George is Back!

This past weekend was fairly quiet overall.  Saturday morning we did go to the kids school for a really fun event.  They had a holiday shop where kids can go in and shop for their siblings or parents or whoever and each gift is less than $5.  Then it gets wrapped up before they ever come out.  The boys had so much fun doing this and I think it will make Christmas morning very special for them to get gifts from each other that they picked out and pay for themselves.  The event also had various crafts and activities for the kids and a raffle and silent auction.  We were excited to find out the next day that we won a 4 person VIP pass, including a pre game and post game "experience" and a signed soccer ball from DC United.  So, we look forward to going to that next season.

Then, Logan had a birthday party for one of the girls in our play group.  He had a blast doing that.  I was a bit embarrassed to show up at the birthday party with him in full (tiger) makeup.  When he said he wanted to get it done at the boys school, I completely wasn't thinking about the birthday party he was going straight to!  Oh well!

The rest of the day was spent running errands and doing things around the house.

Sunday morning the kids were super excited to see that their elf, George, was making an appearance again this year!  George brought them donuts and presents with Christmas PJ's in it!  He also wrote a letter reminding them to be good.

Sunday evening we brought dinner and dessert over to Aunt Meghan, who was recovering from foot surgery.  Without sports right now our weekends are relatively calm, which is a nice change of pace.

Visit to Santa

I took the younger two to the mall today to pick up a few gifts and we decided to see Santa too.  Leah was unsure the whole time in line, but was hanging in there because of the promise that Santa had lollipops.  Well, as soon as she was placed on Santa's lap she started crying!  But, those make for the best Santa pictures anyway!  Logan did great, he was super excited to see Santa and told him very quietly that he wanted a Max the Tow Truck.

Here are a couple other photos of these two recently…

Thanksgiving break…(and Loggie takes home turtles)

Logan was so excited last Monday when I picked him up from school because he got to take home the class turtles.  They aren't real, they are stuffed turtles, in case you were wondering.  Their names are Shelby and Shelton.  Logan got to have them all week.  He took them to Thanksgiving dinners, he took them to the movie theater when Dennis took all the boys on Friday, and he slept with them each night.  He had so much fun filling out their journal with all the adventures they did over the week.

At the movies…not a great pic!

Thanksgiving break was really nice.  Besides taking the kids to the movie, we decorated for Christmas. I convinced Dennis that since we were staying put for the holidays and even hosting my family for Christmas dinner that it was time to get a real tree and not pull out our pathetic skinny artificial one.  He reluctantly agreed and we had fun picking one out on Saturday and decorating on Sunday.  I always love pulling out all the ornaments that have so many memories attached to them.  It is always a fun day for the kids too!  So far Leah has stayed away from all the ornaments, hopefully it continues!  She loves when it is lit up though!

THANKSGIVING 2014

WE ARE THANKFUL…

We are thankful for so much in our lives.  In all the craziness of this season in our life, we forget to just pause and realize how much we really have and how blessed we are.  I am so glad that at least on Thanksgiving we take a moment to pause and realize, wow, we really do have so much!

I am thankful for an amazing husband, who really works so hard.  Last night he left the house at 6 am and got home at 7:20pm, just in time to kiss the kids goodnight and brush a couple kids teeth.  I wish he was around more, but I know he is working so hard to provide for us and I really admire his work ethic and hope that is passed down to our kids.  I also know that him working so hard has enabled me to stay home and raise the kids and me staying home has also helped him to do what he wants to do in his career.

I am thankful for my kids, who are kind, funny and bright.  Even though some days are rough and many days are so busy we don't have a second to breathe, they really make life so enjoyable!

I am also very thankful to not have to travel for the holidays anymore!!!  While the adventures were fun as a family, holidays are so much less stressful to not have to pack for 6 people, and fly or drive with 4 kids!  This was such a nice Thanksgiving, to be able to sleep in our own beds and yet still see almost all of our families!

We did the usual…spent lunch at Grandma Bridgers house.  We had an amazing meal!  Leah loved the dog.  She is turning out to be the only big animal lover in our family of 6.

We then went to Julie and Phil's for dinner and to see my side of the family.  Since Julie and Phil go to his family's for lunch, Holly and my Mom were the ones who did most of the cooking,  The kids had fun as always, how can you not when there are 16 kids running around!

I was horrible about taking pics this year!

Champions…

Colin ended his football season with an incredible nail biting final win in the finals, to go undefeated!  It was a great game in a high school stadium.  They even announced the kids names at the beginning and each time they made a play.  It was so fun!  The jury is still out on if he will play again next year, it depends on the day what he wants to do.  I think he will have a better idea after he plays soccer this spring.  Regardless, it was a great season, and great group of kids.  They had an end of the season party at a local gym, which was tons of fun too!

Family.

I use this blog for many reasons…One is to keep track of all the funny things my kids say, another is to remember all the memories we have and so my kids could look back on them when they get older.  The last reason is as a journal for myself.  This post is more of a personal journal entry.  I keep this blog private so that I can use it for personal journaling as well as for sharing kids pictures.  I like to look back and read my own thoughts on things at different stages in my life, so that is what this is for.  Feel free to skip this entry for more interesting kid updates…

One thing I am learning as I get older is that "Family" means different things to different people.  I am realizing that people are really shaped by their upbringing and who they are surrounded with.  The first person I met who had divorced parents was in college.  That is so strange to me now, to think that it took me that long to be exposed to the concept of divorce.  I feel like my children have been exposed to broken families so much younger and I have had to talk to them about what that means so much younger.

When I look at my youth, I was surrounded by friends whose parents are still married to this date.  Every friend I have had growing up, through college, still has married parents (the obvious exception being my husband:-).  All my parents friends that they have had since their 30's are still married.  Why is this, when 50% end in divorce?  In my own family, I don't have a single aunt, uncle, grandparent, cousin, etc…who is divorced.  The only divorce in my family is my brother in law who was married prior to meeting to my sister.  I always thought this was because of our Catholic upbringing.  But, not all my relatives are practicing Catholics and I can't say I was brought up in a very strict Catholic home.  I think that it is more than religious views.  I think that it is a general belief system of what marriage means and what family means.

What really got me thinking about this was a conversation I had with my Arabic Grandmother a month ago.  So much of my values come from my Arabic background.  There, the concept of family and putting family first above all else is so huge.  They also believe in a strong extended family.  When you get married you aren't just in words part of the family, you literally are one of the family, and treated no different.  Daughter in laws will live with their mother in law and stick around even if the husband dies.  I think when you have this view point it takes out the option of divorce, because just like you wouldn't divorce your parents, why would you divorce your husband/wife, they are your family.  For better or worse.  Divorce is just not an option or something even thought about.

I am realizing as I get older that in many American homes, they don't see the married spouse as really part of the family.  They are still kept at a distance or maybe treated different.  My parents don't do this.  Dennis is very much part of our family.  They spend the exact same on him for Birthdays and Christmas as they do for me.  My brother in laws are all very close with each other and with Dennis and we all get a long as one big family.  We all vacation together, Dennis has poker nights and my Uncle's, Dad, cousins, etc…will all come.  He literally is one of the family.  The way many Americans households work, where it isn't like this, it so much easier to divorce, because those relationships between the person and the family just isn't there and the spouses themselves don't see each other as true family.

I hope that despite all the exposure my kids get to different types of families that they are able to hold on to the importance of marriage and family.  I want them to choose wisely when they marry, knowing that marriage is forever.  I want them to view their spouse as their family and take divorce off the table.  I want them to view their in laws as their family and consider the whole family when they think about whether or not to marry someone. I am not sure how to pass these values on to them and it is something as a parent I really struggle with.  How do I instill in them all the values I want to pass down, when they are surrounded on t.v, in school, etc by the complete opposite?

I also want my kids to be close with each other as I am with my siblings.  We hang out all the time because we genuinely want to.  I spend a lot of time talking to my kids about "brothers stick together" and "brothers take care of each other", and I can honestly say that at least now they are all really good friends.  Sure they argue during a game of football, but they also play with each other daily and have similar interests.  I know they really love each other and I hope that continues.  I hope they always want to be a part of each other lives and that even when they are married they come together as my family does.

It is interesting as you get older to realize how different people and events in your life have shaped who you are and what you believe.  You don't realize when your younger that basic beliefs aren't shared by all and even now I have moments where I realize wow this isn't something everyone thinks about or feels a certain way about. It is also very scary as a parent to realize that so many people other than yourself will shape your child into who they are and what they believe.  As somewhat of a control freak that really scares me.

Parenthood is full of so much self doubt and I am starting to think of parenthood as holding your breath and waiting 18-25 years to see how it all pans out and then you can let it out.  I hope that when I do let out that big breath that I can be proud of both who they have become and also of myself and the job I did.

Leah's Doctor's Appointment and Good News for Colin.

Monday, Leah had her doctors visit.  She is 21 lbs 8 oz (about 10%) and 33in (between 25-50%).  So, she is growing well.  She got one shot and barely cried.  Here are some pics I never posted…

Tuesday we got a letter that Colin got into the gifted program here, so he was very excited about that. Now we are just waiting to find out what day he will officially start, as he will get bused to a different school on Fridays for the gifted program.

Tuesday, I also went to Colin and Evan's classes for American Education Week.  In Evan's class the kids did various crafts related to Native Americans.  The parents that were there helped them at the various stations.  I helped with a glitter station.  I then went to Colin's class.  They were doing various activities with pumpkins.  I stayed with Colin's group the whole time.  They had to make predictions on their pumpkins weight and height and amount of seeds, etc.  And then find the actual.  They then painted and decorated their pumpkins into various literary characters.  Both classes were a lot of fun and I was grateful that Dennis could work from home for the morning so that I wouldn't need to bring Logan and Leah with me.

Wednesday, Dennis worked from home again, this time all day, so that I could attend Logan's preschool Thanksgiving feast.  It was right during the time Leah would be napping and the boys would be getting home from school, so I needed him home to let the boys in after they got home.  Logan then requested that Dennis go to his school instead (since he rarely gets a chance to attend these events), and luckily Dennis was able to get away.  So I stayed home with the other kids which killed me by the way, I hate missing anything at their schools), while Dennis went to the Thanksgiving feast.  Logan's class sang songs and they had a great meal from what I hear!

Leah Turns 2.

I have been dreading this moment.  The day my youngest baby turns 2.  Well let's just say I pretty much dread every big day in her life, because I just don't want her to get any older.  I am definitely missing having a baby in the house.

But, since I can't slow down time, I guess this day had to come.  Leah at 2 is so many things.  She is sassy, independent, funny, and dramatic...oh how she is dramatic!  She is also sweet and loving too.  She will cuddle for a bit, but for the most part she is on the go.  She loves to climb furniture and go flying down the stairs on her belly.

Leah loves sucking her thumb and carrying around her lulu (her lovie blanket).  She likes soft things and will insist on all 3 blankets at bedtime.  She likes to play with her brothers and she loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she will ask for Minnie Mouse as soon as she wakes up.

Leah is a pretty good eater though like all kids is unpredictable with how much she will eat.  Sometimes she will have 3 servings and other times she will barely touch her food.  Her favorites are bananas, green beans, zucchini, asparagus, brussel sprouts, pineapple, grapes and melon and any kind of sauce, especially ketchup and ranch.  She is not a huge fan of meat in general, but sometimes will surprise us and eat it all up.  Usually she will eat the stuff the boys won't eat and won't eat the stuff they love.  Leah also has a love for lollipops.

We had a Minnie Mouse Birthday party for her.  She LOVED the big Minnie balloon and carried it around the whole time.  She also loved a soft minnie blanket she got and a skirt that was so soft.  Leah is playing most with her Minnie toy.

 We had just family over, since just immediate family pretty much fills up the house.  Dennis made the Minnie head for the cake and did an awesome job.

One quick note, I spent Thursday night with her in the ER after she fell from her chair and hit her head.  She wasn't acting herself and then after baths she started to vomit.  After a few attempts of putting her to bed and then her vomiting, we called the doctor and were told to go to the ER.  We were trying to avoid it because of the costs, but unfortunately we had to go.  She threw up a couple more times while I was there, but the CT scan turned out ok and after a couple doses of Zofran she stopped vomiting and was able to go home.  Luckily, all was well by the party on Saturday.