Five Minutes of Thanksgiving

Again this year I will sit for five minutes and see how many things I can be grateful for!

 

Five minutes to actually sit down! My Savior. How God is UNCHANGING. My husband. My kids – Emry, Ethan and Ellyson. My parents, sisters, brothers, and nephews. Food, clothing, a house to live in. Jobs – for Ed and myself. Friends – the Sniders, Peyckes, Cammie, Amber, Anna, Andrea. Allyson!!!!! An education. Snow, but also warm days so the kids can be out. Sleep – even the little I get. A free country, despite everything. Coffee. Colors. Rainbows. Books!!!! And more books!!!! The library. Exercise. Lattes. Communication, especially in person. Learning new things. Our church family. Music. The ability to read. The gifts of hearing, sight, smelling, touch, speaking and tasting. Good health. Memories. Laughter. The Bible in my own language, not to mention multiple copies of it. Mountains. Wisdom. Flowers, trees, green grass – all of God’s beautiful creation!

Gingerbread Houses

Like so many artistic things, gingerbread houses are one of those things I can imagine making unique and beautiful. But even if I could see the details of how to make that happen (which I can’t), I would loose interest in trying to make it happen probably after half the roof was finished. The reality is art bores me.

 

Growing up, gingerbread houses were something special we made when Grandpa and Grandma Sturm either visited us for Christmas or we visited them. As that didn’t happen often, I can probably count the number of gingerbread houses I have built on one hand. I seem to recall my siblings and I creating one a Christmas my grandparents were not there. And I know Katey led a gingerbread creation time one Christmas when we lived in New Hampshire which I didn’t contribute to. 

 

However, I certainly don’t want my kids growing up having never created a gingerbread house. And what better way to do it than with friends? Of course, I needed to start small and be very practical about the whole thing. So, we only did small ones…made from graham crackers…and I can’t say the candy selection was huge. But since the kids were only ages two to five and not one of them had ever made a gingerbread house, well, it went over splendidly.

 

First off, my worse fears did not come to fruition. I only broke four or five graham crackers trying to cut them (and only on the last house), and the icing work liked glue (a miracle if ever there was one). I did build all the houses in advance. That was not something I desired to do with five small children, let alone have to deal with the impatience of letting them dry before they could be decorated. So, all the kids had to do was spread the frosting about and pick their candy (most of which I raided from the Emry’s and Ethan’s Halloween hoards). And – yea! Great fun was had by all!

 

Emry and her friend Autumn decorating their houses.

 

Alexis and Jacob decorating their houses while Ethan reaches for yet more candy!

My Little Helper

I have had several other moms remark around the time Ellyson was born and since that Emry must be a good little helper. It’s a bit like déjà vu. I used to hear other women tell my mom that quite a bit about me. Perhaps sometimes it was true, but I know I didn’t help my mom half as much as I should have.

 

And sometimes Emry is a good little helper. But at the age of five, there isn’t a whole lot she can help with. She can’t carry Ellyson yet, or change her diaper, or get her dressed. She is good about keeping an eye on her for a few minutes if I ask. And she fetches things, or tries to play with Ellyson. In fact, if Ellyson is in the pack-and-play in Emry’s room when Emry awakes in the morning, Emry climbs in with her and you can hear the two of them giggling. Just like sisters!

 

But today I got my first glance of what a help Emry can be as Ellyson gets older. I introduced baby cereal to Elly this week as she seems to be hungry sometimes between feedings. Unlike my other two, Ellyson knew exactly what to do with cereal when I spooned it into her mouth. The first time I fed her, Emry asked if she could feed Elly…and so did Ethan. I let them both try it once, knowing Emry could get good at it while Ethan will never be trusted with that chore. So, when Emry asked today if she could feed Ellyson, I let her try. And she did so well, I just let her to do it while I busied myself with other things. And I must say, it was wonderful to have her help! 

 

Now if only she could feed everyone else, too…

 

Emry feeding Ellyson.

Squirrels

I’m not sure there is any yard in the whole United States of America that is free of squirrels. Or park, or school yard, or any patch of green space from “Sea to Shining Sea”. Thinking about that makes me realize how many squirrels there must be in this world…probably more than can be numbered!

 

Like most kids (and dogs), my kids think squirrels are pretty neat. They’re fun to watch, and feed, and chase. This past spring we had a whole squirrel family living in our neighbor’s tree. It would appear they still live there, although it’s hard to tell which is the baby now. But then I don’t know much about a squirrel’s life-cycle. Maybe the current squirrels are different ones. Because I certainly can’t tell them apart.

 

This time of year, squirrels are especially busy. This afternoon we were outside and three of them were dashing madly about doing whatever it is squirrels do. Two of them got into a little fight – nipping, and squeaking, and chasing each other up the tree.

 

“Oh, look,” I told Emry and Ethan. “There is Emry Squirrel and Ethan Squirrel fighting with each other.”

 

Emry and Ethan looked up at the squirrels and laughed, thinking it hilarious to be compared to squirrels. Just then another squirrel darted up the tree after them.

 

“And that,” Ethan said, “is Mama Squirrel, telling them to stop fighting!”

5 Months!!!

“What new thing will Ellyson learn today, Mama? Now that she’s five months?” Emry asked me this morning. For Emry, Ellyson can’t learn fast enough. Why she isn’t sitting up, or crawling, or even walking yet is beyond Emry. She wants her sister up and playing with her. In another five months when Ellyson is crawling about (probably), Emry will be singing a different tune!

 

But even though she isn’t sky-diving yet, Ellyson is growing and learning. No teeth yet, but the process is bothering her. Pulling her ears, chewing everything she gets her hands on…the teeth are getting ready! Her hand-eye coordination improves weekly. She has discovered her feet and today pulled them into her mouth, which simply equals wet socks!

 

Although she doesn’t appear to have grown by leaps and bounds this past month, she continues to be my chubby little “sweetheart” (as Ethan calls her). She loves to laugh at her brother and sister and is happiest if they are around. And while Ed continues to say she is the most challenging of our three, I wonder if she seems that way because 1) we’ve forgotten the challenges we did have with Emry or Ethan (mostly Ethan – Emry was a breeze), and 2) I have two other children to keep up with…and one of them is a three-year-old boy! Still, I know the challenges (and lack of sleep still!) are worthwhile, especially when she shares her big smile.

So happy to be 5 months!!!

And with Sock Monkey!

Homeschooling Benefits

The benefits of being a homeschool family have never been clearer. When the whole world was turned upside down last spring and kids sent home to parents who suddenly had to be parents (oh, the horror!), nothing changed in our home. We had school every morning as usual and finished Kindergarten triumphantly. No falling behind. No worries about being scarred for life. And I didn’t have to write a blog post about on 1) how amazing stay-at-home moms actually are, 2) how overwhelming educating ones own children is – I give up!, or 3) how stupid educating ones own children is – sorry, teacher, you’re great but we quit. (And, yes, I did read articles under all three categories.)

With the new school year picking up a couple of months ago, nor did we have to wait with bated breath to figure out what the school district was going to do (and then wait again when they thought they figured it out…and again when they thought they figured it out again…and again…and again…) Nor do we have to worry about any stupid mask mandate. Nor cleaning every available surface every five seconds. Or quadrants on the playground. Or lunches at a desk. Or “contact tracing” which sounds like some fancy kind of new paper in art class. Emry’s not behind, not getting low grades, and not worried about failing Harvard’s entrance exam because of it. We just picked up where we left off. No worries.

But this morning I was reminded of yet another homeschooling benefit: Emry doesn’t have to choose to jump off the cliff just because everyone else does. You know how it goes. Half the kids have lost a tooth – why haven’t I? Maybe if I eat an apple every day one will come out. Or the other half of the kids wear Reeboks (oh, wait, that’s rather 80ish…Nikes?), why don’t have a I pair which I will outgrow in three months after my parents spend $100 on them? Or what about a Nintendo? Everyone else has one! I will write it on my Christmas list at least ten times. And mention it every day. Maybe my parents will get the hint. Just writing that conjures up memories…

However, Emry does go to dance class each week. And despite the fact that the girls are “social distancing” (everyone has a box outlined in tape they have to stay in), six feet is close enough to know if one girl has something she does not have. And this week one little girl just got her ears pierced. “And, Mama!” I heard this morning. “She’s only four!” 

Now, Emry has mentioned getting her ears pierced before, but it’s been several months. I think the last time she brought it up, I walked her through the whole process, and she decided having a needle more-or-less shot through her earlobe just wasn’t what she bargained for. But now that she knows a girl who is fourand has her ears pierced, well… We heard about it all morning long. So, I gave it some serious thought and asked Ed what he thought this afternoon. We came to a decision. Thankfully, for she brought it up yet again when I put her to bed tonight. And, on Saturday, she will get her ears pierced as an early Christmas present. And we will hear no more about it. 

Until some other little girl shows up at dance class with some amazing dance leotard…