Thanksgiving 2011

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My boys are 3 years old and 20 months. While getting jammies on, I was asking Cash what we are thankful for. Earlier he replied with answers such as "Cheez-Its" "pretzels" and "peanut butter crackers" thus fully demonstrating the very here and now thoughts of a 3 year old.

So while getting on jammies, he said he couldn't think of anything (basically he doesn't understand the concept of Thanksgiving - hence why we were talking about it!). So I said, "Remember when talked about it earlier? When you named all those foods that we have and we are so thankful that we have food to eat? We are so lucky that we never go hungry. Cash, did you know that there are some people who don't have very much food? Sometimes there are kids that are hungry." And he got very concerned, obviously really thinking about that.  Then he said, "But maybe we can share!"  Cue Mom's tears. What a simple response. What a simple answer. And to a 3 year old, there is nothing complicated about it. I am such a proud mommy.

We talked a little more about it and he got more and more excited saying, "We can share, Mommy! There are some kids, and they don't have any food, and they are hungry, and we'll say, 'here's some food!' and then they won't be hungry!"

The thing is, we're broke. I always feel like we are broke. Never enough money. Too many bills to pay (DAMN IT, why did we go to college!?  j/k)  And with being somewhat jobless as of late, it's gotten worse and worse.  Like many families in America, I have to set a tight food budget, plan meals with the idea the leftovers will be lunch (not always a bad thing!), and we sometimes have cereal for dinner. But seriously. If we can still afford pop, cookie dough, or order in a pizza, we can't be doing too bad.

So now I am on the hunt for a food pantry so we can go pick out some canned goods (at the store, not the food pantry), drop them off and show Cash how we can help. Even if we'll be eating cereal that night.

Counting my blessings and running out of fingers and toes!

It's that time of year. The holidays are coming up. Snow has covered the ground (and disappeared all in the same day!). And I personally think that everyone has done a GREAT job not focusing on Christmas until we are done with Thanksgiving!

It seems to be a popular thing where everyone is posting 30 days of thankfulness on Facebook. This is actually a refreshing change from people bitching and moaning! I didn't get on the 30 day posting bandwagon, but at least I can write it here, and then anyone who feels so inclined can read it here!

I'm thankful for:
-My sweet little boys, Cash and Declan. They are (as I tell them daily) my whole world.  They light up my life, drive me crazy, and make my heart feel better all at the same time.
-My wonderful husband, Nathan. He is my best friend. He makes me laugh, occasionally makes me cry, and is always there to kick my butt out of self-pity when I am down.
-Nathan's very stable job which allows me to have a flexible schedule in working, thus also allowing me to have time to take care of our household, make doctor's apointments, and cook.
-My KS family, who I don't get to see near enough. Especially thankful when they make the time and effort to come visit me in MI.  I can't wait to hold a Christmas in July when we have our next house and all members of my KS family will be expected to be there!
-My MI family, who I still don't get to see near enough. :)  I have the best in-laws a person could ask for, and so much support for my boys. Especially grandma.
-Our FL family, who we REALLY don't get to see near enough. But the boys love their Papa and Grandma Letta (and sometimes if we are lucky, Auntie Erica!) so much, and we take advantage of our time when we do get the opportunity to visit!
-The second mother of our household, Andrea. She is our daycare provider and I don't know what we would do without her and her loving family! They are so good to our boys and we never worry when they are with her!!
-My girlfriends, of which I have many. They understand. They let me vent without too much judging. And they make me laugh. Alot.
-All my non-parent parents. Ricky and Tricia. DeAnn and Bruce. My Kroc mom, April. I'm very blessed to many parental figures in my life, even though I'm in my thirties.
-To have two working cars that don't have car payments. *knock on wood*
-Deans French Onion Dip, Dr. Pepper, Reeces Peanut Butter Cups, and Jet's 8 corner pizza.
-The opportunity to work in a fitness center, which keeps me working out on a semi-regular basis, and provides a great place to train for 5ks, and triathlons.
-Facebook. Such a silly thing to be thankful for, but I get to keep in touch with family, with friends, share pictures, and stalk people.
-Dave Ramsey. Is this a silly thing to be thankful for?  Well, going through his 13 week course really put our financial situation into perspective, and made us set realistic goals so we can be debt-free and have a great retirement!

What else?? So many things. I am very blessed. I make sure to tell my boys (all 3 of them) every day how much I love them. I'm going to make sure that as my children grow up, they are always thankful for the things that we have. That might not be alot when it comes to cool toys, or nice cars, or expensive vacations, but we have so much more than that. And I am thankful.

The things we're teaching.

Parenting is a big responsibility. There is this little person (or two) that you are in charge of. You are supposed to teach them all the do's and don't's of life. The things that are appropriate... or not. Oh, and don't get me started on manners. If you aren't teaching your children manners and how to be polite, and respect others, then SHAME ON YOU. Don't even get me started.

Here's the thing, though. Having small children is also an opportunity to teach them how to have fun, how to be silly, and with that: how to be creative.  And sometimes you just can't help but show them the things that make life fun, even if they aren't always the most appropriate. Here are some things we do in our household to have fun.

Dipping: one of the first thing that parents show children while thinking, "I know I'm going to regret this at every meal after this."  There is nothing more magical to a toddler than dipping. Whether it's pancakes into syrup sausage into orange juice, hot dogs into ketchup carrot sticks into soup, or chicken nuggets into ranch green beans into yogurt, dipping.is.fun.

Snuggling: not that snuggling is bad. Not at all. Forget about that 1% of you (well, me at least) that appreciates a sick kid when they wouldn't snuggle with you otherwise.  Or when you sacrifice watching adult TV and suffer through a.n.o.t.h.e.r. episode of Caillou (yech!) in exchange for two snuggling boys. Oh, and then there was last night, when Cash got out of bed, came to my room where I was reading, and said, "Mommy, I want to snuggle with you."  I didn't care that it was 10:00 at night. I said, "Come on up, Monkey." And prayed we weren't starting a bad habit.

Bodily noises: seriously. You can't live with two little boys and not laugh when they look surprised after a fart, smile at you after a burp, or giggle while making themselves sneeze just so YOU will laugh (true story: Declan somehow made himself sneeze about 15 times). Or the best is when Nathan or I fart (gasp!) and look at the boys and THEY say, "'Scuse me."  HAHAHA!  Funny kiddos.

A few other honorable mentions: Nathan showing them how to put the couch pillows on the floor and jump off the couch onto them (while I was at work!), giving them a snack right before dinner... so I can make dinner, and getting our clothes all wet from playing in puddles - it's just water, people! Clothes will dry.

I know there are many more things, and maybe even a few I wouldn't want to publicly admit on my blog (but will gladly share with you after a glass of wine). But overall, I am very content and happy that we are raising two VERY polite, very sweet, and uber-hilarious children.

The things I don't want to forget.

I love watching my get bigger and smarter and funnier. The things that come out of their mouths amaze me. Especially when Cash dropped the s-bomb after spilling cold water on himself (at least he used it correctly!) and the time he said, "damn it!" all day at daycare. Which, by the way, my daycare lady's husband thought was hilarious. We thought it was funny too, but obviously had to nip in the bud!  Recently we've had two funny stories that I want to remember, so I'll document them while also keeping you amused for a few minutes.

Nathan is currently in New Jersey for a training, and so I have the boys on my own for a few days. We had to go run some errands on Sunday (he had already left town) so I told Cash that we had to leave in a little while to go run some errands. He said that he didn't want to go, and that I could go, and he would watch Declan. I said, "You are going to babysit?" and he said, "No I'll just watch him."  I told him that was very sweet but that this time they could just both go with me. Then I sweetened the deal with Apple Dippers from McDonalds (which was selfish because I really just wanted a Coke).  We still had some free coupons for the Apple Dippers so we wouldn't want them to go to waste!

Then today we were on our way to daycare and at a stoplight.  There is a gas station at that light, and then a liquor store across the street.  We've been at that stoplight hundreds of time, so he know that is where Daddy gets beer (which is funny because Nate has actually NEVER shopped there). So here is how that conversation went:

Cash: Look, Mommy! There's Daddy's beer truck!
Me:  Yup, that one's called Miller Lite.
C: What's that man doing?
M: He's taking the beer inside to the store.
C: Maybe Daddy can get beer from the beer truck.
M: Nope, the truck takes it to the store and then Daddy has to go to the store to get it. He can't get it from the truck. But sometimes if we go to a nice restaurant he can get it there. Not like McDonalds, though.
C: Yea, McDonalds is mean.
M: What?
C: McDonalds is mean.

I then spend  5 seconds trying to figure out what he's talking about when I realize that I said we had to go to a NICE restaurant (as opposed to a mean one). I started laughing and then spent the next few minutes trying to explain 'fancy' to him. 

Too funny. That kid cracks my shit up. Oops - I guess we know where he gets the swear words...