So This Is Christmas

Last night we attended the Christmas Eve service at our church. The church is rather large and crowded. I think when the present building was planned, the leadership had no idea how quickly the congregation would grow. Currently there are two Sunday morning services and each one is also broadcast into a separate venue at the church. Beginning in January, an identical evening service will be added in an attempt to ease the overcrowding. The pastor said that a debt is still owed on the current property and he doesn't think it is prudent to add further debt on a building project with the current economy. Being Christmas Eve, it was a little more crowded.

We left our house in plenty of time had it been a Sunday morning, but I didn't factor in Wednesday afternoon traffic. We arrived in the parking lot less than 5 minutes before the start of the service. Once we entered the sanctuary an usher asked me how many seats we needed. The best he could do were the back two rows. Three seats in the very back and two in the next row up. Aaron, Hannah and I sat in the back and P.K. and Rachel sat in front of us. My first thought was how inconvenient and unfair it was that on the rare occasion we are able to attend church as a family (since P.K. works on Sundays) we couldn't even sit together. There was no room. I began to wonder why the two people next to me didn't offer to switch with P.K. so we could all sit together. Then the Lord reminded me why I was there. Because over 2000 years ago a baby was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn. It was such a tender object lesson. He refocused my heart and my minor inconvenience no longer mattered.

On a lighter note, I want to post some pictures of Christmas around our house (in no particular order). This is our nativity set. We set it up in stages this year. We would read scripture at dinner and then place a piece. Next year we are going to just read the "Christmas story" through at one time and set it up all at once.

We started making St. Nicholas cookies as a family when Aaron was about a year and a half. We make them around the beginning of December.

First we make the dough, refrigerate it over night and


then use these molds to shape each cookie. I didn't take pictures of the finished product. Not sure how that happened. It could be that these don't last long.

These next three pictures are of our Christmas tree skirt. It is very simple and I love it.

These are the kids' handprints this year.

We started making it in 2002.

Hannah made her appearance in 2003 and was not a very cooperative 3 month old when she got her first turn to leave her handprint. It was more of a hand smudge.

We did some more baking this past weekend. In an attempt to save money, I have been using a lot of coupons and combining them with store sales to stock up on items. I have a shelf in the basement where I keep all of my overflow. After Halloween, I got out all of my favorite holiday recipes and made a grocery list and started picking things up as they were on sale and I had coupons. When we got ready to bake last week, I gave each of the kids a grocery list and sent them to shop in the basement. They thought this was a lot of fun. Without any prompting from me, they went to find a shopping basket.

Here they are with their lists in front of the shelf.


Hannah needed chocolate chips.

Aaron needed powdered sugar.

Rachel had a gymnastics show so she still has on her leotard.

Rachel's Christmas chorus performance at school.

I picked these up at Target this year. In the past we have just used regular plates, but the kids and I thought these were cute.

I don't remember for sure when Aaron painted this candle, but he lights it each year and puts it by Santa's plate so he will know where to look for his goodies.

After church last night we opened our gifts to each other and the kids opened their gifts from my mom.

Hannah made this angel from a flower pot at school for P.K. and me. Love it!!

Each of the kids has a stocking that my grandmother made for them.

Hannah's

Rachel's

Aaron's

The kids waiting at the top of the stairs to see if Santa came.

Much to my surprise, they didn't head straight for the tree. They wanted to see if Santa ate his treats and fed the reindeer their carrots. Santa left a note thanking them for the goodies and thanking Aaron for lighting the candle.

Then they wanted to see what was in their stockings before they even looked to see if there was anything under the tree.

P.K.'s dad arrived in town tonight and we had a huge Christmas dinner complete with the first ham I have ever prepared. It was so good. My mom and Jim were suppose to have arrived yesterday, but my mom has been under the weather so they had to cancel. Needless to say, a huge meal minus two adults means lots of leftovers for tomorrow and probably Saturday. The rest of P.K.'s family will arrive in a couple days. My dad and his wife will be here next week followed by a couple of our college friends and their son. We have had such a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to celebrating a little more. I hope your Christmas day was as blessed as ours.

Do You Believe In Magic

P.K. and I are in the dining room talking when Hannah walks in with her princess wand pretending it is a magic wand.

Hannah: (Pointing the wand at P.K.) Abracadabra. Make daddy say, "Hola."
P.K.: Hola
Hannah: See. It really works.
Mommy: Let me try. (Takes the wand and points it at Hannah.) Abracadabra. Make Hannah go clean her room.
Hannah: It doesn't work on me.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Today is my grandmother's 89th birthday. We called her today and sang Happy Birthday. I thought I would post a picture of her, but she would probably have a fit if she knew how many people could see it. But since I hate to have my picture on here, I thought it would be fair if I posted one of the both of us. This was taken at my house in September when she came to visit with my mom and aunt.

For Jen

***If you came here via Laurie's blog looking for the funny story, scroll down to the next post.***

I met my friend Jen when P.K. was stationed at Great Lakes. Jen lived behind us and about two houses down. The schools in the area surrounding base housing were less than desirable so we homeschooled while we were there. Jen was also a homeschooler. Her daughter and Rachel were best friends. I couldn't begin to count the number of hours they spent at each others house.

Jen is also the reason I started drinking coffee. No, she didn't drive me to drink. When I would walk Rachel to her house, she would always have a pot of coffee on and invite me for a cup. We had just moved from 29 Palms and I really wanted a friend. If it took drinking a cup of coffee to win this lady over, then I was going to suck it up. Eventually I started making coffee if Jen was dropping her daughter by our house. I knew I could easily talk her into sitting and chatting a while if there was coffee to be had. How I miss those chats over a hot mug.

Jen had some hand-me-downs from her daughter to pass on and she had one special Christmas dress. I know there are certain items of clothing that have sweet memories attached and are harder to let go of than others. It is always easier to part with them if I know the child I am giving them to. That was the case with the Christmas dress. Hannah just turned three before we left Great Lakes. Jen dubbed her "Miss Three." The dress has been tucked in the back of her closet waiting for the Christmas that it would fit.

Hannah had her preschool Christmas program this past Tuesday night. Guess what, Jen. The dress fit. I thought you would like to see it on Miss Three.

What's Your Theory?

I had quite the experience at my local grocery store today. We have family coming to town next week and this was the major shopping trip before they come. I have in my head that P.K.'s dad likes oatmeal for breakfast and I am out of oatmeal. I love to have company and want everyone to be comfortable and have their favorite things, so I was in the cereal aisle in search of oatmeal.

I was aware that I had passed someone else in the aisle, but at that point I couldn't have said if the person was a man, woman, old or young. I was just on a mission to finish my list in time to get the cold items home and put away before I had to pick Rachel and Aaron up from school.

I come toward the end of the aisle and find the oatmeal. I looked through my coupons and was trying to match up what I needed to buy to use said coupon when I hear the person I had passed in the aisle say something about the items not having expiration dates. I could tell from the voice that it was an elderly lady. She wasn't speaking directly to me and I don't think I even glanced back at her. I still wasn't thinking much about it. The next thing I know she is right by me telling me that some of the cereal doesn't have dates and she doesn't buy anything that doesn't have an expiration date. I agreed with her that it is important to check dates on items. Then she proceeds to tell me she found some healthy low calorie cereal and points to her cart. She is using the kind of cart I think of older ladies pushing down the street, not a typical grocery cart. She has chosen an organic cereal which she informs me has an expiration date on the box. I smile and go back to choosing my oatmeal. I head out of that aisle and at the end is a display of marshmallows. Great. Marshmallows are on my list. I grab a bag and throw them in my cart. the next thing I know there is a tiny voice behind me. (Lady in the following dialogue refers to the little old lady with the dated box of organic cereal. I respond in a nice respectful way throughout the conversation. This will be of great importance as the dialogue unfolds.)

Lady: Oh, I think I could use some of those too. I'm going to my son's house for Christmas and they can probably use them in a dessert or something.

Me: (I'm thinking that if someone is coming to my house for Christmas dinner and their contribution is a bag of marshmallows for dessert, they should probably know if that is an ingredient I need...just sayin'.) That's nice.

I walk to the meat counter and am now trying to make a selection for my Christmas ham (because my mom's husband prefers ham over turkey and I want the company to be happy).

Lady: (Out of nowhere again, I might add.) My youngest son just bought a new three bedroom home (she mentioned the suburb which is probably 12 - 15 miles from where we were) and he is having us all out for Christmas.

Me: Oh, that is nice.

Lady: My oldest son has a house too, but he is trying to sell it. He wants to move to Montana.

Me: (By now I have decided that she is a lonely old woman. It won't kill me to give her my attention for a few moments and let her talk. ) Oh, really?

Lady: He wants to move to Montana, but you don't want to move to Montana this time of year. You want to wait until spring.

Me: It's cold, snowy and icy there this time of year.

Lady: I've lived somewhere colder than Montana. Further north.

Me: Really?

Lady: Yes. Saskatchewan, Canada.

Me: Oh. I bet it does get really cold up there.

By this time I have noticed she is wearing a wool jacket that is a bit out of date, but very nice. I'm not one to follow fashions, but I was betting she was really together in her day. She spoke as though she was very sure of herself.

Lady: Yes. And my friend lived up in Alaska and she saw where the people could walk across from Russia. My brother (could have been another male relative...can't quite remember) had a friend show him. The people use to be able to wade across the water. (I was thinking there was a land bridge, but I got her point.) You can't do that anymore because the water is too deep. All the ice is melting.

Me: (Nodding, making eye contact and basically trying to be a good listener.)

Lady: And the bad part is there use to be 10 percent more ice in Antarctica than in the North Pole and was 10 percent colder.

Me: Really? I didn't know that.

Lady: Yes. Antarctica is melting. That is where Atlantis is. Under Antarctica.

O.K. So at this point I'm thinking...legends and myths often have their basis in reality of some sort. She is probably an educated woman and this is the conclusion she has drawn from her studies. The lost city of Atlantis is under Antarctica. It is worth reminding all of you that I remained very polite and respectful throughout the entire conversation. At this point I would also like you to know that I managed a straight face as well.

Me: Well, I guess that could be a theory. (Can't anything be a theory unless proven otherwise?)

Lady: Yes. But the Atlantins (I don't know what one would call people from Atlantis, but she called them Atlantins) aren't there.

Me: Uh, huh.

Lady: (She said this with a straight face, dead serious looking me in the eyes) Yes. They went to Mars.

Me: Uh, huh?

Lady: Yes. And our military knows they are there. Our military has people living there.

Me: Uh, huh? (Is she going to follow me to my car and see it is registered on a military installation or see my Navy pride beaming on my back window?)

Lady: The government has it all covered up. They don't want us to know. Our jets have spotted silver things in the sky that can move faster than anything we have.

At this point, I realize I had taken my cell phone from my pocket and was holding it tightly in my hand. Who was I going to call?

Me: Well. ma'am. It's been nice chatting with you but I need to finish my grocery shopping in time to get my kids from school. (Slowly moving away from the hams. Who cares if we have to order pizza for Christmas at this point?) Have a Merry Christmas.

Lady: The last president wouldn't uncover all of this. Maybe Obama will.

Me: Maybe. (That's one campaign promise I had missed.) Have a great day.

Fashion Diva

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to get past some of my control issues. So on days when we don't have to go anywhere that requires us to get out of the car, I've been letting Hannah wear whatever she wants.

This past Saturday was one of those days. I told Hannah to get dressed and she said something about wearing stripes. It was one of those moments where I was doing several things at once and was half listening to her. You all will be so proud of me for not saying a word and stifling my laughter when this is what I found.

Adventures With Boof Bear

At Hannah's preschool, one child is designated as "the snack person" for the week. That child brings a snack every day for the entire class. There are only nine in her class. Last week was Hannah's lucky week. I am trying to be less of a control freak (some of you have told me I am...you know who you are) so I let her choose what she wanted to take each day. Monday she took bananas. Wednesday she took Cheese Nips and string cheese. Friday she took Cheetos. I'm giving that information because she took her job of choosing a snack very seriously and put in a lot of thought for each day.

After a child is snack person for the week, that child gets to bring Boof Bear home for the weekend. Hannah talked about this all week long. She got in the car, opened her bag and squealed with delight to find Boof Bear inside. Part of the fun with Boof Bear is recording adventures Boof Bear has while at your house. Each child does a little summary of what they did with Boof Bear. This is shared with the class and placed in a binder which travels to each home with Boof Bear. I give you...Hannah's Adventure's With Boof Bear.

Boof Bear having lunch with Hannah.

Boof Bear helping Hannah check the mail.

Hannah used a neck pillow to make Boof Bear a seat in the car.

Hannah and Boof Bear snuggled on the couch with Aaron and his friend, Teddy, to watch Space Chimps.

Boof Bear slept with Hannah in her jungle room.

Hannah fixed dinner for Boof Bear.

Boof Bear helped Hannah lick the beaters after we made St. Nicholas cookies.

Mommy helped Hannah and Boof Bear light a candle on our family Advent wreath.

Boof Bear joined us at Monkey Joe's for a bouncing good time. He loved going down this very high bouncy slide.

Weather Girl

Rachel's school does a morning "news" program that is broadcast into the classrooms. Their news announcements pertain to the school and the weather. Each week different kids are given the chance to participate. Rachel was chosen to be the weather girl last week. She had to read her lines, but they actually are put on a screen in front of them so it really looks like they are professionals. She had to ad lib for the lost and found item. P.K., Hannah and I went to watch her in action one morning. That morning the lost and found item was a red Adidas jacket. You should have seen this girl in action. She started to put her hand on her hip when she was showing the jacket as if to say, "Your gonna be in trouble when your mom finds out you lost this" but she caught herself. We are so proud of her!

The backdrop is modeled after the peacock on NBC. It was painted in rainbow colors. I guess they switched to blue for winter.

Rachel amazes me with her self confidence. She is not afraid to get out there and try something new. She does not get that from the momma.

When Harry Met Sally or P.K. and Jody at Office Max

If you haven't seen the movie When Harry Met Sally, you should. It was a late 80s flick starring Meg Ryan. F.Y.I...this is not a kid friendly movie.

If you have seen the movie, I'm referring to the worst kind of high maintenance line not the "other scene" at the restaurant. Again, if you haven't seen the movie, you'll have to see it to understand the "other" restaurant scene. This is a family blog. :)

Sally is very high maintenance. It takes her forever to order something because she wants it the way she wants it. Harry explains it this way:

Harry: There are two kinds of women: high maintenance and low maintenance.
Sally: Which one am I?
Harry: You're the worst kind. You're high maintenance but you think you're low maintenance.

P.K. and I often laugh about this. In our relationship the rolls are reversed. When I order a sandwich, I usually just order it how ever it comes. I don't like tomatoes, but I just take it off. P.K. on the other hand orders it the way he wants it and we hope for the best. I tell him he is the worst kind of high maintenance (HM) because he doesn't think he is. This leads me to our trip to Office Max.

P.K. was off work yesterday so while the kids were at school and Hannah was at preschool we decided to do a few kid free errands and have lunch together. Our dates are few and far between so we both jumped at the chance.

I had received a $10.00 off a $20.00 purchase coupon for Office Max so that was one of our stops. P.K. (who claims not to be HM) said he needed some new pens. I like a ball point pen and usually stock up when the school supplies are on sale or even on clearance. If it writes, I can use it. P.K. being a lefty, prefers pens that meet his lefty technique.

Jody: Do we need anything else while we are here?
P.K.: I need some pens.
Jody: Oh, they are right over here. (motions to entire aisle of pens organized by style...ball point, gel, etc.)
P.K.: I think the pens I have been using are Pentel.
Jody: (searches the pens...I happen to be in the ball point section) Here are the Pentels.
P.K.: Cool. Oh, I wanted Pentel gel pens.
Jody: (rolls her eyes and moves to the section marked gel pens)
P.K. and Jody: (searching for Pentel GEL pens)
Jody: Here they are. Pentel gel pens. (The particular gel pens I found were retractable)
P.K.: Oh...I was looking for the Pentel gel pens with caps.
Jody: (laughing) You are the worst kind of HM just like on When Harry Met Sally and I am so blogging this moment.

Just so you know...they didn't have Pentel gel pens with caps so he decided to try the retractable.

Thanksgiving Week In Review

Monday night we let the kids stay up past their bed time. When we finally tucked them in, they all slept in Aaron's room...Lori and Rachel on an air mattress, Aaron in his bed, Noelle in the top bunk and Hannah on her Dora couch. They were understandably a bit wound up. We heard lots of laughs and voices. All of the kids were guilty. At least one child had come to tattle on the rest before Hannah and Noelle came down.

Noelle: Hannah won't stop singing.
Hannah: Saying "A-Doodley-Doo" is NOT singing

On Wednesday Shannon and I drug ourselves away from the Nertz table long enough to join the rest of the family at the park. It was nice to see daylight. Once we returned Doug was getting Hannah out of the car when he noticed her shoes were on the wrong feet.

Doug: Hannah your shoes are on the wrong feet. You need to change them.
Hannah: (Looks at Doug, looks down at her shoes, looks back at Doug) But we're just going over there (pointing to the front door).
Doug: Well, you still need to switch your shoes around. Wearing shoes on the wrong feet could make you pigeon toed (he then demonstrates what that looks like. Then he shows her that if the Dora on her shoes are on the outside, then the shoes are on the correct feet.)
Hannah: (Looks at Doug's Nikes which have the swoosh on the inside and outside) How do you know if your shoes are on the right feet?

Aaron and Noelle have been betrothed since Shannon and I found out we would have a boy and a girl. They were planning a wedding this week when Noelle decided she was finished. Here is what the kids decided to substitute.

Shannon and I continued our Black Friday shopping tradition this morning. We decided not to go quite as early as we have in the past, but we did make it to Target at 6:00 a.m. For us it is more about the experience of watching the other crazy people than it is about finding the best bargain ever. After Target, we went to Kohl's. We each found a little something and stood in line for about 30 minutes. There were about three people between us and the finish line where a friendly associate would direct us to the appropriate register. All of a sudden Shannon's face looked like she had sucked on a lemon and she said, "Ahhh." I look at her and then it hit me. A nasty smell nastier than either of us has ever encountered. I have changed a lot of dirty diapers in my day and none could match the smell around us. The smell just hung in the air. There was no escape. Gagging occurred. Apparently, whatever the lady in front of us had for Thanksgiving dinner created a very putrid smell when released as gas on the exiting end. Because we only had a couple things, we didn't have a cart. This meant we didn't have a free hand. The sight of us trying to balance our purchases and cover our noses with anything we could manage was hilarious. The thickness of the stench could not be waved away. We tried.

Tonight we rented a movie for the kids and let them eat leftovers and popcorn in the family room. Shannon and I had returned to playing Nertz in the dining room. Rachel comes in and says, "Aaron is sitting on his bowl of unpopped kernels to see if he can make them warm enough to pop." As a mom, this is not something I thought I would ever hear. Once I can contain my laughter (no thanks to Shannon who is laughing uncontrollably across from me, really had she been drinking anything her nose would have been a fountain)I call him to the dining room and ask him if he really did sit on his bowl of unpopped kernels hoping they would pop. And did he really think it would work? Yes, he sat on the bowl. No, he did not expect it to work. And some of you may have been wondering why Noelle backed out of the wedding.

Hello, this is the husband (P.K.) making a guest post.

A friend and I took our kids to an outdoor nature center and park. Aren't the kids cute?

Anyway, after a picnic lunch and some hiking, we arrived at the park. The main attraction for the kids was the tire swing.

The kids all cried, "Faster, faster!" The dads responded... (Notice the shoe on the ground and the hat flying off of Hannah's head.)

One child said it was better than the roller coasters at Bush Gardens. Another exclaimed that the tire swing surpassed rides at Six Flags. When the tire swing ride ended, this was the result...

All the girls said, "We feel sick."

The boy, however, couldn't understand what all the drama was about...

I especially like their post ride expressions...

This concludes my first post!

It's In the Air

The kids are off school all week. P.K. is off of work until Friday. Our friends left their home just before 5:30 this morning (They were going to leave at 5:00, but Caribou Coffee doesn't open until 5:30...priorities here) to travel to our home. We are making some last minute "company is coming" house preparations. I have 15 Bean Soup cooking in the crock pot so dinner will be waiting when our friends arrive. The house smells yummy! There is that certain feeling of excitement looming in the air and I love it!

As I often mention, I am big on traditions. One of ours is sharing Thanksgiving with Doug and Shannon and their two beautiful girls (also our Goddaughters) Lori and Noelle. We swap years. This year they are coming to us. We have been counting down for quite a while. We have no special plans. There will be lots of Nertz played. We may break it up now and then and play some Rummy. We will cook like crazy on Thanksgiving day and Shannon and I will be up before the sun on Friday morning to watch the crazy people fight for their prized sale items. The kids will put together a show. It is always worth it to watch them try to direct one another. All too soon it will be Saturday and we will have to tell them good bye as they head back home, but we will not dwell on that. We will make some memories and enjoy being together.

I have to share one unrelated thing. Yesterday I was going through a couple boxes in the basement I still had not unpacked. The boxes were full of stuff I had put off unpacking because I didn't know what to do with it. At the bottom of one of the boxes was Aaron's Bibleman Bible. If you are not familiar with Bibleman, he is a Bible super hero. My kids have several of the DVDs and love them. They teach great lessons using scripture. Aaron also has a couple of the action figures and his own Bibleman costume complete with the sword of the spirit. At some point he asked for the Bibleman Bible. It is just a kids' version of the Bible. He wasn't quite old enough to read it so last year while the kids ate breakfast I would read to them. Because I kept it in the kitchen I guess it got packed with all the last minute stuff. When I pulled it out yesterday I realized that Aaron's reading skills had improved greatly over the summer. I gave it to him and told him he was probably old enough to read it on his own. I almost cried when I walked up the stairs and heard him call P.K. to his room. He had been reading and found a scripture he wanted to memorize. He read it to P.K. and then proceeded to tell P.K. what it meant. Blessed my heart! Last night when we got ready for our night time routine, Aaron asked me if we could add something to the routine. We already do "nice thing" which means everyone goes around the circle and says one nice thing to everyone else. Then we sing a song, do prayers and tuck each child in their own individual bed. So I was thinking we really need to add one more thing. :) He asked if he could read the scripture he had read to Daddy and we could all try to memorize it. Then next Sunday he would give us a new one. Almost to tears, again!

So today as we finish our preparations for our Thanksgiving week, I am thankful that my son has a heart for God's word. I pray that the Lord will continue to grow that in him.

Gerbils and Jammies

This weekend Rachel was chosen to bring home the class pets, two gerbils named Icy and Speedy. I was very worried that one of the kids would drop one and it would run away to never be seen again. That is until it found the stuff the exterminator sprays every three months to keep us bug free. Then we would have to go to the pet store to try to find an identical one so Rachel wouldn't be known as the kid who killed the class pet. I'm not sure if the spray would really kill something as large as a gerbil, but I really didn't want to find out the hard way.

I grew up with pets. We always had a dog. There was the time my brother adopted the stray cat. He was named Tiger and then we realized he was a she when he had kittens on the back step. I remember catching a turtle that we kept in an old cooler. There was at least one hamster and a pair of guinea pigs. We had at least one parakeet.. As the family folklore goes, the parakeet would bite and I encouraged my cousin Mike to stick his finger in the cage. Luckily, my mom overheard.

P.K. didn't grow up with pets so he isn't crazy about having one. I don't mind them, but I don't want them on me. P.K. and I had a parakeet when we were first married. The kids had fish for a while we were living in California, but I couldn't keep them alive. They also had hermit crabs, but we didn't want to try to move them cross country so we gave them away. The kids are constantly begging for a pet. I think Hannah almost has her daddy talked into one. Aaron has a list of the types of snakes he wants to buy. The landlord does not allow pets in the house so we can't have one for now. We bent the rule just for the weekend.

It turned out just fine. Rachel was very responsible and cleaned up after the gerbils who loved to throw their purple shredded bedding out of the cage.

Meet Speedy

and Icy.

Each of the gerbils had a ball to run in. They could really get them going on the hardwood floor. The kids had gerbil races.

Where do the Jammies come in? Hannah had "Wear Your Pajamas to School Day" yesterday. She asked why I have to take a picture when she has a special day at school. I wanted to say, "Because I carried you for nine months, had morning sickness for almost 4 months and was cut in half to bring you into this world and I will take your picture whenever I please. " But I went with, "Because it is fun and I want to have a picture."


I should also mention that P.K. made it home on Friday night. It was a long three weeks. He was able to come home Halloween weekend, but it still seemed like a very long time. He is not allowed to go out of town again until I have at least one friend here.

What Instrument Do You Play?

P.K. plays the trumpet. I played the violin in middle school and high school. I was not an athlete so I didn't letter in a sport, but I did earn my high school letter in orchestra. Yeah, baby. I can plunk out a few things from a hymnal on the piano, but don't expect a concert. Rachel has learned to read music and will soon start to learn to play the recorder in school. We called it a song flute when I learned. I had to relearn to play it in my college music methods class. We know Aaron loves to write songs. We are not the most musically talented family, but we can talk the talk.

So, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when Hannah picked up these hangers this morning while I was folding laundry and started clicking them together. Then she started marching around while she clicked.

Jody: Are you making music?
Hannah: Well, somebody has to play the hooks.

How has our family survived this long without "somebody" playing the hooks? How on earth can I call myself a mom and not have assigned "somebody" to play the hooks? That child cracks me up!

The Jungle Theme Continues

Weeks ago I offered to help out with the book fair at the kids' school. About a week ago I received an email asking for people to fill specific positions. The director of the media center coordinates the book fair, but she really needed someone to decorate. When I found out the theme was a safari, I had to jump on it. I already had the ideas and props from Hannah's birthday party.

I added a tent made from cardboard boxes, tablecloths and tulle. I stuffed a green shirt with a pillow and added a pith helmet from Hannah's party. If you look closely at the picture you may be able to see a bit of blond hair sticking out from under the hat. For Halloween 2007 Rachel decided she wanted to go as Hannah Montana. The only thing I had to buy her was a wig. Now I am happy to announce that it has been recycled. The entire library (I mean, Media Center) is painted in an ocean theme so ignore the dolphins floating above the jungle. My friend Becky said it is what the person in the tent is dreaming about.

The secretary saw me at the school again (I was there yesterday to chaperon Rachel's chorus field trip to sing at an assisted living facility) and said I was going to have to start charging the school since I was there as much as the paid staff. That is where I want to be. Volunteering at the kids' school and participating in their education. Being known by the staff so if problems do arise we already have a working relationship. The librarian (oops...media center director) told me that Rachel is really good at math. I thanked her and then my husband's genes.