The Anatomy of a Good Story

I aspire to be a good writer and story teller someday. I think maybe I'm a better story teller because I have to use facial expressions and hand gestures to get my point across--very difficult on the printed page. I'm not good at making up stories, though. I admire novelists like Karen Kingsbury who can think of an entire series, including characters and plots, on a plane trip home from somewhere. I'm really better at embellishing things that actually happened. My husband calls this exaggerating. I call it making a dull story a bit more interesting.

Tonight Big Sissy was desperately trying to tell her daddy a story while he was brushing Little Sissy's teeth. I was in the other room trying to get the baby to sleep, but I could hear that she was talking and no one was listening. I always have mommy guilt and this fear that my kids are going to end up in counseling because their parents had too many kids too close together and no one gets heard. So...I asked if I could hear her story. I really did want to hear it. Here's the story.

CJ: One time I was laying on the air vent cuddling with one of my sleeping friends...
Me: Which one?
CJ: I don't remember. It was one that I slept with every night, but not Dog Dog with the blue sweater or Dog Dog with the pink sweater.
Me: Was it Scarfy? You used to always sleep with Scarfy and the 2 Dog Dogs.
CJ: No, Mom. I wasn't a baby. I was 3.
Me: OK. So what happened while you were cuddling with your sleeping friend?
CJ: Nothing.
Me: Isn't there more to the story?
CJ: No. That's it. I was cuddling with my sleeping friend on the air vent one time, but I don't remember which one it was.
Me: OK. Good story.

Maybe I should have let her tell the counselor that story. Just kidding. Note to self: Never start with the punch line. Then people are always a little disappointed at the end. That's all. There's no more to this story. As a disclaimer, we do keep our house warm. She doesn't have to lay on the air vent to keep warm. She just likes to be REALLY warm in the mornings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I woke up thankful this morning. It IS Thanksgiving, but I often wake up thankful. Our family is healthy (besides colds. Nothing life threatening), I have a sweet husband who takes good care of me and lets me stay home with our kids. We have a warm house (with a basement even. That's a bonus.) We have a wonderful extended family who loves us, and we get to see all of them this weekend (except my brother. We'll miss him!!!!) I have good friends who love me despite the fact that I can't put as much time into cultivating those relationships as I would like to right now. I have a good church home. We have food to eat.

I faithfully read another blog who encouraged us to also express thanks for things that we don't actually feel thankful for, knowing that God is working all things for our good. That's not so easy because it's not warm and fuzzy, but here are a few. I'm thankful for the years of infertility because it has birthed a desire to adopt in my heart and has made me sensitive to the pain of others. I'm thankful for financial stress because it makes me trust God more (wow, that was hard). I'm thankful for this time of living away from family because it makes me appreciate our time together and depend on my husband. I'm thankful for our new president-elect because the Church needed a reminder about our mission on earth. It is our mission and not government's.

It's a good day, and the Lord has made it. Let us rejoice and be glad!!!

Pretend Play

Kids play what they know about--or think they know about. My kids play Mother's Day Out, church, library, grocery store, going to Grandma's house, and having babies. I'm sorry if this offends you, but I think it's hilarious. Beth, they name all of their babies Baby Ty.

Big Sissy's Thankful List

One thing I'm really thankful for is MOPS. No, not mops, although my husband would be thankful if I used one. Mothers of Preschoolers. Usually we have good speakers, sometimes we do a craft, but we ALWAYS have a hot breakfast and great times with other women (childcare included). Today was pajama day. Moms and kids all went in our pajamas, and the women watched a comedian on DVD and chatted, while the children were being cared for by top-notch volunteers. They love our children so well, and Big Sissy's class is always doing the best crafts. It's so great for me, because that might be my least favorite "fun activity." I think it's because I don't like messes. Anyway, I'm thankful for them. Today Big Sissy came home with 3 crafts, one of which was a turkey whose feathers each had the name of something she's thankful for.

Her list is Caroline Pudding (her stuffed kitty), Tabby (her Build-A-Bear stuffed kitty), Dog Dog (her stuffed puppy), Gracie (finally someone real. LOL.), Mommy, Baby Kitty (Tabby's baby), Levi, Daddy, and grilled cheese.

The Bananas Have Overstayed Their Welcome

Big Sissy and I have interesting conversations when she has to be in the bathroom for an extended session. Today she wanted to know how to draw a banana. Since we were in the bathroom, I drew one with my finger on my leg (which looked weird, even to me).

"You have to color it in to make it a banana," she said.

"Yes, I would color it yellow if I were really drawing a banana."

"And you would have to get a black crayon to make all the black spots."

Hmmm...maybe I should show her how to draw banana bread instead.

Branson Trip

Hubby was on vacation this week. This is the last week that UPS allows "their people" to take off before the Christmas rush begins. I can't believe it's already over. We've been in Branson for the last few days with Hubby's parents, who have a timeshare. It was so great to get away. It didn't exactly go as planned because it was COLD and nothing opens before about 1:00 in the afternoon this time of year--not good for little ones who take afternoon naps. So...we spent a lot of time in the room, at WalMart, and at really early lunches. It was still fun, though. We visited the Landing, got some shopping done while the kids napped (Thanks, MawMaw and PawPaw!!!), ate some good food, and took the girls miniature golfing for the first time.

OK. I told myself I wasn't going to make fun of anything in this Branson blog, but I'm just going to say one thing. I don't go to Branson for the shows; in fact, it's been years since I've seen one there.The billboard pictures are entertainment enough for me. I go for shopping and Silver Dollar City. The kids love the rides, and I love the kettle corn. Anyway, I saw a school bus one day and it dawned on me that people actually live there. I don't know why that struck me as weird. But I was picturing what the teachers must wear to keep the attention of all the entertainers' kids: maybe a tight leather pantsuit with diamonds and a big blonde wig. I don't know...it made me laugh. I met an elderly lady there who was traveling with other senior citizens on a tour bus. She was so happy to be able to talk to me and Little Buddy for a while. She said she was getting tired of all those old people. LOL. Makes me wonder what I'll be doing for fun when I'm that age.

Cold, sunny day at the Branson Landing. The big, shiny reindeer isn't actually part of the family. He just asked if he could be in the picture.

Little Sissy golfing. Mostly she liked to take everyone's balls out of the hole--or pick them up from wherever they were hit and drop them in the hole. Made keeping score a challenge!

Yes, this is actually how she hit the ball. I think she still beat me.

Family Portraits

We got our family portrait made today for Christmas cards. It's always such an ordeal trying to get all of us ready and looking cute AND happy. We actually got some pretty good ones this time, but here are some of the funny ones.

OK. Here's what we'll do. Little Sissy, you sing "Doo doo doo" while Big Sissy sings "Tra la la."

Now it's important to let your lipstick dry before our next little number.

Now, Little Buddy, you act like it's 30 degrees out and we just put you in the tub naked. Perfect.

Now go ahead and eat that duck while I jump around and put funny animals on my head to make you laugh.

For our family picture, Big Sissy, you concentrate on keeping your headband up. Everyone else, just stare at me like I'm from Mars. There. I think we're done!