Snow and Food Pantries and Chippy and Some Sickness for Good Measure

It's been a busy, but not altogether unpleasant, few weeks at Casa Hahn. The worst of it was me getting sick on Sunday and Monday this week. (Well, the worst of it was actually that on my sick day, school was cancelled due to freezing rain and sleet, so instead of peace and time to rest, I got to deal with the boys all day, but I digress.) But it seems to just be a cold and hopefully I'm on the mend.

The best of it was the snow day we got on Tuesday. We only got about two inches of snow, but school was canceled (again) and my work was canceled, and I was feeling better (yay!) so we met some friends at a local hill for an hour and a half of sledding. Can't hardly beat that!

On Saturday, the boys and I volunteered at a local food pantry. When we got there, we made bags of groceries by following a list of items and retrieving them from the shelves. Each bag got a bag of rice, a box of pasta, a can of tomato sauce, canned soup, 4 types of canned vegetables, etc. etc. The boys enjoyed picking out the items and following the list. After we filled up lots of bags, all the volunteers listened to the director talk about what fresh produce and specialty items they were offering this day. Then we went upstairs to meet with the people who would be receiving the food. We introduced ourselves and asked the people which of the fresh produce items they wanted, and what other items they might want. There were several different cereals to choose from, milk, sweet or salty snacks, and sometimes there were extra things they wanted, like tea bags or flour. If the pantry had those items, we could give them away. Once we had their list, we went back downstairs to put together their groceries, and then we brought everything to them. The boys did not enjoy this part as much. It was a little uncomfortable for them to be around so many strangers. I'm not sure if it made a strong impression on them or not. There were families there who needed food--with kids their own age. But I'm not sure that they fully comprehended what it must be like to go to a food pantry to get food, rather than going to the grocery store. I plan to volunteer at the food pantry again, both on my own and with the boys. Because this food pantry is so open to allowing kids to volunteer directly, it is very popular, and you have to sign up in advance to help out. But I think a few times a year is a good goal for the boys. I'm sure if they're exposed to it enough, they'll begin to understand it better.

What they're much more excited about these days is Chippy, our Elf on the Shelf. Chippy is not nearly as organized this year as he was last year. This year, he's more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants elf. But it seems to be working out. On his first day he brought Playmobil Advent calendars for the boys. They are totally into Playmobil right now, so these were a big hit.

Other highlights have been getting hung up in a pretty fierce battle against the army guys, bringing a huge box for the boys to play in, tee-peeing the Christmas tree, and putting underwear in our stockings.

Last night, Chippy got out the boys' Rainbow Loom and made little candy cane and snowflake charms. I was way more impressed with this effort than the boys were.

Apparently, the boys have no idea that after a long night of flying to the North Pole to report to Santa, coming back home to weave rubber bands into cute little shapes is kind of a pain in the ass. But whatever! I'm sure Chippy is having lots of fun.

I can't believe there are only two weeks 'till Christmas. I still have some Christmas shopping to finish up. And we still have to take the boys to the mall to see Santa. On Sunday we're having the neighborhood kids over to decorate gingerbread houses. And we have our neighborhood holiday party later that evening. No one said the Christmas season was easy!

For now I plan to help Chippy find the Polar Express train to set up around the Christmas Tree and then I'm going to bed. All this holiday cheer makes me tired.

Growing Up

Today William came home from school with another kid's phone number scribbled on a piece of paper. He said they were working on a project idea and he really needed to call his friend on the phone. After dinner, I let him call his friend, but the voice mail came on. William hung up, but wanted to try calling again. So I helped him write out the message he wanted to leave on voice mail. He called back and then carefully read his message. "Hi. This is William Hahn calling for Conner. Can you please have him call me? My phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX."

A little while later, the phone rang, and it was William's friend. I handed him the phone and he proceeded to talk to his buddy for more than 20 minutes. I finally told him he needed to wrap it up so we could get ready for bed. Turns out, they were just talking about something they've dreamed up about helping NASA make Jupiter's moons ready for habitation. (?!?)

Regardless of what they wanted to talk about, William was so excited to talk to his friend on the phone. I could tell that he felt so grown up dialing the phone himself and then leaving a message. The ginormous smile on his face as he hung up the phone after talking to his friend said it all. It's a small thing that probably doesn't count for much, but man--why does it feel like a major milestone? My baby is growing up!

He's Baaaaaaack!

Well, I guess my attempt at NaBloPoMo was a failure. But I posted a LOT more than I have been, and that counts for something, right?

Thanksgiving was lovely, with family, great food, lots of laughter and smiles and even some relaxing. The boys loved being around their cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles. They were sad to see everyone go. Everyone left on Saturday morning, which gave us the rest of the weekend to recover. And this morning, the boys woke us up with squeals of delight when they finally noticed that Chippy, our scout elf, had returned.

He brought each of the boys a Playmobil Advent calendar, which was really quite generous and, in hindsight, a bit over the top. But Chippy probably just got caught up in the season a bit. Regardless, he also left the boys a letter in which he explained that Santa said the boys have been pretty good this year, so Chippy might not need to come check on them every day. Brilliant, right?

And since Chippy arrived, the boys decided that we needed to go ahead and get our Christmas decorations out. Seth "decorated" our living room while I worked on our playroom mantel. I think I'm going to leave the living room as is. I had these big red bows that I haven't actually used in years, and Seth found them and placed one on each of the living room chairs and three along the back of the sofa. He was quite pleased with his efforts, so who am I to move things around? We haven't gotten our tree, yet, (Still debating whether or not to go artificial--I love the real thing! But completely see the appeal of an artificial tree.) but we'll probably get it one night this week. We'll stick to our tradition of grabbing dinner after work and then heading to Home Depot to pick out a $35 tree.

Even though this fall has blown by in a blur of school and sports and holidays, I'm excited that Christmas is here. I'm laying off the list of activities and the pressure to "experience" the joy of the season this year. I'm going to try to focus instead on the joy of giving. In years past, I haven't really engaged the boys in picking out the gifts we give to others. I mean, I've involved them in a rather perfunctorily way, but this year, I want them to really take ownership of the gifts they give and I want them to really enjoy giving to others. I'm not sure that I can pull this off, but I'm going to try. So, let the season begin!