Being Late

Though not many of you will believe it, I hate to be late. There I said it. I do not like to be late. That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not often late. I don't know what it is, I always think I'm going to be on time and then end up late anyway. Why is that? And what secret do you "on timers" have that I am lacking?
I will tell you what irks me though, the very people that tease me most about my lateness are often late as well when we do things together. What is that?
I know I am late often, so much so that my dear friend Melissa even had a dream about me making her late. :o) But now you all know that I secretly hate being late, but obviously not enough to keep me from being late.
So if you have the secret to being on time please do share with those of us known as "the late ones". In exchange for this well kept secret, I will divuldge my secret of how to make the most heavenly sugar cookies ever! (If I like your response.) LOL

The things kids say

I love kids and the way their minds work. Over the years I have heard some amusing, astounding, funny, and sweet things from my kids. Yesterday Lilli and Lars were walking together and she looked at him and said "Dad, I'm happy!" I think Lars just melted right there, I think she missed an opportune moment. I think she could have asked for anything from him at that point. She'll learn. :)
I remember when Oscar was little he really wanted to go to Disneyland. Finally we were going, he was about 6. When I told him we were going he was jumping around happily. Then we started talking about the things we would do there and he started naming the characters we would see. When I told him about the different rides we would go on he exclaimed "No way, they have rides too!" I'm not sure what he was envisioning but it would have been interesting to being to peek into his thoughts and see. Another time when I was expecting Henry we decided it was time to tell the kids. It was October, Oscar had just turned 3 and Emma 2. We were, of course, getting ready for Halloween so the kids had this on their minds. When I sat them down to tell them we would be having a baby Oscar looked really disappointed. I was surprised so I asked him what was wrong. He said "I didn't want a baby, I wanted a pumpkin!" I assured him we would still be getting a pumpkin for Halloween after which he decided he did want a baby after all. I thought we were pretty set after this conversation but a couple months later when we found out we were having a boy I realized I hadn't explained the process of having a baby quite enough. Lars and I came home and excitedly told the kids we would be having a baby brother. Oscar, once again, looked disappointed and said "Oh man! I was hoping for a chicken!" WOW! I did not see that one coming. I tried hard not to laugh and explained that only Mommy chickens could have baby chickens and human mommies and have human babies. "Oh, well okay, a brother will be good too.", was his cute reply.
Emma used to call catapillers "calapiters" It was just so darn cute when she said it that we couldn't correct her. She did eventually learn to say it the right way. :o)Emma was also my mischiveous one. She took scissors to my favorite dress one time. Her explanation. "I just wanted to look pretty like you but it didn't fit." Just for your information at that point flattery doesn't help.
Henry has come up with some amazing things...such as the day we were all walking along downtown and I was teasing Lars for not buying me the really expensive camera I wanted. Henry looked at me and said "Don't worry Mom, I'll buy it for you when I have enough money. When I grow up I will buy you everything you want." Wow, he is going to make some girl very happy. For my 30th birthday my other kids and my sweet husband wrote me cards ribbing me a little about turning 30. Henry on the other hand wrote something like this "Dear Mom I hope you have a Happy Birthday. I think you are pretty and I want to be with you for always" He is always good for a boost to my self esteem.
I could go on and on but I know you all have your own darling stories of the things your kids say. I wish I was better about taking the time to write them all down but I guess I'm too busy enjoying the moments. (At least that is what I tell myself so I'll feel better about not writing in my journal very often.) ;)

Wanting to help

Why do kids always want to help the most when they can do the least. Lilli is 2 so she loves to help. She likes to help with the dishes, so when the kids are are unloading clean dishes Lilli will load up the dirty dishes for them. (Before it is empty!) She is great if you give her a little instruction, but there is only so much she can put away, I think that is why she likes loading it better.
Lilli has decided she likes to cook, which is great. We had breakfast for dinner the other night and she just had to help Dad with the pancakes. Poor Lars was trying to let her help and keep her safe at the same time, not an easy task when it comes to a hot pan and a 2 year old. She was adorable helping him though, of course. She was so happy and proud of what she could do. We try to use these times as an object lesson for the other kids but they just don't seem to appreciate it as we do. "See how Lilli is happy no matter what she is doing?", we say. And what is the kids reply you ask? "That is because she is too young to know it is boring!" :) In a way we are all like a 2 year old. We usually love to do things when it is new or we are learning a new skill but once we have it down we often lose interest. We all do it but I can hope for just one kid who will always be enthusiastic about housework, can't I?

I hate sickness

I was so happy because we made it through December without anything more than the sniffles but the new year had a fun surprise in store for my family. Last Thursday Henry came home from school after throwing up. (They didn't say where he had thrown up but I hope it wasn't too bad.) He was sick for 2 days and then Lilli came down with it. Sunday night Oscar started and Monday Lars and I joined him. This is Emma's second day so hopefully we are done! Unfortunately, our holiday weekend was not that fun. :( Can I have a redo please???
Today I went around sanitizing the house with disinfectant wipes. I hope that it helps but I don't know how much that stuff works. It makes me feel a little better though. I'm hoping that the rest of January and February will be healthier for us. (As well as the rest of the year)
I must admit that a mild stomach virus is not the end of the world and only have to think of other's struggles to put things into perspective. Last Monday my sister gave birth to a wonderful little boy, Franklin. He is darling and teeny. He was 10 weeks early and weighed 3 lbs at birth. He is doing well actually but what a road they have ahead of them, at least for the next little while. My sister got to hold him for the first time almost a week after he was born. I can't even imagine the torture it must have been to wait for that precious moment. I don't even like to have my newborn baby out of my room when I give birth. I'm glad for advances he makes, no matter how small. Amazing how many of the strongest spirits start in the smallest of bodies. He seems like a real fighter, apparently even fighting off the nurses when they try to do different things for him. He'll need that fighting spirit once he is home and surrounded by his 6 brothers and sisters. :)
So my family's minor illness pales in comparison, though it doesn't make it any more fun, it is over and everyone is healthy enough for now.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Parenting has its moments, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thankfully the good completely eradicate the bad every time. In fact one good moment far outshines ten bad.

Yesterday Lilli did not get a nap, so by about 4:30 her monster side was showing just a bit. (Picture ruffles potato chips smashed into the carpet, pictionary cards strewn about the room, and screams that would frighten a hardened criminal. I think you understand, she's 2, what more can I say?) At that point you don't want to let them fall asleep or you'll be up until 2 in the morning so we pushed through and endured the tyranny for a few hours. After dinner and a rousing game of pictionary it was bath time. The kids decided to play a video game while they waited their turn for a shower. When Emma finished her bath I asked her to tell Oscar that it was his turn. She returned rather quickly without a brother but told me Lilli had fallen asleep on the couch. She was so sweet sitting there with the game controller in one hand and a popsicle (which I was unaware she had) in the other.

This is one of those sweet moments, and in that split second the whole evening was wiped away. I think this is what is called parental amnesia. You are able to forget about the things that would drive you mad so that you can be ready for another day. I think that is why God made it so we have to sleep, so that we can look at our kids in complete peace and sweetness at least once a day and think "Yeah, this really is worth it all." All of a sudden you are ready for another day, you are re energized, though the couple hours of quiet helps as well. :)

So here is to the sweet moments of parenting and to filling our memories with them and allowing the bad moments to quietly slip away with the slumber of each night.

Traditions and the 12 days of Christmas

I promise this will be my last post about Christmas, for this season. As many of you know I decided to try something different for Christmas this year. I think that traditions are important and a wonderful part of the holidays. It is interesting how certain things become ingrained in your memory because of a tradition. On the other hand you can inadvertently start traditions that you may not want to start. My kids, for example, insist that it is a tradition at our house to stay home from school on your birthday and go shopping with Mom for a present, despite the fact that Mom and Dad have already bought presents. Where this "tradition" came from I'll never know. It is entirely possible that at some point one of the kids stayed home on their birthday for one reason or another. It is also possible that I took somebody shopping on their birthday once, probably because they were given a gift card by a family member. The point is that I had no idea this was a tradition. So be careful what you do on special occasions, a singular event may very well unintentionally become, at least to some, a tradition.

This particular event I decided to try out and see if we wanted to make it a family tradition. I wanted to do something different for Christmas, make it special and also find a way to focus on giving and on the reason for the season. While perusing the Internet I come upon an article about traditions and decided to adapt one of the ideas for my family. Thus was born the 12 days of Christmas at the Andersen home. Starting on the 20th we gave the kids 1 present each day. The 1st day a game, 2nd day art supplies, 3rd homemade gifts (Thanks to Lars for all the time he spent in the workshop making these gifts!), 4th spiritual gifts, Christmas Eve they received PJ's, Christmas day 1 toy. Each day after that the kids took turns giving the gifts they had made/bought for everyone else.

I'm happy to say it was a smashing success! We had so much fun and the kids enjoyed and appreciated each day. As for myself, I loved this so much. It made shopping a breeze, I knew exactly what I was getting and there was no impulse buying throughout the season. The consensus in our family is to make this a permanent tradition for our family. (It is a tossup between this and going to Disneyland every Christmas! :) Seeing as how the 12 days was more within our budget we will probably go with that!)

The question now is what will each day bring next year? Should I stick with the themes this year or change them? We shall see, but I'm happy to say that our whole Christmas was enjoyable, the kids were able to spend one day simply giving and not receiving and overall I'd say this was successful and happy Christmas. Here is to hoping you each had just as enjoyable a Christmas as we did!