Merry Christmas to All

From Our House to Yours

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

And Peace on Earth this Christmas Day, and hopefully for all the days following

Shauni and the Kids..

Rember, At Thanksgiving?

Word Girl comes home tomorrow.. oh yeah.. yippy skippy... remember how excited I got when she was coming home for Thanksgiving? How much I was looking forward to it? Well, I am so over that... 

When she came home, there was so much bickering and negative comments that I completely tensed up. Migraines were back in abundance.. and finally, the day before she left.. we were walking in Union Station from the Amtrak train to the Metra.. and I literally popped a muscle.. I was in pain for THREE weeks... and it has just now finally gotten so it doesn't hurt.. 

The amazing thing was.. I hadn't understood how seriously negative the dynamics were when she is home.. I was a nag pure and simple.. and when I would ask her not to do something she would respond with you always.... the thing is.. I don't always.. This past year I have realized, that I rarely... 

It bothers me that this child, whom I adore makes me that tense and angry... it's like dealing w/my mother.. except because it's my mother she gets to win... The part that sucks.. is Word Girl doesn't follow the same rules.. I should get to win.. I am the mother.. it doesn't matter if she agrees with me, she should still go along with my rules and my thinking with a smile on her face darn it.. It's not like she is going to LIVE in this household anymore.. She is a guest!!

Ok, rant over.. The good news is.. she is off to visit Grandma on Christmas day.. so I only have a week or so and then things are back to normal!! AND she will be in heaven because the two of them get along like gangbusters.. *grins* of course I get a benefit out of it as well, cuz if she mouths off about me.. My MOM will totally kick her a$$.. hey, hierarchy works somewhere...

Christmas

Another Christmas has come and gone and each one just a little more poignant than the one before. Gone are the years when they dash down the stairs looking for presents. Gone is the Christmas where Word Girl woke up early and sat at her beauty shop and played quietly for hours not knowing that I was watching. Gone are the years spent looking for that "it" toy. Can we say Power Rangers? Now they want both expensive things and practical things.

Hair Boy asked for socks.. yes that is right socks. I understand he got more socks than he knows what do with. Of course Blond Girl made sure he stayed young she bought him a machine nerf gun. So his girl friend wouldn't feel left out, Blond Girl bought her one too. When Hair Boy's best friend stopped by (a lifelong childhood friend) he was just as excited about that nerf gun as a 6 year old.

Pita Boy really wanted music. He asked for CD's lots and lots of CD's and an Harmonica. I must say I no longer like my favorite sister in law, guess what she bought him? Of course it is better than when Hair Boy went through his accordion stage.

Word Girl wanted and received movies, body spray and a straightener (see practical). Well she wants a Mac as well but guess what she got and what she didn't? She is home for just a few weeks and is already missing school life. I figure she will be spending time with friends as much as possible then be gone before we know it. I know I will miss her, of course I always miss her when she is gone and constantly ask when she is leaving while she is here. She is so much like my mom sometimes I have to scream.. but she has a pure heart and beneath all her bluster is a person worth knowing.

Blond Girl was the funniest of all, she wanted a Snuggie, Teenage mutant ninja turtle slippers and knitting stuff. Oh yeah and glasses. It is rather pathetic when your 16 year old daughter asks for glasses for a Christmas present. Needless to say she is getting all of them. Well we have the eye appt this week the rest she got. She is hysterical with that snuggie.. sitting there knitting and saying.. "see I can knit and my arms are still warm" Didn't we have a solution for that as well? Wasn't it called a wait.. yeah I remember,... A ROBE? oh well.

One of the greatest things about having older kids is the fun things they give you. You don't have to get excited about getting a rock (of course I still have some of those rocks cuz they were really neat) but instead you get pretty cool stuff. This year my four children, two and a half college students and one HS student came together and bought me a Kindle. I was so excited, I really really really wanted one!

With this Christmas behind us I have to make sure and keep these memories very clear, who knows if all of them will be home next year. Each year we are together is a gift. Their lives are opening up and life is getting so exciting for them. I can only be grateful for what I have this year and treasure every moment I am not trying to kill them (yes they still drive me nuts some things one doesn't outgrow)

Thank You God for the Wonderful Day

today was fun, quiet for one of our family Christmas's but as the children grow older and start to have their own lives. I have to wonder will this be the last when we are all together?
Each moment with them is a precious one (even the ones when I am considering alternative parenting methods...like closet locking). I know they are all so close to spreading their wings and moving on.

yes I often comment about how in 3 1/2 years I will start my life, or life begins at 50 or all sorts of comments like that but really.. I have been blessed with some pretty awesome kids and I will miss them when they go.

so yes, today was a good day... one more Christmas where all of my children were home, together, healthy, happy and not fighting (hey it happens once a year.. this year it was Christmas day)

other than a few embarrassing mishaps.. Christmas was good.. and how was yours?

Merrry Christmas to All

Tonight when you drift off to sleep, thinking about all of the Christmas issues that still must be resolved, completed or just plain ignored... remember this.. this single Holiday represents the birth of hope..

Take a moment to look at your sleeping children (yes the teenagers too) and remember how very lucky you are. Are the fed? sheltered?clothed? healthy? any of the above is good if you have them all.... you have hit the lottery.. anything else is just plain amazing.

As I spend my day tomorrow not wanting to clobber them, I will remember to be grateful for having all of the above. It doesnt really matter where they live, how they dress or even what they eat.. thank You God.... the are all healthy.

Merry Christmas All

If it's not one thing it's another

Last night was a traumatic one, sad to say the laptop died... we will be having a funeral for it soon... feel free to send flowers, heck send a new laptop, I am not proud.. but seriously, until I am able to drag the monster out of storage and get a wireless card for it. I am going to be computer defecient for a while.

I will be able to post my blogs, but my entre card drops are going to go way down... I am still going to visit as many of you as I can but my time on the public computer is limited so I am not sure how many or how often I will be visiting.

So if I don't see you before hand... Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!! and a Happy New Year.

Shauni

What I Want For Christmas

I have been blessed, I have the greatest children imaginable. Oh they are irritating and annoying I often dream of sending them off to far away places, like Mars but in general they are pretty cool. What other four young individuals, two of whom are old enough to leave and have a life of their own, would stick around and help support their family? Would stay in a hotel and donate their income to providing for the whole rather than worrying about themselves? I am immensely proud of them.

But what I would like for Christmas is a home. I would like to have a place where we can live for the next 3 and 1 half years. I would like to offer them a sense of security until at least Remi graduates from High School. I know there are some much worse off but this is what I am dealing with and these are my dreams. I would like to offer these wonderful children just a few more years of childhood. The right to have a place where they can go and know they are surrounded not just by their family but by their things. To be able to do something as simple as watch the TV show they choose and not the one decided upon by the one who holds the remote. Simple things really..

I figure the amount I have paid here in the last year in approx. twice what I would have paid in rent to an apartment so affording a place is not the problem it is finding one. So what I want for Christmas? is a home, one that my kids can wake up to on Christmas morning and be happy.