wayward son. 
     For more information about Veggie Tales, check out their online store here.  For specifics about The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s DVD, click here. 
     Here are my reviews of a few other of our Veggie Tales faves:

King George and the Ducky

Dave and the Giant Pickle

Rack, Shack, and Benny