Postcards from The North Pole

Nana and Papa recently went on another adventure and travelled to/through Alaska by ship, train, and bus.  While there, they visited Santa's house at the North Pole, and Santa sent each of the boys a special message:

Tim the turtle was found at the creek at Nana and Papa's house this summer.  Nana convinced Christian to let him go back home to nature since Christian was already bringing home two new firebelly frog pets. 

We hope this will encourage Jojo to continue doing his potty business -- in the potty.

This reminded me that recently one of the older neighborhood girls who plays outside with the kids told Christian the TRUTH about the Tooth Fairy.  Christian was very matter-of-fact when he told me and my response was, "Of course there's a Tooth Fairy!  She does come at night because she used to come visit me when I lost a tooth!" He probably saw right through it, though, and that's ok.  He'll believe because he wants to continue believing in the magic, just as I remember doing so as a young girl.  Our little philosopher may continue to believe because he won't want to ruin the fun for his little brothers.

I pulled the little Grinch aside and told her, "C____, we still believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, got it?" 

"The things I believed most then, the things I believe most now,

are the things called fairy tales."

G.K. Chesterton

Orthodoxy

Tennessee, Part I

The boys and I just returned from visiting Nana and Papa in Tennessee last Tuesday. We spent almost two weeks there, and we had a real nice visit as always. The kids and I survived security at the airport, especially on the return flight when I had to have endless bottles of medication sealed up in plastic bags. More on that later.

Before I get into a little about what we did on our trip, I'd like to share a connection Christian made recently about what I was trying to explain about the Internet. Lately, he is into looking up insects and other creatures on the computer. Because of my children-induced ADD, I cannot sit still while Christian wanders through a site that I pull up for him (usually it's PBSkidsgo.org); I will show Christian a thing or two and then he's off to navigate on his own. But because I am not familiar with too many children safe websites, and especially after I pulled up an earthworm site that I thought was normal but ended up showing an obscene photo, I am wary of letting him look on his own. I tried to explain that sometimes "yucky, disgusting" things show up that are not for kids' eyes and that mommy doesn't know enough about keeping his eyes safe from such gross things on the Worldwide Web, when suddenly Christian recalled a song he recently learned at school. Some of the verses are:

Be careful little eyes what you see...
Be careful little eyes what you see...
There's a Father up above,
He's looking down towards us...
Be careful little eyes what you see.

It's pretty terrific to see when your child makes a profound connection. At the time he learned that song, he probably did not think much about what the lyrics meant, yet he pulled it from memory when I explained some of the dangers of what can be found (or what can find you) on the Internet.

Back to our trip! Here are some photos of what we did and who he we saw:

Christian learned how to drive the four-wheeler. Some nosy neighbor reported Papa to the cops, and both Christian and Papa got pulled over for riding on a 'main street' with a minor, and Christian had his first ride home in a police car. At least he was allowed to sit in the front seat of the cruiser. After Nana asked what happened to the four-wheeler (did they run out of gas?), Christian replied, "I don't want to talk about it." Papa fixed the problem with the police chief & they were able to return to riding through the neighborhood, but must drive directly to the creek in the field behind them now.

This is one of Gaby's favorite things to do. He just loved taking those rides. Papa also let them sit on his Harley, and he even took them for a ride in his red 'race' car -- I've not even done that! Those kids are pretty special to Papa.

This T-shirt pretty much sums up Papa's personal philosophy. Gaby likes to listen to the blues with Papa. After one such night of hanging outside, Christian told Nana, "I'm tired of Johnny Cash."

We saw our friends Libby and her brother Justice.



And Jojo had more fun running around their green, green yard and among Nana's beautiful flowers.

Nana gave us all some much needed trims. Nana was much relieved to cut off Gaby's mullet.

We saw MeMaw and Poppy (Mike's grandparents), and one of the best part of our visits for Gaby is seeing the big farm machines. Poppy has a few tractors and some barns to tend to the ginormous bovines roaming their property.

Mike's dad, Grandpa Kenny, and his friend Karen also came to visit from Indiana. Poppy has a four-wheeler and so Grandpa Kenny took the boys out for a ride.

Here's MeMaw ...


and the invincible Auntie Linda who singlehandedly got the county's spay/neuter clinic up and running during her 'spare' retirement years... Yeah, I know I'm bragging...it's pretty cool, doncha think?

Where was Jojo all this time his brothers were out having fun? He was snoozing on Karen's shoulder, and that was the night Papa and I took him to the emergency room with a raging fever and ear infection.

More to share coming soon.

Johnny Cash and Crepes

Mooove over - I'm on my way to the crepes.

Today I met Tanya at the mall and we walked for about an hour. Then we stopped to have coffee. Then we ordered the crepes with Nutella hazelnut chocolate sauce. Resolution #1 is going real well so far.

Gaby was having Johnny Cash withdrawals, so we borrowed 'Walk the Line' from Aunt Patsy again. One of these days we'll buy the DVD. Here is Gaby rocking out for your viewing pleasure. Notice how enthralled Christian is by Gaby's performance.

I think it would be much better to stay away from the mall when I exercise. What would Johnny Cash do? He walked the line but had his cake, too. Yikes, better keep my eyes wide open all the time. Discipline, girl.

Johnny Cash and Dancing Insanity

I have a sick addiction to a certain TV show called 'Dancing with the Stars.' This madness has to stop. I just wasted two hours today and last night, and I may waste another two hours tomorrow night just to see Jonas Brothers play as Christian is excited to see this pubescent/post-pubescent boy band. If Christian was aware that CDs of their music are available, I would probably have to listen to it over and over. Let's keep that our little secret.

But why, oh why, do they not put actual latin music to the mambo and cha-cha since they are, after all, latin dances? Come on, Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby got Back" for the final mambo number?? No wonder the poor couple couldn't quite get into the rhythm -- sheesh! Oh, and I will never get the image of the new goth dancer & her partner star (she's living on the edge of Ballroom Dancing) either fox trotting or mambo-ing to The Cure. I'm pretty sure that's the second time I know of that a Cure song has been desecrated by 'DWTS'. My brother Sergio would be apalled.

Even Mike has been sucked into the madness. He just asked me who was eliminated as he was busy reading to Christian before bed. Isn't this football season? Oh, I remember. Football is on Monday nights and weekends. I get dibs on the big TV during 'DWTS', though. I have to say, sometimes there is actual latin music played to the latin dances and that's when I enjoy it so much. The show is a much needed respite after the long summer of hearing Johnny Cash tunes -- I promise, Aunt Patsy, to return 'Walk the Line' to you real soon. Gabriel can't get enough of singing those songs at the top of his lungs to anyone listening both inside and outside the house. He uses garden hoses, broken table legs (he broke them), and sticks as his microphone for his rather projectible (is that a real word?) voice. I have the movie lines and songs memorized. Gabie plays his heart out on the little red guitar, but when he can't find it he uses a teeny guitar that belongs to the Woody doll. He says he wants a "real guitar". Take a peek:

We'll have to sneak up on him to catch him singing. Your ears may ring for a while, trust me.

May you have a 'DWTS'- free evening tomorrow. I plan to, anyway. I'll only watch the last ten minutes to see who gets eliminated. Or maybe I'll see the half-time show with the Jonas Brothers to see what cheesy number the professional dancers end up doing with their music. Oh, forget it. I'll probably watch the whole silly thing and give you another report. Don't blame me if you or your loved ones get hooked. The show is one big heap of delicious insanity that gets me each season. One last request for 'DWTS': Please may there not be another Bon Jovi number thrown in this season.