I Guess I Was Tired Yesterday

After the boys went to bed last night, I lay down on my bed for few minutes. That few minutes turned into all night. Clark (our cat) woke me up at 5:30 a.m. I was fully dressed, including the scarf I wore yesterday. I guess I needed the sleep!

Today I am off from work, since the kids are off from school. I have a list of things I want to get done today--haircuts, a Target run, make a meatloaf for tonight, change sheets on William's bed, sort through the school paper pile. And Seth is having a friend over this afternoon. My mom and brother will be arriving some time this evening. There's a lot to be grateful for in all those mostly mundane things. Target, for starters. Ha ha. But also for being financially comfortable (even if I don't always feel that way), for family close enough in distance and heart to visit, for food on our table (this goes back to the financially comfortable thing), and shelter that we love.

Yesterday I didn't actually think actively of what I was grateful for. I would have, had I sat down in front of my computer to blog, but it reminds me to try to be more mindful throughout the day--not just at the end of the day because I need something to blog about.

And now we're off as the boys are whining to go and starting to fight each other. Just another day in the Hahn household.

Grateful for Online Shopping

I am so, so SO grateful for online shopping. Granted, I spend inordinate amounts of time virtually perusing merchandise and filling shopping carts and making wish lists. But it is so much more convenient than having to get off my ass actually GO somewhere to look at stuff. Seth has been wanting a new lunch box, so I figured that's a great gift for Santa to give him. (We follow the "something you want, something you need, something to play with, and something to read" rule with gifts, so this would probably fall under his "need" category.) He wants one like William's, which is from Pottery Barn. But I decided to check out Lands End and LL Bean to see what they offered in the way of lunch boxes. Lands End's lunch box was a bit bigger than the PB one, and included a side pocket. Click! They were offering free shipping on orders of $50 or more, so of course I had to scroll through all of their clearance items. And what do you know! I found a pair of nude patent-leather pumps--real leather--on sale for $37. Yes, please! I think Santa would approve. Then I did a search for discount code and found one for 30% off! So I saved an additional $17. Not too shabby for a night's worth of shopping.

I also love Amazon. And their wish lists. Which I use religiously for the boys. It helps the inlaws with ideas. And I love reading through reviews and searching for popular items, and the best-rated items. The Internet is freakin' awesome.

Brrrrrr

A cold front came through our area overnight and the temperature did not get out of the 30s today. It's cold! So, among lots of other things, I'm grateful today for our gas fireplace. (Don't mind the washed out, slightly crooked picture I took.)

I used to think gas fireplaces were lame, and that wood-burning was the only way to go. I have since changed my mind, however. Turning a fireplace on with a switch is HEAVEN. This fireplace is in our playroom (what will eventually be our family room), and the boys' table and chairs sit in front of it. On cold winter mornings, the boys ask to turn the fireplace on so they can eat their breakfast by the fire. The mantle is super fancy marble and there isn't a blower, so it's not super efficient at throwing heat out. But I think it warms up the room. The only bummer is that since it's the playroom, we don't actually have any other furniture in there right now, so there's nowhere for me to curl up and get cozy. But all in good time!

In the meantime, I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the fact that Thanksgiving is THIS WEEK and Christmas is right around the corner. We took the boys to the mall yesterday afternoon and Santa was there! William said that it was not fair to Thanksgiving and Hanukkah that Christmas stuff was out already. He said we needed to celebrate one holiday at a time. I agree, except that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to get shorter and shorter each year, and harder and harder to actually enjoy. So I kind of don't mind getting into the Christmas spirit a little early. I even finished our holiday cards and calendar. If only the rest of my holiday shopping was that easy. (Well, I wouldn't say spending hours choosing the holiday cards and choosing the photos and layout for the calendar was easy, but it is done, which is more than I can say for the rest of my holiday shopping.)

This week, my mom and brother are coming to stay with us for Thanksgiving. We can't wait! We'll all go over to Ed's parents house for Thanksgiving dinner. Ed's sister and BIL and their 3 boys will be there, so the boys are super excited to spend time with their cousins. It will be loud but fun. Lots to look forward to!

Grateful for Pizza Friday and School Pictures

First off, I've been forgetting to post my daily gratitude, so I'll start with that. Today, I'm grateful for pizza on Fridays. The boys bring their lunch to school almost every day, and it's one of the chores I loathe--having to pack lunches at night. They pretty much eat the exact same thing every day. Seth eats a ham-and-cheese sandwich (whole wheat bread, "white circle cheese"--aka Provolone, mayo), pretzels (or sometimes plain potato chips), fruit (either apple, banana, sometimes grapes), and 2 cookies; William eats a Nutella sandwich on whole wheat bread, goldfish (or pretzels or chips or Pirate Booty), fruit or carrots, and 2 cookies. So it's really not that hard. But on Fridays, the school serves pizza, and if it's just plain pizza (and not bagel pizza or Mexican pizza, which the boys don't like), they'll buy lunch! I can't even describe the relief I feel knowing I don't have to pack a lunch tonight. (And yes--eventually we'll work on them packing their own lunches. For now, it's way too messy and troublesome to have them do it. They're just not that great at cleaning up after themselves.)\

Second, School pictures--Seth's school picture was not that great. He was not thrilled this year about taking them in the first place, though, and when I broached the subject of retakes, well, let's just say that based on his attitude, I was pretty sure retakes wouldn't be any better. You can lead a horse to water . . . . So I'm sticking with the original and we'll all just have to laugh about it:

Just for comparison, here was his picture from one year ago, complete with shirt and tie that he picked out himself:

And here's his second pose from that session, just for good measure:

So stinkin' cute! 

For what it's worth, William looks a little bit possessed in his school picture, too:

And again for good measure, here he is one year ago:

And in the fall of 2011, when he was 5 and 1/2, the same age as Seth

Man, their pictures were so cute in preschool. What is it about elementary school photos that makes them smile so awkwardly? Regardless, I'm buying the pics and dutifully labeling each pack and filing them away. It's fun to see how much they've changed over the years. 

Rambly Parenty Stuff

So Seth is the kind of kid where if you tell him you're going to do something, you damn well better do it. If you don't, he will throw a fit of epic proportion and call you a liar.

Today, for example, we had an after-school plan. I was going to leave work at 4:45, pick William up from his friend's house, then pick Seth up from aftercare, then we were going to go to Subway, get dinner, and eat it in the car on the way back to Seth's school (totally Seth's idea--I wanted to eat at Subway, but whatever), so we could attend the Science Night program, which was all about nocturnal animals and featured a show about bats.

Well, the day progressed as days often do, and I didn't leave work until 5:00. And traffic was heavy. So I didn't get to William's friend's house until 5:45, and then I had go inside and chat with the mom and dad, and try not to look like I really just wanted to get the hell out of there, and by the time we left to pick up Seth, it was already 6:10. And the program started at 6:30. When I got to school and suggested to Seth that we go to Subway after the program, he freaked out. That was NOT the plan. No way, no how, not gonna happen. He was furious that we had to alter our plan and that he had to choose between being hungry or missing part of the activities.

William, meanwhile, didn't want to miss any of the program, so he started freaking out. They're both in tears (well, more like we're all three in tears, but I digress), which made me realize that they were both pretty hungry. So we got in the car, went to Subway, ate in the car on the way back to the school, and got back to the school in time to do 1 and 1/2 activities before the program started.

In the end they were fine. The drama was forgotten, as often happens with kids. Sometimes I try so hard to avoid the drama and confrontation, always forgetting how quickly it all passes. I forget that the tough lessons learned by a freak-out that gets you (the kid) nowhere, or even worse, has tough consequences imposed, are so worth me having to endure the freak-out. I feel like I have this visceral reaction to my kids being in distress, and I can't discern between real distress and character-building distress. Logically, I know the difference, but in the heat of the moment, all I see is my kid really, really upset. And I want to do anything to stop that. It's why I could never let my kids cry it out when they were babies. Not because I disagreed with the principal--it makes complete, logical sense to me--but because I just couldn't deal with the crying. We all feel that way about our kids--none of us like seeing our kids upset. But some parents are better at defining the boundaries and know what is best for our kids. I need to do a better job of stepping back and looking beyond the distress. It's so fleeting!

Hmmm--how I ended this post is not what I intended when I started it, but clearly, I needed to say that out loud. When I started, I thought I would talk about how Seth is very inflexible, and how I want to try to work with him to be a more flexible person. I don't know if that's a personality thing, or an age thing, or maybe a little of both. William is much more flexible and goes with the flow pretty easily. I think he was always that way, but maybe not. Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. This is what happens when you commit to posting every day!

Serious Gratitude

Since Seth started kindergarten in September, I have been commuting to work solo, which means I no longer have my HOV partner, which means I have to take the long way to work. Today, there was an accident on the long way to work, so in a very impulsive and last-minute decision, I turned onto the entrance ramp leading to the HOV-2 interstate, where I promptly found a police officer patiently waiting for HOV violators. Crap.

I pulled over before the officer even motioned to me. But in my complete panic, I pulled in behind him, so he had to direct me to pull in front of him. Oops! Once I was in front of him, he came to my window and very politely informed me that he was pulling me over because of the HOV requirement, which he could see that I already knew since I pulled over. I very remorsefully told him I was on auto-pilot, and that I normally have my son in the car with me (pointing to my back seat, with the two empty car seats strapped in). He took my license and then went to the car behind me, which he had pulled over right after I pulled over, and then he sat in his car, writing up tickets.

As I waited, I berated myself for being so stupid. I felt myself starting to tear up, and then willed myself not to cry. I avoided the gaze of all the drivers passing me on the entrance ramp--half of which, I may add, were solo drivers. Finally the officer came back and informed me that he was only giving me a warning. A warning!!! Praise be! He understood having a routine and being on autopilot and said it could easily happen to him. I seriously almost started crying out of relief. I have had a moment of feeling guilty that he wasn't writing me a ticket, when there were all these solo drivers that he could have pulled over and ticketed instead of giving me a pass. (I know, right? Huh?)

So today, I am deeply, deeply grateful to Officer #327, who found enough grace in his heart to let me off the hook. I hope he feels good about it. I will NEVER attempt to take the HOV route again when I am solo.

Drowning in Paper

Is it just me, or does everyone with kids in grade school have to deal with mountains and mountains of paper that come home every day? There are forms and flyers and announcements and notes and worksheets and artwork and more forms and Scholastic book catalogs and God-knows-how-many photo-copied pages of coloring sheets with things like "I AM A BUCKET FILLER" on them. I spend an inordinate amount of time sorting through paper and making a recycle pile and a save pile and a "to-do" pile and a "put on the calendar" pile. And each of those piles requires me to actively do something, which is a procrastinator and slob's worst nightmare. Make it stop! Our PTA went paperless this year, which is awesome. We get emails with announcements or info attached. And since I'm using Google calendar now, anyway, all I have to do is look at the attachment and add it to my Google calendar. The schools use Google calendar, too, so it's even easier to add things directly to my Google calendar. And yet, they still send paper home. I guess not everyone's one the Google train, huh?

Well, I guess I ought to go dig myself out of all these paper piles.

Girls' Weekend Was Worth the Break!

Well, I guess I didn't make it for NaBloPoMo, but 48 hours with 4 amazing women was soooo worth it. We had so much fun, doing nothing but eating and drinking. I can't wait to do it again! Of course, I'm exhausted. 'Cause, you know, drinking and eating is really hard. Actually, laughing that much really can wear a girl out. So I'm off to bed. But I will resume the regularly scheduled blogging tomorrow night. Thanks to Lindsay, Laura, Liz, and Maria! You guys give me so much to think about, so much to aspire to, and so much love!

My Outlook is Vastly Improving

Maybe it's because tonight was a good night--no yelling, no major fits, no fighting, decent dinner, lots of reading, some cuddling. Or maybe it's just because perspective can change a lot in a day (with the help of supportive comments and friends!). Oh, who am I kidding? I'm pretty sure it's because I'm getting on a plane in 11 hours BY MYSELF to spend 48 hours in Boston with 4 amazing women for a girls' weekend! Whatever the reason, I have to say, I feel pretty content right now. My suitcase is packed, the boys' lunches are made, I'm charging my Kindle, and I'm looking at a decent night's sleep.

With all of that in mind, tonight I'm thankful for Ed. Even though he doesn't love it when I go away (without him), I'm grateful that he's completely capable of taking care of the boys without me, and I don't have to do anything before I go. I don't have to prep meals or plan play dates or do laundry or write out a schedule or worry about anything. And I know that the boys will have a great weekend. And what's more, I'll actually come home to a house that will be neater than when I left it. If he left me with the kids all weekend, I know he would not be able to say the same! (About the house being neater than when he left it. LOL)

Even though I'll be out of town, I'm going to try my best to still blog tomorrow and Saturday. If it doesn't happen, though, I'm sure we can all overlook it. :-)

Introspection

I am in a very bad mood tonight. Not for any specific reason--well, not for any specific reason that I can talk about. Tanika wrote a very thoughtful post today about raising self-sufficient children, and Laura also wrote a post about implementing new rules in her house where her boys truly pitch in with household chores and learn to be self-sufficient and in the process, end up building skills and gaining confidence.

Yes to both of those of things! I want to do all of that. But oh my goodness--the kind of parent I want to be sometimes feels so far from the kind of parent I am.

Seth is already very much a go-getter when it comes to doing chores around the house. Of course, he always wants to get paid for helping out, but regardless, he takes a lot of pride in his accomplishments. He's very good at sweeping, he can fold clothes pretty well, he's good at making his bed and getting his room straightened up and things put away. He's an excellent sous chef in the kitchen. William, on the other hand, rarely takes any interest in doing anything around the house. It's not that he doesn't want to be helpful. It's just that when he's in his zone, focused on whatever it is he's doing, he does NOT want to switch gears and do anything else. And when he decides what he wants to do, he doesn't want to do anything else. It's hard to figure out what motivates him, or how to motivate him to do what we want him to do. With him, negative consequences are about the only things that work. (As in, if you don't clear you plate from the table, you will not get dessert.)

The thing is, William is just like me. JUST like me. And Seth is just like Ed. Poor William. I don't know how to motivate myself, so I have no idea how to help William. Incentives work great for Seth. They barely work at all for William. Or for me. I've been reading How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. I both love and hate reading books like this. I hate them because I usually feel like I've already screwed things up. I love them because there is hope! Maybe all is not lost! I also want to read The Power of Habit. And Willpower. 

Anyway, I'm rambling now. I guess I'm just struggling to figure out how to change myself and to change my habits. I feel like I've been struggling with this my whole life! Where does my personality end and my habits begin? I wish I knew. Maybe this is a little too much introspection for one evening. If I figure something out after reading all these books, I'll let you know! In the meantime, I'm definitely going to keep working on getting the boys to take on more responsibilities around the house. When are they old enough to scoop out the cat litter? . . . 

Oh yeah--I almost forgot to post what I am grateful for today. Hmmmm. I'm not in a grateful mood, although how can I not feel grateful for every.single.thing I have and every single struggle I don't have when I read about the typhoon damage in the Philippines? I am thankful for heat and electricity and a comfortable bed and warm clothes and that I know where all my family and friends are tonight. 

Grateful Cliches

I know that it's kind of a cliche to be thankful for a gorgeous sunset. But y'all--seriously. The sunset today was GORGEOUS! I was hustling home to try and pick up the boys in time to get to the library for the Ruff Readers slots that I had signed both boys up for, and as I headed west on Rt. 50, I was blown away. I didn't even mind getting stopped at every.single.light on the way. And on top of that awesomeness, we made it to the library just in time.

So yeah, I'm thankful for the sunset. I'm not thankful that I left my phone at home so I didn't get to capture the beautiful sunset, or my kids reading to a beautiful golden retriever named Sammy. But that's pretty much the story of my life. No point in regretting it too much. Just because I didn't get a picture doesn't mean it didn't happen. :-)

Doctors Appointments and Feeling Grateful

I had the day off today in honor of our nation's veterans, but Ed and the boys did not. Somehow, I managed to enjoy my day to myself and got a few things done to boot. The most important of those things was making a few long-neglected but very important doctor's appointments. Since 2009, my dentist has been giving me referrals to the oral surgeon to have them check out my wisdom teeth. At least one of them is impacted (my wisdom teeth, not the oral surgeons), and although they're not causing me any pain (again, my wisdom teeth, not the oral surgeons--yet, anyway), I'd like to get them taken out. So finally, four years later, I made the appointment with the oral surgeon. Next on my list was a dermatologist appointment to have an all-over body scan. Check! And last, but certainly not least, I scheduled my first mammogram. Actually, what prompted me to finally take care of all these appointments was Amy Robach's announcement that she has breast cancer. Pretty crazy. But really, not that crazy. I'd actually be crazy to wait another day to get checked out. And in honor of that appointment, I give you these. This cracks me up every time I see it!

Switching gears. in thinking about what I'm thankful for today, (besides health insurance) of course I am deeply indebted to the men in women who are serving now and who have served in our nation's armed services. These individuals and their families make huge sacrifices--physical, emotional, logistical, financial--to ensure that we all have this amazing standard of living and these ideals that we truly take for granted--freedom to believe whatever we want, to talk about whatever we want, to read whatever we want, to go wherever we want, to disagree with our government. I'm not particularly patriotic, but from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you!

Fall Baseball

I realized that I never gave a full briefing on how our fall baseball season went. As I had mentioned (or maybe I didn't mention?), I ended up co-coaching William's fall baseball team. It was fantastic! The kids were great, the parents were great, William did really well and improved with every game. We won 5 games and lost 3. I don't necessarily want to coach again if William decides he wants to play in the spring, but I'll volunteer to be the team mom (which is essentially what I did, although I was out on the field with the players during practices, throwing to them sometimes, and working with them on running drills or fielding, and during games I was usually the 3rd base or 1st base coach). And if William decides he doesn't want to play baseball in the spring, that would be fine, too. Seth has already said he wants to play soccer, not t-ball. So we'll see if that sticks.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures that another mom took. It's a good thing, because I wouldn't have a single picture of the season if it weren't for her!

As for what I'm grateful for today, it's hard to choose just one, but I'm especially grateful for Seth playing so well by himself all day. Seth is our extrovert, so it's rare for him to spend a whole lot of time playing entirely by himself. He usually requires lots of interaction and "help." But today was one of those rare days. He played in his room for a long time (it helps that he has his new bedroom set-up) and played in the playroom for a long time, setting up his blocks and Playmobil pirate ship and army guys. He did this while Ed and I made America's Test Kitchen's Favorite Chili. It's been a long time since Ed and I cooked together in the kitchen. It was fun, and the chili was fantastic (both boys liked it!), and I think we all had a really good day. I'm also very grateful that Seth has inherited Ed's work ethic and penchant for neatness and organization. In addition to playing by himself quite a bit today, he also helped Ed sweep the patio, and he made his bed (his loft bed, mind you--no easy task!) and straightened up his room, and he helped our neighbor sweep their patio. That's some kid, huh?

Grateful for Awesome Neighbors

If there is such a thing as a day that is both lazy and productive, then today was that day. We started our day with the delivery of Seth's bedroom set. He's now the proud owner of a new low-loft bed, dresser, desk, and bookshelf. I spent the better part of the morning putting everything back into his room, organizing his dresser and desk, sorting through clothes and books. I never even took a shower. Once his room was back together, we had to make a Target run. I had to buy new sheets and a desk tray and some other odds and ends. Somehow (we all know how) we ended up spend over an hour and a half at Target. No one was complaining.

Back home, I did laundry and the boys played with our next-door-neighbors. When they all play together, inevitably, the older boys end up doing something that upsets Seth. That was the case today, so after a tearful episode, he left them alone and joined me in folding laundry and watching old episodes of America's Test Kitchen. I LOVE that he loves watching cooking shows with me. After watching a show, we decided to make pumpkin pie. Seth is pretty awesome in the kitchen. He can crack an egg like nobody's business, and he wields a mean whisk. After the pie was in the oven, Seth went back to play with William and the neighbors. Eventually it was dinner time, but the boys were still at the neighbors. They had pitched a tent in the yard and were having a blast, whatever they were doing.

I had dinner all ready but nobody was home. Eventually Ed came in and he and I decided to eat dinner by ourselves. I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? I can't remember the last time Ed and I ate dinner together at home, just the two of us. I had total flashbacks to when we were first married and I used to cook dinner for just the two of us. Now I look back and think, why the hell did I bother? We could have just had cereal or cheese and crackers and been in bed by 9:00 p.m. every night!!! Anyway, dinner was nice, and Seth finally showed up asking if he could eat dinner at Jack and Charlie's house. So I took their plates over to Jack and Charlie's, and the boys ate their dinner over there. After a little while, Seth came back over and asked for dessert. So I took our pumpkin pie over there to share with them.

So this leads me to what I'm grateful for today--awesome neighbors! William and Seth love Jack and Charlie (Jack is 11 and Charlie is 9) and for the most part, they all play together so well. Jack and Charlie's parents were separated when we moved into our house over two years ago and got divorced this past spring. Their dad kept the house and their mom lives in an apartment nearby. But the awesome part of that whole situation is that Ed and I really love both parents, and we get along so well with both of them. And they get along with each other, so it makes it awesome for everyone. It's so nice have neighbors who we can depend on, who will help us out in a pinch, who treat our kids well and whose kids we like almost as much as our own. (And sometimes even more!) We definitely lucked out when we bought our house.

Movie Night

Tonight's feature

Today I'm grateful for Movie Night. We do movie night most Fridays. Sometimes we all watch something as a family. (It's actually rare that all four of us watch something together, though. Ed hates most kids' movies.) Sometimes our next-door-neighbors Jack and Charlie come over and the boys have a "boys' night." I usually make popcorn for them, and they usually sneak some candy from the pantry. Some nights, William and Seth go over to Jack and Charlie's, and Ed and I get a little bit of time to ourselves. Tonight, Ed went over to Jack and Charlie's house to have beers with their Dad. (After their dad helped Ed move Seth's old dresser downstairs, which someone is coming to buy tomorrow, thanks to Craigslist, which I'm also grateful for!) I don't know how much longer "move night" will be cool, how much longer the boys will want to hang out with us, at home. And I don't know if they'll remember this as a fun family tradition. I imagine that as they get older, we'll tweak things, or some other tradition will take its place. For now, I'm going to appreciate the simplicity of this tradition and how it makes the boys happy and enjoy it while it lasts.

Right Now I Am . . .

Wishing I hadn't committed to NaBloPoMo.

Blogging because I committed to NaBloPoMo.

Thinking that I will look back and be glad that I committed to NaBloPoMo.

Wanting to curl up in bed and go to sleep.

Ignoring the three piles on my desk that need to be sorted and purged.

Learning about optimal Twitter times.

Planning what we want to do this weekend.

Apologizing to my babysitter, who I forgot to leave the key for today. (Yes--I know it's supposed to be "for whom I forgot to leave to the key" but that sounds stuffy and haughty to me. So I'm leaving it my way.)

Kicking myself because not only did I forget to leave a key for the babysitter, but I forgot to put a note in Seth's folder that he should ride the bus home today. He went to daycare.

Smiling at Ed, because he came to the rescue and drove home to open the house for William and the babysitter.

Considering signing up for Curves near my house. I was a member about 12 years ago and really liked the program, and it fit my lifestyle well. Of course, that was before kids.

Getting ready for Seth's new bedroom furniture, arriving on Saturday. He's getting a low loft, dresser, bookshelf, and desk.

Looking forward to reading Ender's Game tonight, if I can stay awake.

Feeling grateful that William gets so absorbed into topics and shows so much intellectual curiosity. This week, he's into megaladon sharks, and he's been watching various videos about them and he checked books out from the library on them and he's writing his own book about them and he's drawing pictures of them. It might not last long, but then he'll be on to the next cool topic. I love it!

Two Hours I'm Not Getting Back

I just spent about two hours trying to remove some malware from my computer that I accidentally installed yesterday. I was trying to figure out how to read an epub on my Kindle and somehow ended up installing this awful program that hijacks your browsers and redirects your search engines to this heavily advertised horribleness (it's search.conduit, in case you've heard of it. Nasty!). In my first attempt to find a fix, I came across SpyHunter, which will scan your PC for free and then show all the horrible spyware and malware on your PC, but when it's time to clean it up, you have to pay. So then I searched for ratings of SpyHunter and it got terrible ratings, so then I bought McAfee something-or-other, which was highly rated, but only after I downloaded and installed it did I realize that it doesn't clean up spyware and malware already on your PC. It only prevents you from downloading new spyware and malware. So then I did some more Google searching and found a free program called adwcleaner and I installed that and that worked. Phew!

Then I tried to uninstall SpyHunter from my PC and that would not uninstall. So then I had to Google again to figure out how to uninstall it. And I found Microsoft FixIt, which I installed, and it totally worked. So now my PC feels clean and protected and I am sighing a huge sigh of relief.

And that leads me to what I am grateful for today--Google! I know Google has its detractors and it's becoming massive and invasive and there is no such thing as privacy anymore, but OH MY GOD!!! How did we ever figure anything out before Google???

And now that I've been staring at my computer for the last two hours, it's time to go to the store to buy milk and bread and fruit, and then I'm going to read, and then I'm going to bed.

Grateful for my Kindle

I LOVE being able to download books from my local library onto my Kindle without ever leaving my house. I love that I can put a book on hold, and I get an email when it's ready, and when it's due back, it gets returned without me having to do anything. I will NEVER have an overdue book! There are, of course, many books that are not available in digital format, and I still check out books the old-fashioned way. But my Kindle pretty much tops my list of the most versatile and wonderful device I've ever owned. I'd probably rather have an iPad, but for less than half the cost, I think the Kindle is a WAY better value.

That is all!

Soccer

Seth played soccer this fall and he loved it. He was really into it, and toward the end of the season, he even understood the concept of working with his teammates to get the ball down the field toward their goal. (Of course, understanding the concept and executing the concept are two different things. LOL) Saturday was his last game and the weather was gorgeous! I finally remembered to bring the camera and to actually use it.

A little pep talk for his teammates:

Here he's talking strategy:

Taking the ball down field:

Showing off his team picture and medal after the game:

There's a tree at the soccer field that Seth loves to climb. After the games, he sits on a branch while he eats his snack and drinks his juice. Ed's parents came to the last game, and Ed's dad talked about how he loved to climb trees as a kid. (I guess Seth comes by it honestly.) He just couldn't resist climbing this one, too, so Ed decided to get in on the action:

Seth wants to play soccer again in the spring, so I guess we'll be juggling between baseball and soccer again. (And Taekwondo!) Good stuff!

And now for what I'm grateful for today. It's really tough to choose just one thing, but as I stared out my kitchen window this morning while getting ready for work, I couldn't help but feel grateful for this view:

The tree is at its peak colors and the weather has been so gorgeous the past few days and I love our porch. It all made me feel very happy!

I'll Take What I Can Get

I got my extra hour today in the form of groggily watching the clock turn from 5-something a.m. to 6-while listening to three 7-year-old boys go downstairs to watch TV and argue over whose turn it was to pick a show, while also listening to our cat meow every 3 seconds while clawing the side of the bed--MY side of the bed. Good stuff.

I really can't complain, though. We had a great weekend, topped by a fantastic visit with Heather and Ben. Following her day's adventure with Ben in DC (while I ran from Taekwondo to a soccer game to lunch with the in-laws to a birthday party), we took the boys (plus a friend of William's who also came over for a sleepover) to McDonald's Playland and then set them up with Home Alone 2 (that's Lost in New York). They all slept in William's room, but didn't fall asleep until close to 11:00 p.m. At one point, as Heather and I chatted in the playroom (we actually got some awesome one-on-one time to hang out!) we heard all 3 of them trying to quietly come downstairs. We asked what they were doing, and apparently, they were coming up with a plan of how to come downstairs as early as possible in the morning without waking us up. They even drew a map:

Their plan, however, failed miserably.

But, that's to be expected, I guess, when you're talking 7-year-old boys. After a birthday party from 12-2 today, William was WIPED OUT. I found him asleep on the couch in the living room around 4:00 p.m. So that is what I'm most grateful today--that his tired little body fell asleep. He was a little grumpy when he woke up, but we had a good family dinner, had lots of time to read before bed, and both boys were asleep at 8:00 p.m. It would have been nicer (for both of us) if William had gotten that bit of sleep on the front end of the day. But I'll take what I can get. And

Tired But Happy

Today was a full day that started with the kids waking up before the sun came up. I was SO mad at them. We have to drag them out of bed at 7 a.m. on weekday mornings, with them kicking and screaming and putting up such a fuss. And then, on SATURDAY morning, when we can all sleep in, they're up before the sun. And not only up before the sun, they're waking ME up before the sun. I was seriously bent. At 6:00 a.m., I told them in my meanest Mommy voice that on Sunday morning, they were not to make a SINGLE peep until it was 7:00 a.m. And then Seth said, "I don't even know what that means, Mom." Oh yeah--he hasn't learned how to tell time yet.

So then I went back in my room, only to have Ed tell me that my clock was an hour early (have no idea how that happened--I didn't set it that way), and it was actually 7:00. I basically lit into my kids for waking up at 7:00, which is actually when I want them to wake up. Oops.

So this brings me to what I'm grateful for today--an extra hour tomorrow, to do with whatever I want. I realize, of course, that my kids will probably wake up at 5:00 a.m. But I will be okay with that. I always say that I wish the day were longer, so here's my one chance to get what I ask for.

I'm also grateful for cupcakes.

NaBloPoMo--Gratitude

Yep--I'm going to attempt to participate in NaBloPoMo. (National Blog Posting Month) Hoping it will kick-start me back into the habit of blogging in the evenings. I'm off to a not-so-great start, seeing as how it's 11:30 on Friday night, November 1, and I still haven't posted. But I have a good excuse! Heather is here, visiting with us so she and Ben can take advantage of some of DC's awesome free museums.

And I'm posting now, and that counts, right? And since I know I won't feel like posting something every single day, I've decided to participate in the November Gratitude project and post something I'm thankful for every day of November.

So, I'm grateful for Internet friends who have turned into real-life friends!