In Search of an Elf!

I bought Karah a kiddie bra just for fun at Justice. She had begged. It looks just like a little half tank top. Nothing special to me…but to her…a huge deal. Apparently it is to Bradley, as well.

Bradley: Are there bras for boys?

Me: Nope…not for boys.

Bradley: Why not?

Me: Boys don’t grow boobies.

Bradley: I have boobies.

Me: No…you have nipples – but your boobies will never get big.

Me: (hoping to give him a silver lining)…they DO make something for boys. It’s called a jock strap. You wear it over your peedie to keep it from bouncing when you run and play sports.

Bradley: I WANT THAT FOR CHRISTMAS! Does Santa elves know how to make jock straps?

Me: (laughing hysterically with my sister) Yes…I think they do!

On the night of Thanksgiving, we had our family and  friends over to play games. The following conversation ensued after everyone left.

Bradley: I’m mad at Brady.

Me: Why?

Bradley: He kicked me in the wiener.

Me: Ouch! Did that hurt?

Bradley: Yes! And THAT is why I am going to get a jock strap for Christmas and wear it every day! So people can’t kick me in the wiener ever again!!!

Bradley will be going to the mall to sit on Santa’s lap soon. He has it all planned out. He’s going to ask for a Baby Alive doll and a jockstrap. I will definitely have the video camera rolling for that one.

Once the request is put into Santa, it’s official and he will be expecting it under the tree! Help! To all my seamstress friends out there….are any of you for hire to sew a 4T jockstrap? Please!!! A little boy’s dreams depend on it!!!

Thankful: Child Induced Humility

Yesterday the kids and I went on a turkey hunt…not in the woods…just from store to store in search for the perfect bird…a big bird.

Karah spotted one and proclaimed at the top of her lungs…

“Mom! I found a huge turkey!

It looks just like you…except with no eyeballs!”

The fellow shoppers burst into laughter.

Nice. Really Nice.

Nothing like a child to keep you humble.

So thankful.

 

And yet another thing to be thankful for….

The turkey’s aren’t in charge.

 

Draw Nearer : The Fast

 

*THIS POST IS DEDICATED TO LOUISE DELANEY. THANKS FOR PAVING THE WAY TO PEACE, CONTENTMENT, AND PRODUCTIVITY. THE INFLUENCE OF YOUR EXAMPLE IS IMMEASURABLE.*

Dear Little Bear Cubs,

Two little words have been weighing heavily on my mind.  Two little words…the line dividing them so terribly thin…the meaning so vastly different.

Leisure: Time or opportunity for ease or relaxation; not occupied or engaged; time that is free from duties and responsibilities.

Idle: Avoiding work; lazy; lacking substance and value; to pass time while avoiding work; to move without purpose.

Lately I have found myself out of balance. I feel like a plate spinner…trying to keep everything moving while preventing something from crashing.

Playing with you guys, feeding you, driving you, studying  with you, doing housework, keeping clean clothes on your back, being the preschool president, my calling at church, doing invoicing for Daddy’s work, building my new business, feeding my spirit, exercising my body, dating daddy, writing, grocery shopping, organizing, reading for my certifications, classes for certifications, photography hobby, changing poops, sleep, prayers, and keeping up with my other family and friends…and much, much more. Too much. 

It seems that this list has exhausted me to the point that plates are falling…important plates. One plate that has never fallen? Social Networking.

Just putting this in writing makes it seem even more ridiculous. HOW is it that I can have so much going on – and be stretched so thin – yet I have time to check out Facebook several times a day just to confirm that everybody I haven’t seen for 20 years is doing “something”. 

Is this leisure or is it idleness? This is the debate I have been having with myself. In researching, I found the following quote that helped me put things in better perspective. 

“Our crucial task, is to distinguish leisure from idleness. Idleness puts us in a passive role, whereas leisure usually calls on us to participate mentally or physically or creatively; idleness merely passes time, whereas leisure fills personal needs; idleness occupies us, but leisure renews us; we put the responsibility for filling our idle time on something outside ourselves, whereas we look within ourselves for our leisure.” (Karen Lynn, Ensign, August 1981).

I understand that the answer is not the same for everyone…but for me…the answer is idleness.

I recently had a lengthy conversation with my sister and sister-in-law(love) where we openly admitted to each other that we could be making much better use of our time.

Honestly – how wrong is this? I struggle to find time to study my scriptures…I rush my prayers…but I somehow squeeze in enough time for social stinkin’ networking.   

I finally got angry enough at myself and declared a facebook fast. This fast also includes blog reading (with the exception of my family). I will let those plates crash to the ground while I take care of the ones that matter…the ones that are wobbling and threatening to fall if I don’t act now.

I asked myself this:

“What if I invested the same amount of time I am currently wasting…into something that strengthened me?”

“What would that look like?”

“What would it feel like?”

“What would change in my life?”

I thought of the Savior and how he would take time out of his ministry to separate himself from the throngs of people and spend time alone.

Luke 5:16 says, “And he withdrew himself from the wilderness and prayed”.

He withdrew himself.

Withdraw: To remove oneself from active participation; to remove.

Jesus Christ did not have a ministry where he sat peacefully as he preached to a few followers each day. Before he went up to the mount to pray, he had thousands of people following him through the countryside as they listened to him teach. He had people begging for healing, and then there were people following him – hoping for a new political leader, being dissatisfied with the Roman rule. Even Jesus felt the need to withdraw and be alone while he communed with God.

His example teaches me the importance of withdrawing…of going and being alone…slowing down from the regular pace of life, slowing my mind, and tuning into the voice of the Lord. 

This…is what I have been lacking. Hence…the Fast. It will be a fast of 40 days and 40 nights.

I have been feeling that “upward pull” again…to do more and be more.

A little less social networking…a little more of living life more fully…and being everything you deserve.

I love you little bear cubs…..more than all of my Facebook friends combined :) (little jokie)

Off to the mountains I go,

The Mama Bear

p.s.

For an interesting read…click here.

 

Pre-Op Mishap

Warning* If you consider yourself a “lady”- you won’t want to read this post. End it now.

On Thursday Tommy T went in for knee surgery. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am. It was an early, early morning. They took Tom back and got him prepped for surgery. They allowed me to come back and spend a few minutes with him before it was time for him to go back to the operating room.

I went back to his “room”. I call it a room, but really it is a pre-op waiting area – divided only by a thin curtain.

There were five patients all waiting for their surgeries. Since the curtain was the only divider- we could hear all of the conversations going on around us….and I am assuming they could hear us.

A panicked look came across Tom’s face.

“I have to fart!”, he whispered.

“Oh great”, I replied.

“Do you think it will stink?”, he asked in trepidation.

“Um…this time of morning? YES!”

I thought I had talked him out of it when he didn’t mention it again for approximately 67 seconds. But then…..

“WHAT DO I DO????”, he asked in a frenzy.

“Let it out then!”, I said in frustration.

(come ON already….did it need this much discussion???)

Tom then executed what I would like to refer to as “the whisper fart”. He thought by lightly pushing – nobody would hear it – when in FACT…all it did was increase the duration…bringing MORE attention to it….like – “Ripley’s Believe it Or Not” Attention.

Not only was that part horrific….but the SMELL!!! No thin curtain was going to prevent it from singeing the nose hair off every single person in that room.

TRUE PANIC SET IN FOR TOM.

“SPRAY SOMETHING!”, he whisper shouted.

I frantically looked through our tiny room and saw a bottle of Clorox wipes. Tom was speedily fanning his blanket as I speedily shook the wipe over him in the air.

Just then – the curtain flew open and our Anesthetist was standing there…watching….smelling….grinning.

Tom and I lost it – laughing so hard out of pure embarrassment – that we couldn’t even listen to his instructions. The anesthetist would start giggling – contain himself – and try to act like he didn’t notice the smell of hot, sick a** in the air.

I had my face in my hands – tears streaming. Tom sat bouncing on the gurney…bright red faced with wet eyes…wheezing in laughter.

His pulse was off the charts…though maybe that’s just because the machine could smell it, too.

They wheeled him to the O.R.  - laughing all the way.

I sat in the waiting room – laughing throughout his surgery…KNOWING that as SOON as they had him put under- the anesthetist was going to tell the Dr. all about it.

When I went back to pick him up – he was still laughing. We laughed all the way home.

“This was the “funnest” surgery I have ever had!!!” he said in delight….like he owed it all to me!

Sorry…can’t take the credit for that one.

The moral of the story….

Farts. Never trust ‘em!

 

Trick-or-Treat Night

Halloween day turned into Halloween night….slowly….slowly…slowly.

  

The kids had an early trick played on them – as they ran by the bushes….

 

Or what they THOUGHT were bushes….

 

The sun finally set as all of the neighborhood ghouls and goblins were illuminated…

It was the perfect night for Halloween…a full moon!

We had some friends and family  over for a pizza party and trick-or-treating…

Yes, that is a grown man under that sheet…hoping that being short will qualify him as a worthy trick-or treater.

Of course every child wears Dockers and dress shoes when they go door to door….of course!

There were lots of typical Halloween sightings…

but there was only one Ninja that was riding in a stroller.

 

And there was only one Luigi who was sick and tired of his hat and mustache…so he opted to go as a boy in blue overalls, instead.

 

There were two girls who wore different costumes but had the same face…

And two girls who wore the same costume but had different faces…

And there was only one ticked off chick.

We headed to the original part of town to visit the older homes since they are “spookier”.

 

And man were they spookier!!!

  

We found a little concert in the backyard of the funeral home…

Complete with popcorn…so sweet.

It was such a memorable Halloween…I think we will make it our new tradition.

 

“Trick-or-Treat Day”

 

On Halloween morning Selena Gomez…

Luigi,

 

and a self-conscious chick headed to the costume parade on the square.

 

They even brought along their Yorkie, Gracie…dressed up like the little princess she is.

(though technically, princesses are bathed a little more often than she is…but still…)

The local merchants displayed pumpkins in their windows to signal candy was waiting inside for all the little “Trick-or-Treaters”.     

The kids met up with some of their cousins…

 

 

Grandma came with a special Halloween treat bag for  each of them!

It was so cute to watch them together…so big.

I loved seeing all the costumes!

There were dinosaurs in Fruit of the Looms…

Ferocious tigers prowling through the leaves…

…men who’s heads have corners…

(little jokie, Mark)

…Bumble-bees and Bumble-pups…

…cops walkin’ da beat…

…and…her…”perfectly scary”.

Some of my favorite moments…

 

   

I wonder if he was feeling like this…

                                       

 

Stay tuned for “Trick-or-Treat Night”!