Halloween

This is what our Halloween looked like:

 Yes, snow. The temperature was somewhere around 22°and we probably got about an inch and a half of snow.  Our town didn’t postpone trick-or-treating, so we didn’t go. Nor did I see anyone else in the neighborhood out braving the elements. And since we didn’t tell Emry and Ethan anything about it…well, they never knew the difference.

Really I wasn’t too excited about going trick-or-treating anyhow. We already have enough candy in the house to last until next Halloween. For the weekend before, we met up with my sister Abby and her son Beto to go “trunk-or-treating” at my sister Jenny’s church. Which would have probably been ten times better had it not been pouring down rain and so we had to wind our way through a dark gym with thousands of other kids. Ed declared next year we were notdoing this again, but the kids didn’t know the difference and the three Spider-Mans were as happy as could be.

 Afterwards we went up to my parents’ for pizza and the kids got to beat open piñatas (a Sturm Halloween tradition) so we went home with plenty of candy and very happy kids.

The following Tuesday, Emry was allowed to wear her white Spider-Man costume to dance class. An occasion she kept telling me was “so exciting!”. Needless to say, she was the only superhero among a bunch of princesses…which she didn’t mind at all.

Boys, Boys and More Boys

Twenty-one years ago, my sister Katey and I taught a Sunday School class at our church in Texas of fifteen or sixteen 5-year-olds who had not yet started Kindergarten. Only three of them were girls. The other dozen or more were boys. Active, rowdy, real life boys. Almost everyone in that rather large church knew we had the most challenging group of kids, simply because most Sundays we had ten or twelve boys on our hands and maybe two girls. There was certainly never a dull moment! It’s hard to believe those kids are now in their late twenties. Some of them are probably even married!

Today Emry’s Sunday School class looks almost exactly the same: about ten boys and maybe three little girls. Most often it’s just Emry surrounded by bundles of activity with names like Caleb, Hudson, Michael, Judah, Harrison, Asher, Seth…you get the picture. One little girl in her pretty dresses in the midst of more energy than I probably ever had even a moment in my lifetime. To be honest, she’s mostly oblivious to that fact. I was always intrigued by the way the three girls in my old class responded to all that energy. One was a prima donna or right in the midst of the brawls, depending on what most suited her purposes. Another, who had only two elder sisters, looked at those boys as if they were aliens from another planet. The last one, very beautiful little Larissa, was the girl of every one of those boys’ dreams. They couldn’t be nice enough to her. She had no clue. But Emry has only a brother and all the cousins she knows are boys. It’s actually rare than she has a female playmate. And so, a classroom full of boys isn’t anything abnormal to her. 

But for me, well, I’m not eighteen anymore. I spend one Sunday a month teaching Emry’s class and three Wednesdays a month in Cubbies with the same group of kids plus six or seven more. And it is exhausting! But, they are fun.

A Busy Calendar

I knew that one day my seemingly empty calendar would again be full. More full than I wanted it to be. I thought this would probably come about when Emry was 6 or 7. I had no idea it would come when she was 4!

In Pittsburgh, we didn’t do much. Ed’s work schedule was all over the board, so we could never commit to anything. When he was at work, as far as the kids and I could go was as far as we could walk, which is a considerable distance with a stroller but it wasn’t as if Rochester had that many things going for it: the post office, park, library and grocery store. Not terribly exciting.

The move here brought more consistency to our lives. Ed works a regular shift (plus tons of overtime, but at least I know when it starts and about when it ends). And while we still don’t do much during the day (outings with Grandma, school, walks to the park), we seem to be in overdrive for the evenings. Unable to commit to anything in Pittsburgh and feeling somewhat starved of friendships or fellowship, we joined not one small group at church but two! They are very different from each other and we enjoy each for different reasons. One is every other Sunday evening and one nearly every Thursday evening. Then Emry has dance class Tuesday evenings, which she thoroughly enjoys. Somehow we got “trapped” into helping in the Cubbies group of Awana at church Wednesday evenings, which is fine considering we were going to take the kids anyhow. Which leaves only Friday evening every other week for grocery shopping, especially since Ed seems to work most Saturdays as late. With church on Sundays (and us teaching Emry’s class once a month with Ed on security another Sunday), our lives have become very busy.

With so much going on, I put a calendar on our refrigerator. I keep a calendar in my head, but I know I can fail to communicate that with Ed. So, I felt this was a good solution. As I added an event my sister invited me to this past week to the November page, I stopped short and realized there was hardly an empty day on it. Between all our regular activities, I have a playdate, my first doctor’s appointment for the baby, a show Grandma and I are taking Emry to, an event with my sisters…I stopped short and wondered when in the world my life became so busy. Especially when I all I feel like doing right now is sleeping 24/7!

Winter may slow things down a bit, which will be nice. I look forward to cold, wintery days and snuggling on the couch with the kids and some books I want to share with them. Before sending them out covered in clothes from head to foot because they’re bouncing off my walls and they need to go out no matter how cold it is! It will be good. It’s all good now. Even if it doesn’t allow any spare time to sleep!

1 Girl - 1 Boy

And the tie breaker arrives in June!

To be honest, I think we were a little surprised to find out number 3 is now on the way. Aging has brought so many changes already for me, I wasn’t sure if I was pregnant or changing yet again. And while I’m happy another baby is on the way, I think the other change might have been easier.

I was never this sick with Emry or Ethan. Sleep is the only thing that keeps the constant stomach fluctuations at bay. I don’t feel like eating anything. Sipping water is about all I can do. And while I’m not throwing anything back up, putting anything down doesn’t have any appeal either, even though I do eat. Making preparing breakfast, lunch or dinner all terrible daily ordeals. I have also never felt so exhausted. I honestly think I could sleep all day long. With both Emry and Ethan, I was out running on nearly a daily basis, alternating with kickboxing, pilates, strength training and keeping to my regular exercise routines. Now I fight through nausea every morning, pick up my kettlebell or stretch into down-dog and pray I have enough energy to survive 30 minutes of this. Why? Because even though I still feel exhausted and nauseated when it’s over, I also feel like I’ve done something to keep myself and this baby healthy. Which is always a good thing.

Hopefully, this won’t last much longer. My first trimester will end as December begins. And I’m sorely hoping I don’t feel sick the entire holiday season. One thing is certain, I haven’t any clue if I’m having a girl or a boy. My pregnancies with Emry and Ethan were very different – different enough that I guessed rightly Ethan had to be a boy. But this one? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Back on the Farm

Fall weather is in full force some days, so we decided to take one of the last pleasant ones and return to Fair Oaks Farm where we had visited a month ago for Ed’s birthday. Since it was just as economical to purchase a year membership as a day visit, we have now more than made back our investment. Plus, we will probably visit at least once more if not twice before our year is out.

This time Grandpa and Grandma joined us for the day. We visited the Crop Building, which we had not visited before, learning about farming, and raising crops, and interesting little things like the longest earthworm ever discovered was 22 feet long. (I am glad I did not discover him, although he would have surely caught a lotof fish!) Then we went over to the pig farm to see the hundreds and hundreds of pigs. Afterwards, Emry enjoyed the low ropes course again. We had lunch, bounced quite a lot on the large blow up bouncing thing, Ethan rode the train at least three times, and we watched a calf be born. (The other cow giving birth was taking her time, the kids were bored and my Dad and Ed certainly had no desire to watch any female – human or animal – give birth; so we didn’t stay for that one.) Emry also caught and brought home in a bottle her newest pets: ladybugs. A mom improved pet!

 “Driving” the old farm truck.

And sitting in the huge chair!

Strawberry Shortcake

As a little girl, my favorite doll toys were Strawberry Shortcake. I can’t remember when I got my first doll. It was before I was five because I do remember getting clothes for Strawberry Shortcake and Lime Chiffon for my 5^thbirthday. I did not have an extensive collection. By the time I really wanted more dolls, only a few dolls were left to purchase in the store. As far as collections went, my My Little Ponies collection was more than five times the amount of my Strawberry Shortcake one.

Several years ago, my mom came across a couple of Strawberry Shortcake dolls I didn’t have and bought them for me. A toy company also reissued a few of the dolls as throwbacks to the 1980s and I got a couple of those for Christmas. Because I was never around to put them up in the attic with my other dolls, I stashed them in a dresser drawer. Where Emry discovered them about a year and a half ago. I let her play with them, promising I would get up in Grandma’s attic when the weather was decent enough and find my other dolls. This past spring, I did that.

While it’s a good thing I wrote down the names of my My Little Ponies and stashed the list in their box (although I need to go back and mark the list with which pony is which because some of them have been forgotten), I have not forgotten any of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I have four baby versions: Strawberry Shortcake, Blueberry Muffin, Lemon Drop and Orange Blossom. Then I have Strawberry Shortcake with her cat Custard, Lime Chiffon with her parrot Soufflé, little twins Lem and Ada with their dog Sugarwoofer, and little Butter Cookie with her bear Jellybear. The one my mom picked up in the past few years is little Cherry Cuddler, but I sadly lack her goose. The throwback one I have is Huckleberry Pie. He has a dog whose name I could not remember, so I looked it up on Pinterest (it’s Pupcake). And since I looked it up on Pinterest, when I open the app my feed now includes Strawberry Shortcake characters. I can’t help it. I’ve been pinning them to a board called “Being a Little Girl Again”. And wishing that I owned them all.

Yes, yes. In a lot of ways, Strawberry Shortcake and all her little friends are a little silly. Silly names, funny colors, smells that bring back memories of hours of happy playtime. But things we enjoy as children (or even as adults) are not always very logical. I certainly can’t explain my love for Strawberry Shortcake dolls, but they do make me happy when I see them on Pinterest. And maybe someday I can add a few more to my collection!

Enjoying Fall

Autumn has been a long time coming. After a cold, wet spring that dragged into summer, I guess summer thought it had a right to steal days of our fall. Well into October, it has been 90 degrees. More like living in Texas than in Indiana. Every day I would not only longingly at my own warmer clothes but even at Emry’s and Ethan’s! I was so tired of the heat…and, then, suddenly it got cool. 60s, 50s, 40s at night. Finally!

With more seasonal weather, seasonal activities can now be enjoyed. Like corn mazes, apple picking, pumpkins and fall crafts. The latter of which I fail at. Although the foam leaves (purchased very cheaply at Hobby Lobby), some glue and glitter is basically a no-fail even for me. Even though I will probably be sweeping up glitter from now until we leave this house. But the popcorn ball spiders deserved a place on those Pinterest fail sites. (Which, if I posted to, I would probably be warned off for monopolizing. For that reason alone, most of my pins are for dreaming about only. Sadly. But such is the reality of my non-creative life.) 

Emry had seen popcorn ball spiders in a book we had read. Immediately she determined she had to make them. Since popcorn balls themselves are usually a sure-fail project, I was hesitant. But she kept mentioning them, and I do try to be a good mother. So…

Well, as predicted, the popcorn balls didn’t want to stick together and kind of sagged on the wax paper. And how anyone gets licorice strings to stick into them…maybe there’s a college degree for that for I’m pretty sure it would take me four years of school to master and probably also need a graduate degree. I told the kids they could make one each. I wasn’t about to attempt eight. Thankfully, they’re young. One was enough, and they were both quite happy with their sagging spiders.

 Emry making a face similar to her spider’s.

And Ethan with his spider.

All of us taking a hay ride out to a corn maze.

Apple Picking

One of the very best things about the fall is apple picking. And even though you can start picking apples as early as July, I am of the personal opinion that apple picking should be reserved for the fall. Preferably when it is cool and crisp outside. Something we have had to wait a long time for.

But last weekend the weather was perfect. We could wear long sleeves, but jackets weren’t necessary. There was a breeze, but it didn’t make it too cold. (Although the wedding party celebrating the wedding that afternoon at the orchard may have disagreed. At least I would have if my dress had been sleeveless…) The apple cider slushies may have chilled us a bit, but they were still quite enjoyable. And it didn’t take us long to fill two bags to nearly overflowing with apples. After a tractor ride around the orchard and through the pumpkin patch, we were ready to head home and eat what dinner we could after eating apples (of course). Yummy!

Some of the grass was grown so tall around the trees, it was more like Easter egg hunting than apple picking!

Enjoying the apples…

…and the slushies!

Pets

Aside from two outdoor cats and a guinea pig, I have never had a pet of my own. I’ve contemplated a dog many times during my single life, but was never in a good position to get one. In Texas, I worked too far from my house to make a trip home to let it out convenient. In Minnesota, I wasn’t allowed dogs at my apartment. It was all probably for the best.

Pets are a huge responsibility. I decided this last week while we were at my parents that a caterpillar is the perfect pet. Emry adopted one for nearly the whole week (and we tried to take him home with us, but Ethan got a hold of it and ended its already short life, which was quite dramatic). Emry did everything with this caterpillar: swung on the swing, slid down the slide, put it in her basket when she rode her bike. He even went to town with us and came to the park. But a caterpillar is very low maintenance: easy to feed, requires no cleaning, can travel. All you have to be careful of is little brothers.

While we would love to have a dog if we ever have a house of our own, I sometimes hesitate. Ed talks big about training and caring for it, but most of that will end up on me. Which can be exhausting to think about, as much as I would enjoy a well trained dog that would keep an eye on the kids. Lately Emry has talked quite a bit about having a dog. A little yellow dog. Named Biscuit. (If you haven’t read those books, you really should.) She talks about feeding him, and taking him on walks, and letting him go to Grandma’s to play with Rosie, Keats and Gus. Truly, all kids should have pets at some point of time, but after spending a week with the dogs and cat my parents have inherited, I have laid a few ground rules.

1. Your pet is your responsibility. You will feed it, clean up after it, take it on walks and keep it out of trouble.
2. If you leave home, the goes with you. You can leave behind your furniture, old toys, books and just about any inanimate object, But I draw the line at living pets.

Granted, my siblings have somewhat decent excuses for leaving behind these pets for my parents to care for. Grace more than the others, for even if Keats (who will be 14 in human years in December) could survive a trip to Kenya, he would never survive that heat. Caleb is hoping to soon be settled enough to take Rosie, which would be great for Rosie who is in sore need of a psychologist whenever he is absent. As for Abby’s Gus…well, I don’t think she’ll ever take him back. But I really have no desire to be in my sixties, more-or-less done with hands-on parenting and now caring for dogs and cats (the latter of which I have no intention of having anyhow unless they remain outdoors at all times and chase away rodents).  Although I would make an exception for a caterpillar. In fact, I’ll even happily take two or three. 

Grandpa and Grandma's

My parents and sisters Sally, Jenny and Katey are out of the country. They have gone to Kenya for my sister Grace’s wedding, which was this past Saturday. With both my parents and Sally gone, that leaves three dogs and one cat in sore need of care. So, we moved in to Grandpa and Grandma’s.

As far as Emry and Ethan are concerned, we are on vacation. I would sorely beg to differ. Some moments I think these three dogs are more trouble than my two kids. Or four dogs. Some neighbor’s dog has decided to frequent the property. But at least I don’t have to feed him. Or let him in and out. Or clean up his mess when he’s eaten too much grass. The cat, more or less, is no trouble. She’s kind of a weird cat, in that she doesn’t sound like a cat. She sounds more like a miniature lion. Emry spent the first afternoon trying to teach Lily to meow properly – to no avail. She gave up.

All in all, my life has not changed being at Grandpa and Grandma’s. We brought Emry’s schoolwork, so we do that every morning. I cook and clean. I picked all of mom’s tomatoes, red and green. There were a lot more than I thought, so we got a lot of tomato soup and green salsa out of them. Since Mom has a deep fryer, I also made apple cider donuts. 

But I do like living outside of town, even though our house is convenient to everything. If building on my parents’ property ever became a possibility, we would jump on it. Having a house nearly away from the road with acres of property to explore does allow me to let the kids out the back door and away they can go, with little worries on my part. They play on the swing set and bar set. They get out the bikes, scooter and cousin Beto’s power wheel. (Which Emry drives quite well, but Ethan invariably gets stuck multiple times, likely because he neverwatches where he’s going.) We have found several caterpillars and Emry has caught a couple of butterflies. If, for some reason, they get bored outside there is always the kitchen upstairs, play dough, my old Little People and toys that are abundantly fun simply because they don’t see them every day.

Yes, Emry and Ethan have enjoyed their little vacation. So much so, they’ve both complained about going home. So while the 24-hour delay in Nairobi may not have been pleasant for my parents or sisters, my kids certainly didn’t mind. More time at Grandpa and Grandma’s! Could anything be better?

Emry and Ethan on Grandma’s hippo in her flower bed.