Jack-o-Lanterns!

 

The Pumpkin Patch

It was the perfect afternoon for pumpkin hunting. There were dozens of beautiful, shiny, orange pumpkins, a hay ride, bales for climbing and many picture opportunities. The bluberry bushes were a fabulous red color, the sky clear blue and the trees surrounding the farm were amazing oranges and yellows. The memories of the afternoon are only slightly marred by my frustration with the computer right now. I cannot get any of the three slideshows I made to upload properly...a few pictures will have to do.

A Girls' Night In

Finally the long awaited sleep over is here. Josh is having a boys only sleepover birthday party tonight. Was Abby invited? No way! The obvious solution: girls night in with her first over nighter at our house. I'm sure you're wondering. What's on the agenda for a three year old, two six year olds and an eight year old? Well, their perfect night goes like this: an hour at Discovery Meadows followed by a quick change into jammies. Dinner was two boxes of mac and cheese, crisp Oregon apples, and fresh "white broccoli" (cauliflower) on the side at Abby's request. Honest. Milk flowed freely. Next was setting up the bedroom. Every sleeping bag we have has been unrolled and laid out in an elaborate configuration of who's sleeping next to whom. American Girl dolls were gathered with their beds and somehow squeezed into "Abby's room". Currently, they are snuggled up on the couch mesmerized by "Barbie and the Diamond Castle". What's next? Popcorn, of course. And maybe some treats in the Easy Bake Oven. I got it for Christmas two years ago, but I share. Really. It was a gift about 30 years late from my mom. Better late than never, right? I'm hoping they'll be asleep by 9. Okay, 10:00. The plan for the morning is to make blueberry muffins before heading off to the soccer field. Steve, obviously, had to get lost tonight. He's been looking forward to it as much as the girls, I think. And, Allison will join us later when the birthday party revs up at her house. We'll settle in for a grown up girls' night in. On our agenda? Peppermint Patties, jammies, and a big girl movie.

Happy Birthday, Me!

In honor of my 39th birthday, here are 39 things I'm thankful for (in no particular oder):
1. a healthy family
2. three happy, beautiful, smart, caring girls
3. Steve, the best guy on earth
4. Mom and Dad, who are such a huge part of who I am
5. amazing inlaws
6. Ginger, the best dog ever
7. the Eitzens (all 5 of them, but don't tell John)
8. sixth graders (even the obnoxious ones)
9. Beth (time for boot shopping, by the way)
10. Mes Amies: clothes, coffee and only adults, need I say more?
11. coffee: coffee drinks, coffee shops, coffee drive thrus, coffee cake...
12. awesome colleagues
13. sunshine
14. chocolate in any form (just not white or with walnuts)
15. Susan and Dana, just about my oldest friends
16. Linfield, an amazing place to teach and learn
17. Scotland: Aunt Betty, Uncle Jimmy, Debbie, Alison and Stephen
18. new paint in our entry way and living room, finally!
19. automatic doors on the mini van
20. my big washer and dryer
21. great teachers
22. cheese: any kind
23. the playgroup moms! (What would I do without all of you?)
24. Steve doing the dishes
25. Scotland
26. the beach house
27. Kendra, the closest thing to a sister that I've got
28. Steve doing all the grocery shopping
29. the Internet
30. living in McMinnville
31. pedicures
32. good books
33. cosmos
34. moms' night out
35. peanut butter
36. cable tv
37. fantastic mentors: Ursula, Ann, Marilyn...
38. cell phones
39. 39 incredibly satisfying years

Phew! That was actually a million times easier than I thougt it would be. Happy Birthday, me.

Conversations from the Backseats

This was the talk on the way home from school the other day:

Josh: I really want Mocha to have puppies, but my mom doesn't.
Diana: Don't you need a boy dog for that?
Josh: No. There was no boy dog where Mocha was born.
Diana: Yeah, but I think there has to be.
Mary: They have to get married first.
Diana: Yeah, the boy doesn't have to be there when the puppies are born. It's before that.
Josh: Well, I'm not going to let my mom take her to the vet and get her nails clipped so she can't have puppies.
Diana: (laughing) I don't think nails have anything to do with it.
Josh: (embarrassed) I was just kidding. She's already had her nails clipped and she can still have puppies.

I don't know how I kept the van on the road!

The Perfect Afternoon

In contrast to Tuesday afternoon, today was perfect. It was sunny, clear and the leaves were many colors of beautiful. Nobody was injured or wet their pants. In fact, no one even cried. A perfect afternoon for me goes something like this:

11:30 meet Allison on time
11:50 feed James and Abby, who both love what I'm serving for lunch
12:15 walk twice around "Fristle Drive" (Crystal Drive, around our block) while James rides Josh's tired Spiderman scooter and Abby rides Laura's rusty old red trike. We have a few rituals on the walk: the bee bush, Ruby, the neightbor's cat, who follows us home, the "muffin" tree, and the basketball hoops that we have to maneuver around. I kind of love that only the three of us care about them, but our walk has to be the same every time. The only difference is which direction we go around.
1:00 Abby goes happily to sleep in her big girl bed, in "her" bedroom at our house.
James and I have our "rest" so Abby doesn't feel bad. This usually involves a game of garbage, or Zooreka, our current favorite, a little Nick Jr. and snuggle on the couch, followed by making a batch of oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip cookies for snack.
2:30 Pick up at Columbus on time with no waiting or traffic
3:00 We gobble up warm, homemade cookies and milk
3:15 Out front, I sip my afternoon coffee in a lawn chair while all six of them play happily together in the fall sunshine. There is chalk art all over the driveway, bubbles floating, bikes, trikes, wagons and rollerblades wheeling, soccer balls flying, and lots of laughing.
4:00 Allison pulls up a lawn chair and joins the fun. Dinner's in the crock pot and the laundry is magically done.

The Afternoon from @#$%

11:30 take James and Abby from Duniway to get Happy Meals
12:00 meet with student teacher and cooperating teacher while James and Abby "eat"
1:30 at home, Abby sleeps while James and I "rest" (watch Nick Jr.)
2:28 drag sleeping Abby from bed to go to Columbus
2:35 (late) pick up Josh, Diana, Mary and Laura at school; drive home
2:45 leave six kids in the car in the garage while I get a bag of chips for their snack and grab Diana's piano books
2:59 (late) drop Josh off at Duniway so Allison can take him to get his gross finger looked at
3:02 (late) drop Diana off at her piano lesson
3:07 take James, Abby, Mary and Laura to play at "dragon park" during piano lesson
3:12 Abby gets a sliver the size of a tree trunk and won't stop screaming
3:13 James wets his pants, not just a little
3:14 Mary and Laura scream that we have to leave the park when "we just got here!"
3:15 leave the park with four seriously unhappy kids to go to the Eitzens for clean clothes and tweezers; people stare
3:21 dig around Allison's bathroom looking for tweezers while James changes; Mary and Laura take Mocha out to potty
3:25 find tweezers, Mary and Laura try to distract still screaming Abby with Bitty Baby while I dig siad tree trunk from Abby's finger
3:40 (late again) pick up Diana at piano lesson
3:47 make PB&J's because we've got soccer in an hour; occupy children with food
4:05 retell my lovely afternoon to Allison (who laughs) when she comes to get just stopped screaming Abby and James (in way too big jeans that don't stay up)
4:15 find shin guards, cleats and water bottles, shorts, soccer socks, t-shirts and hoodies
4:31 coax Mary to put shoes on because she doesn't want to go to her sisters' practice
4:42 load Mary's bike and helmet in the back of the van
4:47 send Diana to her practice at Discovery Meadows with Steve
4:55 (late) leave for Laura's practice at Duniway
5:03 sit in the van with the radio off for a whole hour while Mary does nine laps around the track and Laura hones her soccer skills; wonder what's for dinner in an hour...

A Daddy and His Girl

Two of my family have been neglected on my blog lately. One almost completely left out, in fact. I've been feeling guilty about it for awhile actually. Tonight, though, opportunity presented itself and inspiration flashed. Steve and Mary have an interesting relationship. They are about as different as can be, yet they share a couple of long standing jokes and a love of word play. Yes, my analytical, mathematical husband loves puns. He comes up with some beauties, let me tell you. Last night it was an especially bad one involving hummus and humorous. Anyway, Mary also loves words. She makes her own up. Ever since she learned to talk, she's been creating grammatically correct, meaning-filled nonsense words. Needless to say Roald Dahl is her hero. Her whole life, Steve's been teasing her that he's going to make a dictionary of Mary's words. Whenever she comes up with a new one (which is several times a day), he comments that it's going in the dictionary. Mary's response is always the same. It's a loud screechy grunt sound accompanied by yelling that he's not allowed to make a dictionary of her words. Another favorite joke of mine that they share is the gypsies. Somehow, sometime ago, Steve came up with the gypsies who live on Third Street. You've heard of them, right? Well, according to him, they're always looking for little girls to take in trade. At least once a day, Steve tells Mary to get in the car, they're going down to find the gypsies on Third Street so he can trade her. This usually gets the same screechy-grunt as the dictionary comment. Tonight was different, though. It went something like this:

Daddy: Go get your homework book and you can read to me in this chair.
Mary: Okay.
Daddy: You know I'd never trade you to the gypsies, right?
Mary: You wouldn't?
Daddy: No, you're priceless.
Mary: Oh. Daddy, what's priceless?
Daddy: That means there's nothing in the world I would trade for you. Not any amount of money is enough.
Mary: Thank you, Daddy.

I'll tell you what's priceless: being wife and mom to this daddy and his girl.

The Footballer and Ballerinas

I got this really great action shot of Diana at the game today totally by accident. It was a very chilly, but beautiful morning. The air was crisp and clear, not a cloud was in the sky and frost anywhere the sun hadn't touched yet. We'll be back there in an hour for Laura's game. This one's for you, Val!

And, Monday was take a friend to ballet day. Laura was so excited to take Abby along. I think Abby was more excited, though. Abby did such a great job she gets to join the class permanently. We're all so proud of her!

Soccer Mom

Even though the only thing Sarah Palin and I have in common is our gender (thanks for the quote, Anne!) and her "folksy charm" horrifies me, when she (over)uses the phrase "soccer mom", she is referring to me. I am the epitome of soccer mom, and I am proud of it! I spend most afternoons shuttling Diana and Laura to practices and games, which are never at the same place, but are often at the same time. But, that's not the point today. Today the point is Diana. Yesterday I stood in a total downpour on the sidelines jumping up and down and cheering as she scored a goal and nearly scored about five others. I was having an amazing time and so was she. She was drenched, muddy, laughing, playing her hardest and totally in her element. I guess probably the biggest reason she amazes me is that she's so different from me. Anyone who knows me even a little gets that. Running, especially in an athletic competition, during a total downpour, is the last thing on my list of fun things to do. Okay, it's not even on the list. Not even close. You couldn't pay me to do it. That's why, when Diana begged me to sign her up for soccer three years ago, I gave her the big lecture about how, when she was part of a team, she'd need to stick it out, no matter what. I was assuming she's like me and would hate it the first day. How wrong I was! Reality check. I don't know everything about my girls. Ouch. Anyway, today's point is that I am so immensely proud of Diana I can hardly believe she's my kid. Thank goodness for good Denney genes! She is a really good little soccer player. I don't think I'm just being biased, either. She was one of the top scorers on her team the last two years, and she can really hold her own with some boys on the field. That's another thing I love about her athleticism. She is not afraid to join the boys' game at recess. In fact, I think they even invite her to play sometimes. In school, it was always down to me and the kid in the wheelchair when captains were picking teams. No joke. I especially love that Diana and Josh have soccer in common. They will play one on one for hours after school in the front yard. In fact, last night when we were driving home, soggy, but happy, the person she wanted to talk to about the game was Josh. I suggested she call him, but she wouldn't. Nauseous yet? I promise Soccer Mom Me won't rear her head again for a long time. I can't help myself. I'm just so darn proud.

Chapters

Last night when I went upstairs to read Mary and Laura the end of "Little House on the Prairie" this is what I found:



My babies are such big girls now! Hopefully they'll still let me read them bedtime stories for a long time.