Thanks for the dance

I feel the need to document the way I spent the last 45 minutes. I just finished a memorable, rather intimate dance with one 15-pound raw turkey. As I cut open the bag, I took one good look at him and said, "Allright, turkey, let's dance." (It was best the family wasn't home to witness the spectacle.) Tom was a rather silent dance partner; he even allowed me to lead. Though I should say he tried to get away more than a few times. I was not offended, but even more resolved to finish what we had started. I should have known he would be very accommodating when he put his neck on the line.

Okay, I have to break with the analogy now because I really did yank the poor thing's neck out of his body cavity. I didn't want the pun to be mistaken for his moment of death. Nevermind the backbone I demonstrated by doing it. Sorry, that one was awful; I'll stop now.

I'm actually pretty excited about the turkey. This is the first time I've done the whole shebang. I went with the Perfect Roast Turkey recipe from RecipeZaar and it sounds like it should be really delicious. If it doesn't turn out to be a keeper, well, at least I'll always have that dance.

Hawk Shoe

Some recent funnies from our eldest:

A: Mommy, pretend to be asleep so I can wake you up.
Mom: I can't really close my eyes right now because I'm feeding C her cereal. That could get messy.
A: Well, then you just have to hawk shoe.
Mom: Hmm?
A: Like this...haaawk, shooooo, haaaawk, shooo.

Dad to Mom as we approached the front door: Got your keys handy?
A (with utter disbelief and confusion): Why'd you call her Handy?

Her prayers are getting quite impressive. She thanks God for the trees and the grass, asks for more rain so the flowers (weeds) in our yard will get bigger, thanks Him for all the good things He gives us, prays for anybody we know that might be sick and a few who might be healthy. Today, at lunch time, I knew she'd been paying attention to my prayers when she added a line on behalf of Mrs. B (one of our good friends), "Please help her to be umpliant (compliant) to her children." Thank you, Father, that the Holy Spirit interprets our groanings for us.

My personal favorite has been an ongoing conversation inspired by the book "Guess How Much I Love You." She recently told me, "Mom, I love you all the way to the moon." Of course, I replied, "I love you all the way to the moon and back again." Some of her other replies to try to top mine:
-I love you all the way to the sun, then to the moon and back again.
-I love you all the way to China and then the ice cream store.
-I love you all the way to the moon, back to Thailand and across the river.

FYI

We are all still alive and even well. Sorry for the long pause in posts; I hope to have a few updates this week. Until then, I leave you with these pearls of wisdom...

1. Little girls' sneakers do not require decorations on the bottom. For example, tiny butterflies and/or flowers with intricate details that create myriad crevices and veins do not make little girls run faster. Who even pays attention to the design on the bottom of the shoes?!
   
2. A thick paste of baking soda and vinegar, a toothbrush and toothpick are my tools of choice for removing lingering evidence of dog poop from the beautiful butterflies and flowers on the bottoms of little girls' shoes.
   

May you never need to verify these nuggets of knowledge for yourself.

13 Things

I'm still trying to wrap words around our decision not to celebrate Halloween. I want to make sure we're really doing this on purpose, not just because it's the thing to do--either way. I read this list recently in Reader's Digest and it helped:

13 Things Your Trick-or-Treater Won't Tell You
This Halloween, we turned to the experts (kids!) to give us the scoop on how to score the most candy while trick-or-treating and more.
By Phillip Done, from Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind: Thoughts on Teacherhood
1. Old people are either very generous or give you one peanut. There is no in-between.
2. The cuter our costumes, the more candy we get.
3. Good loot: Tootsie Rolls, Kit Kats, Nerds, Twizzlers, Jolly Ranchers, Starbursts, Skittles, Snickers, and Whoppers. Bad loot: toothbrushes.
4. Pillowcases hold twice as much as plastic grocery bags and three times as much as plastic orange pumpkins.
5. Don’t get stuck behind little kids at the door. They take forever to decide.
6. Handing out candy is like serving wine at a party. People serve the good stuff first and save the not-so-good stuff for later. The longer you stay out on Halloween night, the worse the candy gets.
7. Lots of decorations in the front yard means good candy. They spend a lot on Halloween.
8. If a group of children gathers at the door, sometimes it's best to be in the front so you won't have to wait and can run immediately to the next house. But sometimes it’s better to be the last one: You might get two pieces of candy for being patient.
9. It's always better to choose your candy than to have someone else choose it for you.
10. When parents chaperone, moms say "Be careful" and "Remember your manners." Dads say "Wha'd ya get?"
11. Know your shortcuts. Slide through hedges. Jump over gutters. Dodge strollers. And run, do not walk.
12. Dads stay out later than moms.
13. Do not show your teacher what you have in your lunch bag the day after Halloween. Otherwise, he might point to his "Official Halloween Candy Taste Tester" button and ask for all your Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

A surface read might cause a chuckle or smile. After all, these are meant to be cute kid quotes, right? But these statements are symptomatic of the hearts these kids are growing into. I just don't see any values here that line up with the marching orders that came from my King. That makes it a little easier to define some of the blurry edges.

Borrowed Ideas

I'm the last one to want to start with the Christmas decorations in October. I think it's ridiculous that the stores already have Christmas stuff out. Makes me want to get on my materialism soapbox and sit a spell. But if you call it "planning," then I'm all for it. I've really enjoyed SimpleMom's series on 12 weeks 'till Christmas and how planning ahead can make the season more peaceful. My two favorite posts so far:

10 Clutter-Free Gift Ideas for Kids

9 Weeks Till Christmas: Plan for your Family to Give to the Community

I look forward to trying at least a few of these this year, though I'm not sure which ones yet. I think we'll be able to do even more in years to come as the girls get older. Makes Christmas sound fun again.

Taste of Freedom

Yesterday I took the girls on a long walk in the beautiful weather to get out of the house so J could rest. I asked A if she wanted to ride her tricycle instead of sitting in the double stroller (please, please, please, don't make me push that monstrosity). Yeah, that sounded like fun! Off we went. I put C in the umbrella stroller and A pedaled her little trike. She was very obedient about staying close to the side of the road or on the sidewalk. She was even very good to stop on her own as we approached a cross street so that we could look for cars.

I got a big laugh out of her little taste of freedom though. She would pedal as fast as she could, little knees almost hitting the handlebars, singing to herself, "I can do it! I can do it! I can get far away from Mommy!" She'd give me a quick glance over her shoulder and giggle, "You're way back there." She would go as far as the next cross street, then stop and wait for me. She was obeying all our safety rules, so I just let her go. She wants to be independent so badly. Must be hard to be so grown-up in such a little body.

Sick Days

Seems that our family had a few days of rest coming whether we liked it or not. I started with a stomach bug on Thursday and J quickly rearranged plans and deadlines to be available with the girls. Fortunately, it seems to have only been a 24-hour thing as I was feeling good again by yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, I must have shared it with J, who is suffering this morning. Here's hoping he'll sleep it off and not pass it on to anyone else.