Best Laid Plans

Aaaahhhh....the best laid plans never cease to fall apart, eh? The wonderful thing is that even when those plans go to pieces, things still seem to come together in special ways, especially around the holidays.

We've had some rough Christmases in the seven years we've been married. Our first Christmas together was spent with my family (all of these "Christmases" should be looked at as late-Christmas-day-after-church-and-travel). They held off supper for us to arrive, so we got done opening presents around 11 p.m. Not so brilliant an idea, but it was sweet and special. Unfortunately, my Grandma had an accident that year. She ended up being run over on her leg by a very large, very heavy pickup. It could have been much worse, but it rather tarnished the holiday that year, for her especially, I think!

Christmas 2003 was great except for the pit stop we had to make halfway on our twelve hour trip to dispose of the blankets our new kitty had "tinkled" all over. We were very new pet owners at the time. Dietrich meowed most of the twelve hours, too. Not the "plan" but good memories!

Christmas 2004 found us three months pregnant stranded in a gas station (back then they still allowed smoking, too...pleasant) just about halfway to my family's Christmas dinner. Grandma graciously suggested waiting it on us again, but that plan was vetoed by most of the rest of the family, including us. My Dad and uncle headed out to rescue us and our broken down car. We loaded the car on Uncle Bill's flatbed trailer at 8:30 p.m. and arrived at our destination at around 2:30 a.m. Christmas dinner that year was a cheddar-dog for Mr. T, a pizza for me (cooked specially for me because the lady felt so bad for us), and Reese's ice cream pies for dessert. Yum. Let me tell you. That was the year we found out our dog and cat could feasibly ride in the same kennel. Out of necessity, Mr. T shoved Hubert in his kennel, then took Dietrich (the cat), opened the kennel door, and said "Hubert, you know Dietrich. Dietrich, you remember Hubert." It actually worked. As ridiculous as being stranded in a gas station, three months pregnant, still a bit nauseous, and bored out of your mind playing cards all day is, it really drove home the true point of the holiday. So often we start thinking that the "real meaning of Christmas" is being with family to celebrate and love each other. That's an incredibly awesome by-product of the real meaning in my mind. The real point is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, no matter who we are with or where we are at. I suppose maybe soldiers deployed in the far reaches of the world know this the best. The ability to celebrate with our families in loving environments is simply a by-product of Christ's love for us. As unpleasant as Christmas 2004 was, I'm thankful for the lessons it taught me. I'm also hopeful to never repeat it....

Christmas 2005. Oof. Ouch. That one turned out painfully different from what was "planned". Christmas 2006 our poor kitty Dietrich got sick and died Christmas Day.

Christmas 2007 and 2008 were quieter, thank goodness. Now, we are at Christmas Eve 2009 and are looking at a possible plan-changing snow storm headed our direction. We're still hopeful to avoid it, but the meteorologists aren't giving us much to go on.

All day we debated about which church service to attend. The girls didn't nap as "planned", so we didn't go to Mr. T's service as "planned". The girls and I made it out of the house 13 minutes before the 6 p.m. service. Miss Mouse lost a shoe in the driveway as I carried her to the car. I forgot my jacket. Baby Mouse was deliriously tired but couldn't nap. Miss Mouse lost another shoe in the parking lot at church. I grabbed one Mouse under each arm and headed for the door; thankfully a nice man opened the outside doors for us. I get a lot of pitied looks because I look like a struggling single mom. I'm always glad when people do nice things for me because it tells me that is how they would treat a real struggling single mom. We got situated with Daddy in a pew in the front, and I realized I had also forgotten the diaper bag. We made it through the service together, though. Just not as "planned"! It's hard to say where we'll be tomorrow - where we "plan" to be or somewhere else doing something un"planned"!

Earlier today Miss Mouse and I hung a large sheet of paper on her wall where Santa was supposed to paint the moon. While Miss Mouse was playing with her Christmas Eve dinner (she didn't like it, I guess....), Mr. T painted the moon. There was a bit of miscommunication, though, at that point. I thought we were going downstairs to open presents and then that her room was fine for her to enter - that was my "plan". Well, we got upstairs from opening a couple presents, and, as I was getting ready to shower for church, Miss Mouse came running full speed out of her room yelling "Santa was here! He painted my moon!!!" It seems that being a mommy has made me a quicker thinker, so I got excited with her and went to check it out. Sure enough. Mr. T had left the paper off for the moon to dry....I guess he "planned" for the room to be off limits for a longer period of time than I had understood. Oops. I told Miss Mouse that Santa thought she was such a good girl he had to visit our house first. She'll be excited to see that he left some paint under the tree in the morning for the stars that she wants....Oops! Like I said, the best laid "plans"....

We hope your plans and your un"plans" work together to help you celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus the Christ in special, enjoyable ways! Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus

We visited Santa on Friday evening. I was thankful that we were all able to be there; initially we thought the girls and I would have to go alone, and since we were "bachelorettes" at the Holiday Light Parade this year, I hated to have us do this as a three-quarters-family, too. The past couple of weeks, though, have been pretty hairy as far as having much downtime. When Mr. T and I realized we could meet at the Santa Village for a short run-through and quick picture, we were excited. Relieved. Not quite being Super Mom, I wasn't able to carry Baby Mouse on one hip and figure out a way to help Miss Mouse do art projects, visit reindeer, etc. alone after Mr. T needed to take off....so we looked at the reindeer on the way to Santa's house, visited the toy train display (which she remembered from last year and asked about on the drive to the Village), and visited Santa. Then the girls and I headed home when Mr. T needed to get to church to preach. A short visit but a sweet visit because we were all together.

Baby Mouse wasn't terribly impressed. It made my day that she wasn't screaming and terrified!

Miss Mouse was quite impressed. She asked Santa for a "moon for my wall"...yeah, you can imagine the look on Santa's face. I quickly tried to explain that the baby has a nursery with a moon and stars on the wall, and that is what Miss Mouse has decided she wants for Christmas from Santa - a moon on her wall, too, and perhaps some stars, as well. You know what I'll be doing on Christmas Eve after Miss Mouse falls into a deep sleep, eh? Ah well. Mr. T preaches the late service anyway. The television in the bedroom doesn't work (wonderful decision to go digital...bah humbug), so I can't stay awake waiting for him to come home by watching the First Lutheran Christmas Eve service the way I did last year. I'm fairly excited to paint the moon and then wrap up the leftover paint....we're going to tell her Santa just had time to paint the moon, but he left the paint so that we could put up some stars if she wants. A little odd, but it makes me feel sort of good that she isn't too excited about stuff yet. That day will come all too soon, but for now it is rather fun having a toddler who wants a "moon on my wall".

Adventure!

The girls and I took a field trip Wednesday. We headed out yonder to see Mr. T's cousin (my cousin-in-law and new friend) and her little ones for the day. They live on a wonderfully remote ("isolated" is not the correct word because they have neighbors, of course, who they probably actually interact with, and, really, in this technology age, are any of us really, truly isolated anymore? Could we be, even if we wanted at this point?) farm, surprisingly not far from where we used to live.

We spent the day playing hard, taking lots of pictures, and just generally having fun. Miss Mouse loved Jess's baby girl, who is only a couple months younger than our Baby Mouse, and I got lots of hugs from her middle boy, who is just a few months older than our Miss Mouse. Her oldest boy graciously tolerated our girls, though he was fairly disappointed (understandably) when Baby Mouse glommed onto his puzzle pieces (with her mouth, of course). I think the disappointment was compounded by the realization that the baby in his own house would soon be trying the same tricks. Anyway, the girls had a wonderful time playing with their, hm, would they be second cousins, and I had a great time visiting with a friend who is also a cousin-in-law! Have I written that a couple times now? Even though Mr. T and I have been married now 7.5 years, I just still can't get over having actual cousins (even though they're in-laws - I've claimed them - all!). It was really fun and special being the only two grandchildren/nieces in our family, but it's fun to have cousins, too.

The peace and stillness out there was extraordinarily good for me - peace and stillness with five kids running around? Yes, really, truly. When I went out to start the car to leave, I heard the quiet and was able to take a deeper breath than I have in a long time (it seems I'm able to breathe differently in the country...I must be odd). I saw the sunset, obstructed by nothing other than a few trees and a clothesline. I heard roosters and a soft "woof" from a shockingly large, friendly dog. I saw an orange cat patroling the perimeter outside. Even inside, I could feel, as Jess described in a post on her blog (I don't know how to link things yet; I wouldn't do it without permission anyway, but she describes this better than I can, I believe), the history of those who lived there before this family, those who planted the trees, built the outbuildings, and dreamed of the farm that could be. It makes me so thankful that I grew up on such a spot of land and a little bit sad that I didn't realize the blessing it was at the time....as a child, I suppose, we assume everyone has what we have and take it for granted. I took another deep breath, thankful for the wonderful day with friends in a beautiful, quiet setting, and then loaded up the girls to head back to the lights and conveniences of the city.

Even More Fun!

Baby Mouse - loves destroying my storage cupboards, just like her big sister did at the same age. My favorite thing about this picture is the pair of boots she's wearing (shocking that my favorite thing isn't showing off the disastrously messy kitchen, eh? We're almost always messy, but we're also almost always quite sanitarily clean which is what counts, right?).

We have discovered the joy of eating snow.

Loving the piano, especially duets with her sister.

Pre-first big haircut!

Post-first big haircut. She was so excited to have it done that when Jill asked who should be first, Miss Mouse or Mommy, she emphatically stated "I will go first!"

Fun comparisons. I am having a grand ole' time dressing these little gals!

Similar but different.

Thank you for humoring me in my "baby mouse comparisons". I just can't think of anything more fun!!! It's just awesome to see how similar, yet different, these girls are in every way - looks, personality, everything. Similar yet different and totally each their own little person.

Just for Fun

Thanks to some tips from one of my cousin-in-laws, I've been having lots of fun with photos lately. I'm nowhere near as talented and proficient at it as she is, but it's really been fun to play!

She's not sad; she's contemplative. Really, truly. She was contemplating the fact that it was her mommy's 30th birthday....

A rare serious shot of this one.

Siblings

We've had a remarkably easy adjustment to having a baby in the household, at least an easy adjustment on Miss Mouse's part. However, I do think they are starting to become full-fledged siblings, complete with a little bit of rivalry which is probably just fine. Miss Mouse has made a few comments to me lately that indicate this is the case. As Baby Mouse becomes more and more mobile, nearly walking really, it is getting more and more challenging for Miss Mouse to be the kind older sister she has always been. There's no doubt that she will continue to be such and that they will remain each others' best little chums, but these are the comments that have been made lately:

1. "You should feed me to sleep tonight, Mommy" - Miss Mouse, last night, after which we discussed the way she used to like to go to sleep as a baby (she never ate to sleep; she rocked). The discussion seemed to help a lot.
2. "I want Baby Mouse to go to the hospital" - Miss Mouse. "Oh, no! We wouldn't want that! What should she go to the hospital for?" - Me. "I want her to go back in your tummy." - Miss Mouse, at lunch today. Hence another discussion about babies only being able to be in a mommy's tummy once, followed by some discussion about how sometimes life seemed easier when Baby Mouse lived in my tummy compared to when she is out crawling around at our house. Again, the discussion seemed to help.

Miss Mouse and I are making Christmas present projects together, whenever Baby Mouse happens to nap, which isn't often. I think that Miss Mouse and I might also do something special together tomorrow. Initially I had thought we'd perhaps take in the Christmas tea at church, but now I'm thinking of a different plan....we'll see what works out best, but I think it is time we have some activities "sans Baby Mouse" to point out the benefits of being a little girl as opposed to a baby. It did impress me, however, that she wanted Baby Mouse to return to my tummy, not to cease to exist or to be left at the hospital with other people! That seems encouraging to me!

Sweet sisters they are and will be.

"Um, Gracious Jesus..."

Miss Mouse has been refusing to pray at bedtime for a few weeks. I just always ask, and if she says she doesn't want to, I don't force the issue. Last night, though, she decided she did want to pray. And pray, and pray, and pray. I started thinking it was seeming a lot like "stalling" for bedtime, so I told her she could continue to pray after I sang her her songs and went out of the room. She could pray as long as she wanted at that point, but we needed to sing the songs. She sighed and said she had one more prayer. I kept my mouth closed and shortly heard this:
"Um, Gracious Jesus, we thank you for our most adorable baby. We pray she has a gooooood baff. Gooood night seep. Wake up wested and amen." Thank goodness I kept my mouth shut. I should add that I have never, ever begun a prayer with "Gracious Jesus"; that's all hers.