Thanksgiving prep- Placecards

Probably the only crafty thing I've done with my kids all year,
we painted fall colors on watercolor paper to make Placecards for our Thanksgiving table.

Then used stickers to decorate them


I'm so embarrassed (and often ashamed) that I don't do more crafts with my kids.
I LOVE art and crafts - always have. And my kids love it as much as I do.
But I so rarely am willing to take the time (and mental work and preparation needed) to make it happen.
The excuse I fall back on is that I already clean up 52 messes a day, and adding a craft would be adding one more.
Am I wimp? Or just lazy? Or just a horrible Mom? Please pick one and don't say all of the above! ;)

Birthday Celebrations

I had a rotten fever, sore throat, and achiness for 36 hours right up until my Birthday, so I missed my Birthday dinner date with Nick.
So I was really excited to go to my Mom's on Monday night and eat a delicious Birthday dinner she had made for me since it had barely felt like my birthday on the actual day. (I was feeling better by Friday morning, but then had to run around all day getting ready for the retreat! ---although I did go get my hair cut with Birthday money from my Grandmother and that was a treat!)

Anyway, last night Mom made a delicious meal of all of my favorite foods: marinated briscuit, mashed potatoes, broccoli and rolls.... complete with Mud Pie for dessert!

The really fun part about my birthday is NOT that its so close to Thanksgiving that a lot of people are too busy on the week of Thanksgiving to go out for my birthday.
The really fun part about my birthday is that it is only four days away from my Dad's birthday (his is today!) and three days away from Rocket's (whose was yesterday!)
So I grew up getting to share my Brockman/Rabenhorst birthday-dinner celebration with these two wonderful dads!
(And its ok to share birthdays with dads because they never steal the show like a sibling would!) :)

Dad, me, Rocket (Rachel's dad and Rock's grandfather)

It has been a joy to share birthday weeks with these men for so many years (30, now!) and it was a joy to celebrate with them again last night!


(This face is me asking where Sophie is...not wanting her to miss the singing and blowing of candles, which she did - because she was in time-out.)



Juju (Rock's grandmother) brought cupcakes for the kids,

which were greatly enjoyed by all of them ...(twice over!)

Mountainfest Youth Retreat

This is the group we took on the retreat last weekend.


Nick's mom graciously agreed to watch the boys, because I knew they could never handle going on a retreat.
But Sophie had a blast...and I think everyone was glad she was there!
The first night she was up with us until 1am (and the second night until 10:15pm).

She took naps when I asked her to, she sat quietly through four 45-min. lectures.
She was independant when I needed to have my attention elsewhere, and she was happy for the attention when we had the time to give it to her. She made friends and talked to whoever, she sang and danced and listened.
She honestly could not have behaved ANY better the entire weekend! It was a TREAT to have her with me. We shared a room and she was so excited to be on the GIRLS retreat in the GIRLS room, hanging out with the girls.
She vegged on cookies with us, watched movies with us, and played with us and entertained us.

I think she is going to become my faithful retreat companion!!!
(Not only because she is so well-behaved and independant, etc. but also simply because she is a girl, which means I can keep her with us in the girl rooms, where I couldn't do the same with the boys and Nick just isn't able to watch them while juggling the responsibilities of a retreat.)

Because several have asked....

No, I'm not restricting this blog to private to keep out people I don't know or haven't met.
Only those who are not willing to submit a name or email address. I've been happy and excited to hear from so many people I had never met before and am flattered that you care enough to give me your email address and name. Of course I'd love even more to know something about you, how you came to read/find my blog, why in the world you want to keep reading the boring details of my life, etc.....
But please feel free to request an invite even if I don't know you (or you think I don't know you!) ;)
Don't be shy!

Updated Request

Many Thanks to you - kind, kind friends who are (for some reason?!?!) interested enough in our lives to put up with signing in to see our blog.
I have been encouraged to hear from you and tickled by the few of you that I had no idea were reading! A couples blasts from the past - and a few new names....fun, fun stuff!
Thanks for reading! You MUST know that comments like these inspire me to post MUCH more often. I'm sure you can understand how un-motivating it can be to post when you think only a handful of people check in, but to know that there are more than a handful is really really nice and ended up being a really fun Birthday present. (Especially since I was pretty rottenly sick for my Birthday this year...more on that later...)
But for now, I'm still trying to organize the list. THANK YOU for listing your email addresses in the comments. Even though I may have them in my email somewhere, the only way I can promise you I will not forget to add you is if you put it in the comments here. I just wanted everyone in one place, so yes, I even made my Mom and Dad sign on and comment even though they tried to get around it! ;)

And the following kind readers left their names, but no email addresses:
Dose of Wonder
Nina
Jen McC.
Yevette

Here's to being Thirty!

One of these girls is no longer in her 20's like the other two young spry chicks! ;)

Last year for my Birthday, I asked everyone who reads this to comment just on this one day.
Because based on my 1-2 comments per post, it often feels like all of 4 people read this blog.

Today, my Birthday wish is for you to help me with my New Year's Resolution. -- That is to make this blog private.
If you read this blog, and would like to continue to have access to it, could you please leave a comment with your name and email address so that I can add you to the invite list.

I know its a hassle, and that you'll have to sign in, but I really have been wanting to make it private for a while now (just for the privacy of the pictures, mostly) and I would greatly appreciate your help in having all of the email addresses all in one place to make it easier for me. (And some of your email addresses I don't have or know)

The comments on my blog DO NOT POST AUTOMATICALLY and I will NOT publish them....so don't worry about your name and email address being posted for all to see. I will make sure not to publish them.

Thanks for your help!

Ear infection

Last Friday night we spent the night at Nana's house to visit with Auntie and Kristin.
Poor Sophie woke up at 3:30am with a raging ear infection. Poor Nana got up with her and was awake with her until 6:45am when the rest of us got up.
You can see how miserable she was feeling.
By Noon, her eardrum had ruptured, evidenced by the drainage.
Thank goodness for after-hour Doctors who were able to call in a prescription for her so that within a few hours she could start on an antibiotic.
This makes three antibiotics for the Hathaway family within five weeks. Four if you count Nick's treatment for Lyme's disease.

Did I mention that I dislike cold weather and all of the ailments that it brings with it?! ;)


Sweet Sophie still tries to manage a smile for a group picture, even with a fever and throbbing ear.

Special Visitors

Recently, Auntie and her daughter Kristin and her son Walker came up to Maryland for a visit.
My Aunt Karen from Texas was here also, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the day we spent with her. :(




Sisters and cousins

We only thought to take pictures about 5 minutes before everybody was heading out to the airport.
For whatever reason, I've just been out of picture-taking mode recently.

So much living going on right now....no time for taking pictures of it! ;)

haircut

I was proud of myself for remembering to take before and after pictures

But if I had really been thinking, I would have thought to clean my mirror before taking a picture like this.

But here's a window into my (embarrassing) world: My bathroom mirror is NEVER as clean as I wish it was.
......resulting in a picture which makes poor Sophie look like she has drips of toothpaste all over her chin (and hair)
Alas, those toothpaste drips are really all over my bathroom mirror :(


Didn't take off too much....just enough to give it a clean, fresh look.

(Wish my hair would lay flat like this!)

a hodge podge of things

I know I've been really negligent in blogging recently.
My life has been full. Busy. Different. Changing.
I've been working. Pottytraining (Clip,) exercising, enjoying Fall, sleeping, organizing closets, and doing this thing that I rarely make time to do called playing with and enjoying my kids. I'm not very good at it because usually with all of my free time I default to cleaning/picking up the mess they are making while playing OR cooking meals for them and cleaning up meal messes.
But today I played with Sophie and Clip all morning. And yesterday we snuggled in bed together and watched a movie together. And tonight I worked. And tomorrow I have a work meeting. And last week I spent time with my aunts/cousin who were in town (and hopefully I will have the energy to blog about that soon!) But I haven't been blogging. I always wish I was. But then I just go to bed because I am exhausted.

These two pictures were taken from my car (While in motion, because I was paranoid about making the people behind me wait)
just because I wanted to capture the magnificence. Is this not truly MAGNIFICENT?! Glorious. I could stare at it for a very long time and still be just as amazed by its beauty as when I first saw it!

And of course, now all of these leaves have fallen and the trees are looking quite bare. Some of these leaves are being pressed in books to be displayed on our Thanksgiving table. I am always looking for a beautiful (and free!) table decoration for the Holiday that I am hosting this year.

But our yard is looking dull and glum and so are most of the places around me.

I'm just about 8 days away from being 30. And feeling it. I've started trying to do aerobics (with Body & Soul twice a week) but my ankles have started to hurt and I'm being forced to take a break from that to let them heal. (I have hypermobile joints which means my ligaments are looser and stretchier than most people and so my muscles have to do about twice the work of a normal person's to keep my joints in line.) I guess this doesn't work very well with aerobics. But my $6.00 ankle braces from Wal-mart are helping! ;)
But now I feel like I'm really in my 30s. Or much older, in fact.
Although, the funny thing is - I've thought I was 30 for the past year. This year is going to be very anti-climactic, because when I threw my husband that surprise 30th Birthday party last year, I accepted the fact that HE was 30, and simultaneously accepted that I had turned 30 (basically...only 13 months away)
The wrinkles are there. My ankles are failing. My brain feels like its failing too. I'm forgetting stuff that I never used to forget.
Before I know it, I'll be turning 40.

I've told my husband that all I want for my birthday is for him to make me a facebook account because I kindof want to jump onto the bandwagon, but also don't want to take the time to do it. (Also dreading the timesucking that might ensue from wanting to catch up with all of the hundreds of people that are available to reach on Facebook.) But its a free thing that he can give me and he likes doing Facebook and knows all about it.
I did tell him that I don't want a party or a surprise. All I want is a date to go out to dinner with him where I don't have to cook or clean up. That's all I crave this year.

I'm also craving sleep. So I'll try to post more soon.
I spent several days trying to upload that video of Aiden and it has made me furious, and that's also contributed to my lack of blogging. It is such a classic Aiden video. Wish so much I could show it since it is a side of Aiden not many get to see up close.
UPDATE: As you can see below, after two hours of uploading on Youtube, it's finally working.

FINALLY!!!

Despite my dislike of Youtube, I have caved and used it because Blogger would not comply.

Make sure you listen for the part where Aiden says "I might throw up." He's completely serious.

Hope this is worth the trouble....I thought those of you who have SPD in your home might especially appreciate this video - although of course it manifests differently in every child.

I was actually INCREDIBLY proud that Aiden scooped out as much as he did! It was a huge improvement over the last time we tried.