Haiku for the Season

I am excited

December is almost here

Must get out and shop

I want to be done

Gathering holiday treats

As soon as I can

I know the season

Is not all about the gifts

I sit in that light

The Peace of Noel

Is something that can transcend

all of the hubbub.

Take that folks, hubbub in a haiku. It almost makes one cry. And not for good reasons, either.

And Yet More...Thankful

Number 4 is in the bath. She told us that she "throwed" her Thanksgiving dinner in the middle of the night and needed to be cleaned up just a tad. She didn't bother to wake us up, she just went back to sleep.

Number 2 and 3 are playing War. Which is better than fighting.

Number 1 is probably in her bed reading.

Number 5 is with Ben. They are playing the piano together. Well, Caleb is just listening to Ben play.

I am grateful for all of the above.

Thanksgiving was nice. And I am thankful it is over, because 5 smallish kids in a house with limited play space, not enough iphones to play on (good grief, they were glued to their aunt's phone) and cold weather is a mixture for some stress. Actually they were quite good.

My girls requested the turkey drumsticks. I like that because they actually eat them and it's hilarious to see them eating such large drumsticks. And often they don't eat anything. Unfortunately this year the younger cousins caught onto the gig and cried because there were not enough drumsticks to go around. So I had to make a rule that next year no one gets drumsticks. Bummer.

Bring on the holidays. Make them fun and mellow.

Still More Thankful

We had a blizzard warning for yesterday. We went to the store and bought water, fire logs, and new snow shovels because ours was cracked. The storm pummeled Idaho and is shutting down roads in the Rockies. But it sort of skimmed over our little neck of the woods.

My kids anticipated a couple feet of snow. And the idea of being shut in for awhile kicked my homemaking into gear. I did the baby's laundry, in case the power went out. I cleaned up most of the house. I got out extra blankets for the kids.

The storm never really showed up, but left us with a nice holiday feeling this morning. The kids insisted on going out in the 1 inch of snow for awhile. The sun came out. I continued my cleaning extravaganza - the Thanksgiving one I was convinced a week ago had already died a definite death. (It's nice to be clean for the holidays, but sometimes at a cost that just isn't worth it. Hello sanity!)

The kids have played the Wii, made their beds (well, I really made their beds), cleaned their rooms and are now happily making a minor mess in the family room (they have promised to clean that up, too. We'll see).

Today I am thankful for our "blizzard." We got some stuff done and aren't even snowed in.

Good Deal.

More Thankful

Today I am grateful for cute, darling, two-toothed smile baby boys. Actually, just one, not multiple. My baby boy is a sweetheart and I love him.

Also grateful for Ben (again) for trying to send me to bed at 9 o'clock. It almost worked.

Grateful for Macey's turkey vouchers.

And grateful for something to read.

There is apparently a winter storm coming. I'm not sure if I am grateful for that or not.

She's Making a List and Checking it Twice

Forget about the naughty and nice bit. Everyone around here has been naughty and nice and I'm too worn out to do the tally. Probably best for all of us this year if we just say we've been good, we've been bad, and we're going to do better. (Do you hear me, kids? We're going to do better!)

Tis the season of lists. This week the lists include Thanksgiving such and such. And a little bit of Christmas such and such as well. I've had plans (oh, the plans) to get Christmas stuff mostly taken care of before December. At this point I don't think that is going to happen, but I have lists, people, lots of lists, which should make the shopping relatively easy once I can get out the door.

Or maybe I should just do all of my shopping online this year. Hmmm. Tempting.

In honor of Thanksgiving I am going to list things this week I am grateful for. So here we go.

I'm grateful for Family.

I'm grateful for Ben.

I'm grateful that the latest Harry Potter movie was enjoyable.

I'm grateful to teach Gospel Doctrine. Seriously. In a list of lifesavers, it would be near the top.

See you tomorrow!

No Matter the Weather We're Always Together

It's a little chilly.

Maybe time for some hot chocolate.

I'm tired of feeling under the weather.

I'm hoping that tomorrow I will feel over the weather, even if it's snowing. That way I can get my house clean. It needs it desperately. My floors are dying to be vacuumed.

I had hopes for feeling over the weather today, but baby didn't want to spend much time in his own bed last night, apparently didn't eat much yesterday because he was genuinely hungry all night long, and this morning we had some re-entry problems for getting back into the swing of things. Hence: still a little under.

Tomorrow I need to go to the store for Santa. He needs me to pick up some Zhu Zhu pets and a Parcheesi board game for him.

A Little Moment

There was a moment today, an eensy, teeny moment where motherhood was like I wanted it to be. I was sitting at the piano playing through some children's songs and my kids were gathered around spontaneously and everyone was singing and no one was annoyed that someone was standing too close or complaining that so-and-so was singing too loud or that mom wasn't quite playing it right. It was fun. And then it ended.

So many things about motherhood are overwhelming to me these days, requiring me to give more than I have available, challenging me beyond what I am good at and I am too often left feeling stripped, vulnerable and inadequate.

Of course the practical optimist in me wants you to know that I am philosophical in all of this, aware of what I should do, and that I should be somewhat circumspect about the situation having just had baby number 5 a few months ago, and I am. Circumspect. And also tired.

But that little moment at the piano with everyone crowded around me and singing too loudly in my ears was a little flash of light that said "See? It may not be so unattainable after all."

So there you go. And now I must go and stop my kids from fighting, over playing the piano ironically.

Golden Leaves are Falling Down

Our tree let drop most of its leaves on Saturday. Sunday was Sunday, so there the leaves stayed in a sort-of pile. Today it is raining. Raining, raining, raining. It's supposed to snow soon. (Boo to the snow. Stay away until December. I mean it.) And those leaves, all million-trillion of them, need to be placed in bags and thrown away. So I wish it weren't raining. Or maybe I should say Thanks, Rain! Now I don't have to go out and pick up leaves! But we both know that's just a silly thing to say.

I zip across party lines faster than a speeding bullet

Yes to Sam Granato for U.S. Senator.

NO to Mike Lee, who refused to debate Sam. What?

Yes to Karen Hyer because she is not a politician.

NO to Jason Chaffetz because he is such a politician. You know what I mean.

Shout out to Joseph Puente, unaffiliated, who has some good ideas.

Probably Yes to Gary Herbert. Because although I don't agree with him on everything, he seems a reasonable fellow. I thought about going with the Libertarian, but I'm not really a Libertarian.

No to no one specific.

I feel more strongly about not voting for certain people, apparently. And I have other reasons to vote for/against, just so you know. It's not all about political debates.

Get out and Vote today, people. It's important.

It's November and I'm glad about that.

I woke up early this morning with a "my life is like a merry-go-round" analogy going through my head. It's an apt one. All of the animals going up and down represent different responsibilities and they just turn turn turn on the carousel, up and down, and I am standing there watching everything going around and I don't know quite where to start. Cue the flashing lights and the jolly yet slightly insane sounding music!

* * * * *

Actually, my inclination is not to feel depressed, or even overwhelmed. Mostly I just want to lie down and take a really long nap.

And I'd like my kids to do the same.

Let's sleep everybody! For 100 years! Just like the sleeping beauty!

Ah, I don't think they'll go for that. Bummer. Because I think we'd all feel really great and well rested when we woke up.

Well, I'll have to think of something else. But now it's time for breakfast.

Cold cereal anyone?