No major explosions

Happy Belated 4th of July to everyone! I hope your day was as pleasant as mine. We had some good family time...going to a parade, playing at a park, grilling, roasting marshmallows, setting off our own fireworks and watching the city fireworks. The kids got along beautifully! Here are a few of my favorite pics from our own fireworks display in our backyard.

Happy Valentine's Day

Cameron has always enjoyed making little gift bags for his friends…whether it’s for his birthday, his siblings’ birthdays, Halloween or Valentine’s Day. He gets very excited about putting the goodies together.

This year he didn’t change at all. I honestly think that the giving out of his goodie bags is more exciting to him than what he’s going to get.. The pickings were pretty slim for “boy valentines,” but at CVS we found some cool 3D bugs that “grow” as you rotate them.

On the back is where you write the names of the receiver and sender. But Cameron also decided, on his own, to also make a custom picture for each of his friends and classmates on each Valentine. So if his friend liked football, he drew something and wrote “Touchdown baby!” (or something like that). If the girl sits near him, he drew a picture of the girl and him at the table. It was very cute.

I doubt if the kids will appreciate his original artistry, or the thought he put into it, but I’ll definitely cherish his Valentine kindness in my memory.

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On a different note, I got radiated today, but I’ll write about that tomorrow.

Trying for something more

This weekend I tried to introduce my kids to some history and culture.

I wanted my kids to know that there’s more to life than sports, indoor play places, TV and video games.

So I thought it would be nice to go to a special presentation to celebrate Dr. King. Every year the University of Minnesota puts on this program. It’s at a very nice concert hall, and it’s free! We took Cameron when he was very young, and we enjoyed the singing, dancing, poetry, etc. It was a very lovely evening.

Since that time, every year we’ve been saying that we should go again, but every year we end up not going. This year I was determined to get out of this house and do something different.

Except Melvin felt that it would be disastrous with Ella, and one of us would just be running around the lobby with her and not seeing any of the program. He was probably right, so he opted to stay home with her while I took the boys.

However, when Max saw that Ella was staying home, and found out that she was going to get to ride in Daddy’s car while he stopped at the hospital for something, his initial interest in the show was usurped by the opportunity to ride in Daddy’s car, where he could watch a movie!

After picking up Cameron’s friend British Ben, I drove the 30 minutes into town, paid the seven dollars to park and walked in sub-zero wind chill temps to the auditorium….where I spent the entire time telling Cameron to sit up, to stop flipping his chair up and down, to stop picking his nose, to stop talking, to clap when each song was over, etc. The show ended up being different this year, as it was more of a concert with one local gospel group (The Steeles), so I can understand Cameron continually asking me when the dancing was going to occur. But when I told him that he needed to stop talking because people were singing, his response was, “Why do I need to stop? It’s not like they can’t hear them.” Ugh! The final straw was when we walked out for the intermission. A friend of mine (whose 2 children were enjoying the show quite enthusiastically) told me that she overheard Cameron and Ben say how boring the show was; I decided that I had had enough. It was no longer fun. And my attempt to introduce something exciting and cultural was failing miserably.

So we opted out of the 2nd half, which I’m sure was wonderful, and we headed home.

I think we'll be passing up on those symphony tickets this year.

Last night we finally decorated the tree.

But it was not without a little interest and charm.

When Ella woke up in the morning and saw the tree all lit, ready for the ornaments, she said, "Christmas!" in the sweetest little voice. But when it came to actually decorating it, she was tired of trying to hang the ornaments on the tree properly with the hooks. So she would just lay them on the branches and run back for more. After about 15 minutes she was done, and wanted to do nothing but watch a movie.

Max thought it looked best if he had 4 ornamets in the same spot.

Cameron's goal was to get the ornaments as high as he could. The tree is 12 feet high, and he really wanted to get some at the top. This caused way too much nervousness on my part.

In addition, a string of lights died on me (which caused 4 other stings attached ot it to go off as well). I had spent hours, and I'm not exaggerating, getting those lights on the tree. There are at LEAST 2000 lights up there. Luckily I was able to find the defective lights and replace them, getting the tree lit properly again.

The star kept toppling over, so our tree is topless.

Melvin had to break out the vacuum, as a couple ornaments bit the dust!

Some of the ornaments still need some adjusting, and I need to do some more trimming with some ribbon, in addition to finding a new star topper, but overall, I think it still looks pretty good.

Say Cheese...please!

Last week I wrote about my kids’ portraits that I scheduled for this Tuesday. I know some of you were wondering how they went.

Well, let me start with Monday. I spent most of that day going from store to store, looking for the perfect clothes and accessories for the photos. The kids were going to wear 2 outfits, one would be for very formal photos, wearing the clothes I bought them for my mother-in-law’s wedding. The other photo would be casual Christmasy ones to send out with our cards. My shopping adventure was mainly for red turtlenecks and elf hats. Seems like simple items to obtain, right? Wrong. I went to Gymboree, two Party Americas, Walmart, JCPenny, Sam’s Club and Dollar Tree. I finally found the boys’ shirts that I needed at Kohls, and Elf hats at Party Card Outlet; plus I picked up some deer antlers and candy cane head bands as well…more to chose from. My last stop of the day was to be at the cleaners, to pick up the kids’ outfits from the wedding.

However, as I was shopping, my husband had called to see how I was feeling, because I physically had a bad morning the day before. I told him that I was fine, and I was about to pick up the dry cleaning. He then told me that I couldn’t do that because it was all still sitting in his car. He never brought it to the cleaners the prior week….he was busy. He claimed I never told him that I needed the stuff, however, he also has told me on numerous occasions that he only listens to about half of what I tell him. And believe me, I had been talking about these pictures and the clothes ever since I made the appointment.

Needless to say, I was not happy. Quite pissed actually, but at this point, there really was nothing I could do, and no reason to stay angry. I went to two local dry cleaners and the best they could do for me was have the clothes back the next day (Tuesday), sometime AFTER 5:00. The portraits were at 5:30, and with a half hour drive, there was no guarantee I’d have the clothes.

I had no choice but to call and reschedule…for Wednesday.

But the drama doesn’t end there.

The next evening (Tuesday) I went to the dry cleaners to pick up the kids’ clothes. They only had Ella’s dress. They wrote the wrong day for the boys’ suit jackets to be delivered. But they promised me they’d be there the next day before noon (and free of charge).

But the drama doesn’t end there.

The next day (the day of the portraits), just before picking up the boys’ suit jackets, I was getting Ella’s outfits together. I took the dress out of the dry cleaning bag only to discover “water” like stains on the front of the dress, and an orange tag explaining that all attempts at removing the stain had failed. Ugh! I only had an hour before I had to be at Cameron’s school to volunteer, and I had no energy to go from store to store looking for a blue dress! As much as I hated doing it, I went to Macy’s in search of the exact same dress, and thankfully they still had two left in her size.

Completely exhausted, I , along with Sara and my mom, dressed the kids in what Max called their “handsome clothes,” and we headed off for pictures.

I took a few photos myself right before we left, just in case the professional photo session was a total bust.

They obviously weren't cooperating for me, so I was a bit worried about what was to come.

Fortunately, with many punishment threats and bribes put in place, our session at Flash! Digital Portraits went fairly well. Cameron and Max were fabulous. As I figured, Ella was the challenge. Sara and the photographer would work at getting them set up, and my mom and I were in the back trying to get Ella to look at the camera and not down or at her brothers. She did fairly well with the formal photos.

But by the time they switched outfits, she was just done, and only interested in the mall’s merry-go-round that she could see through the studio’s window. We couldn't even coax her to stay in the store, let alone stand in the line of the camera.

But if you recall, my only request was to get one shot of all them looking at the camera, smiling. And I got more than one. So I’m happy. Tired. And glad it’s all done.

You can actually see the photos here.
Click “Go to my portraits”
Then type in my last name and the password “Cameron”

To Be Thankful

When your life is turned upside down, you can’t help but see and recognize all that you should be thankful for, and this year I have so much.

I’m thankful for my mom, who dropped everything to fly out here 1000 miles away, putting her life on hold for a few months to help me through the hardest parts of this cancer.

I thank my dad urging her to go.

I thank my husband for the love, knowledge and support he’s given me through this whole process, and for putting up with all the bad stuff that I throw at him.

I thank my kids for getting me out of bed every morning and keeping me laughing.

I thank my nanny Sara for just being so flexible, being around whenever I need her.

I thank my Mom’s Spiritual Spa group; individually and collectively you’ve been such an inspiration and support the 2 ½ years we’ve been together.

I thank my wonderful neighbors and friends who have supplied me with flowers, goodies and lots of meals.

I thank my family and friends for all of their much-needed prayers.

I thank my long-distance family and friends for all the little gift packages.

I thank all my blog readers for their thoughts, prayers, comments, and e-mails.

I thank my doctors, nurses, and modern medicine for helping me fight this cancer and keeping me healthy.

And most of all I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the strength, peace, and enlightenment He has given me during my time of need.

“Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Phillippians 4:6.

Obviously the buying season.

Today we reached an all time high:

Oriental Trading
Pottery Barn Baby
HearthSong
Magic Cabin
Mrs. Fields
Terry's Village
Brookstone
Hanna Andersson
Wine Country Gift Baskets
Lillian Vernon
The Company Store
What on Earth
Plow and Hearth
World Vision

FOURTEEN catalogs were in my mailbox today. 14.
I will probably order from only the one that I actually requested..the non-profit one (World Vision).

What a waste.

Happy 4th

Yesterday was a very busy Fourth of July, filled with a parade, swimming, BBQ at a friend's house, and fireworks!

In the morning we went to a small town parade. How small was it?

--The most decorated float looked like it had taken merely an hour (maybe) to decorate.
--I had no idea who the Grand Marshall was.
--There was not one single high school marching band.
--The parade actually went down one side of the street, did a U turn, and came back down the other side! And we’re talking a fairly narrow street.

But everyone was decked out in Red White and Blue, and the kids, especially Cameron, had a blast catching all the candy, freeze pops and beads that were thrown to the crowd. Ella was basically catatonic, needing a nap so bad, as she sat in her stroller watching the scene. And Max was so excited that he forgot that he had to go to the bathroom until he was actually doing it in his pants (as Melvin was holding him!). I had no extra shorts to change him. But Max didn’t care. He told me, “That’s okay, they’ll dry in the sun, Mommy!”

At night we lit a few of our own small fireworks but were completely upstaged by our neighbors, who shot off the Wisconsin “illegals.” Which actually was great, because then I didn’t feel guilty that I didn’t cart my kids out to some overcrowded, bug infested park at 10 PM for the loud display of fireworks the city put on. We could actually see them, although far away, from our neighborhood. So we just chilled out on the curb and oooed and ahhed close to home.

But the best part of the day was that Melvin did not have to work and was available. It was so wonderful doing the “family thing” for an entire day.

Mother's Day Gifts

From Cameron: He made me a book at school illustrating the lyrics to Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World." But he didn’t just hand me the book; he actually sang each page to me. And then I got to listen to a tape of his whole class singing the song. It was very sweet. Here is one page of a picture of him and me.

From Ella: Well, she didn’t scream, and yank my hair, and pull out her own pigtails and flail herself all around as much as she usually does lately when she doesn’t get her way.

From Melvin: He was on call Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night he had zero hours of sleep since he was busy making “mothers” all night. But he insisted on cooking breakfast, which was really sweet considering how tired he was. And the smoke alarm only went off 4 times.

From Max: In between his yells, screams and complete moodiness, he has been fixated on picking me flowers from the yard. He often brings me in a handful of dandelions, or some other weed popping up in the grass. So it wasn’t any surprise that on Mother’s Day, he offered me the same gift. “Here’s some flowers for you Mommy!” Except instead of a fistful of weeds, he joyfully gave me a handful of the only real flowers that had bloomed in my garden out back.
Unfortunately Melvin was at the hospital most of the weekend (doing eight deliveries!). But I did get to spend some time with my mom before bringing her to the airport. And the kids played nicely out back with some neighbors, drenching each other with water guns. We still had food from the party on Friday, so I didn’t have to actually cook anything. And I was able to end my night with a glass of wine (okay a couple glasses) and some Desperate Housewives. All in all, a pretty good day.

Irish Eyes are....confused

Ever try to explain one’s heritage to a five year old? Don’t bother.

“Hey Cameron, today is St. Patrick’s Day.”

“I know.”

“Did you know that you’re part Irish. You’re one eighth Irish.”

“I’m the 8th Irish person?” he asked a little excited.

“No Cameron, one eighth; that means you’re part Irish.”

“I don’t understand. When I’m eight I’m Irish?”

At this point I considered just dropping it, but thought I’d attempt to explain fractions using the prop they always use in school.

“No. No. No. Think of it as a pizza. We’re all pizzas made up of different slices that come from our parents. Like my dad’s mom’s family is from Ireland, so her pizza is all Irish. But my dad’s dad was German, so my dad’s pizza is half German and half Irish. And then my mom’s pizza is all Polish, so then my pizza is ½ Polish, ¼ German and ¼ Irish. So then your pizza has slices from my pizza and Daddy’s pizza. And one slice of all your 8 slices is Irish.”

At this point, I did realize that my explanation was going no where.

He looked at me completely puzzled. “You mean it’s all about pizza?”

“Never mind.”