Yes, I Love these Kids

I had one of those days where I find myself smiling over each and every one of my kids.

There's Max, who was so excited to go goose hunting with Brett that he can barely sleep. In spite of that he was up and raring to go at 3am, ready to spend a large portion of the next twelve hours laying down in a freezing blind in the middle of nowhere. All for the chance to MAYBE get to use his hunting license for the first time. I'm sure that male bonding and munching on brownies and jerky somehow play into the mix as well.

Then there's Camille, who I found putting on her gloves and hat, announcing that she was going to go shovel the driveway?! I reacted in surprise. 'Wow. That's usually something that I do.' 'Yeah,' she responded, 'I figure I need to learn how to do it some time.' Huh. I can live with that.

Of course, once Cameron saw the snow he was almost instantly geared up in his snow suit, coat, boots, hat and gloves. I can pretty much guarantee that he will spend a large portion of his day in his happy place, soaking in the joy that blankets our yard.

Snow fever hit everyone today. For some reason, Natalie had a sudden yen to have snowshoes. Our ever helpful and very creative Elise quickly jumped in to help Natalie and managed to rig up a pair of 'snowshoes' that delight her little sister.

All little things, but little things that made me happy and reminded me how much fun they are. I love my kids.

My Fears are Realized

This is not a picture of Max in his first middle school wrestling match.

It is a picture of one of his teammates, whose name I don't even know.

Why didn't I get a picture of Max during this milestone event?

Because my hands were shaking so bad I couldn't even hold the darned camera, let alone keep it still long enough for a reasonable exposure.

My fears are realized. I am going to be a terrible Wrestling Mom.

Not the kind that makes a screaming spectacle of herself from the bleachers (though I did scream louder than I thought I would). And, heavens be praised, not the kind that crouches on the sidelines and pounds the mat with their fists.

I'm going to be the kind of Mom that dies a little death with every second of every match. The one that fears a coronary or stroke each time her son steps onto the mat.

Simply put, wrestling is going to kill me.

With the exception of boxing, there is no sport that is so personal, so intense and so brutal to watch. Especially for a mom. I don't know how many moms I've spoken to that have said they hate watching their kids wrestle or that they can't even go to the meets because it is too hard.

It isn't a team effort. There is no shared responsibility. Your child wins or loses on their own, under a spotlight, in front of the entire crowd.

If your child is shooting the last basket to win the game, or is up to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, that heart in the mouth feeling only lasts a few seconds--as long as the basketball arcs through space or the duration of the swing of a bat. When they wrestle, every second of all three periods is just like that. A mother watching her son suffer, arching his back, every muscle straining to avoid a pin, goes through that same agonizing suspense, not for two or three seconds, but for thirty, forty or even seventy seconds at a time.

Even if their child is doing well, the heart still races and the hands shake. A single shift in balance or a slightly loosened grip changes everything. All that intense emotion is relieved by a brief break, only to experience the same thing all over again in the next period.

The worst part, and the one I am most afraid of, is the pain and suffering. It is watching your son twisted into inhuman shapes. Seeing their joints move in directions that are dislocations waiting to happen. Knowing that blood is common and expected and that occasionally, but not uncommonly, bones are broken. In their first meet, one of Max's teammates had to have his matched stopped twice for injury. The first he was able to work through. The second was a badly bleeding broken nose that ended the match.

That is why wrestling is going to kill me.

My hands weren't just trembling a little. They were visibly shaking. I seriously couldn't even hold the camera. My heart was thudding loud and fast, like a Kentucky Derby sound effect.

And this was when Max was doing well. He was in control nearly the whole match. He clearly knew what he was doing and was ahead in points (2-0) when he flipped his opponent over onto his shoulders and pinned him with one second left in the first period.

He won, quickly and fairly easily and I was like THIS? What's it going to be like if it is more suspenseful or if he struggles or gets hurt?!

I'd better get tougher or get some tranquilizers or this isn't going to be pretty.

Or, there is my other solution. I told Max that he just has to be so good that he has no competition. That would be a lot more fun than tranquilizers.

Congratulations, Max, on a great first pin and win! So proud of you!

Max cheering on his teammates

A Not-So-Very-Scary Halloween

Was it just me or did Halloween seem to go on forEVER this year? I think it had something to do with a three or four day observance because the holiday fell on a Monday this year.

Friday, Max had his 7th grade Medieval Feast, the concluding celebration for their Medieval History unit. This activity is over-the-top, including tons of food (whole cooked pigs head, chicken wings, meatballs, fruit, cheese, bread, bundt cakes, soda, and on and on) great medieval decorations and everyone in costume. I stayed up really late on Thursday night trying to throw something together from what I had at the house for Max's costume as a Medieval 'Lord'. Fortunately, I had an old red window swag from Cameron's room that I quickly sewed into a tunic and long cape and trimmed with 3" gold wired ribbon from a giant roll I had bought at Costco years ago. It turned out pretty well for no time, no planning, no pattern and scavenged materials.

Sadly, I have no pictures of Max in costume this year since his schedule was too packed with the tail end of cross country, the beginning of wrestling and early morning jazz band. This year we sort of just managed to whisk everyone where they needed to be with minutes to spare.

Nata-bug without her shoes, but ready with the bucket!

Friday night was our Ward's Trunk-or-Treat and Halloween (notice I didn't say 'Harvest') party. It was packed! Fortunately there was lots of food and everyone was a good sport about setting up extra tables (even in the nursery) and standing to eat when necessary. Brett dropped Camille and the little ones off at home and Brett, Max and I stayed to help clean up.

The back of the ladybug costume,
which has been worn by Camille, Max (haven't you seen
A Bug's Life--boys can be ladybugs), Elise and Natalie.

Saturday, Natalie had a birthday/Halloween party at one of her little Sunbeam friend's houses and went as a ballerina, much to her displeasure. She was hoping to be a pirate.

Princess Elise--Didn't get a picture of her cool up-do.

Monday morning, I got up early to do Elise's hair for her Halloween party. As a third grader, she has now graduated from Halloween Parade participant at Chester Elementary to Halloween Parade audience. A true sign of maturity!

I also had to scavenge in the house to come up with candy for Camille to take to the high school's annual preschool trick-or-treating event. She wore her nifty teenager costume (see below) with a purple and black stripped witches hat. Then I dressed Cameron in his costume and put him on the school bus.

With everyone else out of the house, I quickly grabbed a Cinderella princess dress out of Natalie's closet, dressed her in it and handed her a wand, crown and a treat bucket. We dashed over to the elementary school to join Cameron's kindergarten in trick-or-treating at the high school.

That place was a mad house! My favorite part wasn't all the cute little kids in costume, it was watching how excited the high schoolers were to see all the cute little kids in costume. One tall upperclassmen, obviously interrupted in some task, was stopped still in the library, watching the kids through the doorway with a book in his hand with the most wistful look in his eyes. Very sweet.

I had told Cameron that we were going to Camille's school and would probably get to see her there. As we wound through the halls, navigating the crowds, Cameron would call out 'Caaamiiiille . . . Caaaamiiiille . . . Where aaarre you?' It was so cute. He wanted to find her so badly. And I knew Camille was waiting just as excitedly for them. I started to get worried because there were only a few minutes left and we hadn't see her yet. As we approached the last wing, our friend Emily saw us and told me that Camille was through the next archway.

We hurried as fast as we could as the announcer came over the PA system and the kids started moving back into their classrooms.

Time was up! Oh, no!

Camille's minimalist teenager costume
(and as close as she'll ever get, she says, to wearing a corset)

But there, at the last doorway of the last hallway, was Camille. Everyone else had gone into their classroom, but she waited for Cameron and Natalie. It was a sweet Mom moment to watch that little greeting as they rushed to hug each other and Camille slipped the candy she'd saved for them into their buckets.

Parents live for this stuff. It's what makes all the other drudgery and chaos worth it.

While Cameron was at his school party, Natalie and I slipped over to Walmart (princess dress, wand and all) to replace the candy we'd given to Camille and got home just in time to get Cam off the bus.

We had a special Halloween dinner that night:

Jack O'Lantern pizza


and Sausage Pizza with Bugs:


then we headed out for Trick-or-Treating, leaving Camille an three of her friends to watch a movie and hand out candy to all our little visitors.

This is Max's last year Trick-or-Treating since our cutoff is age 13. So, he made the most of it, going off with two friends for several hours, filling his knapsack with candy.

Not surprisingly, Natalie ran out of gas first, so Brett took her home. Cameron lasted a while longer, but started drooping and begging to go home after about an hour. Elise was a trooper, but by the time we hit the front door, she was happy to call it quits.

Whew! Another Happy Halloween under our belts. Elise has been carrying her Halloween candy everywhere with her in a square Rubbermaid kitchen storage box. It doesn't leave her side until she goes to school, when she carefully hides it in her room. She even sits on it at dinner. I think if she could attach it to her wrist with a handcuff like traveling nuclear secrets in a spy movie, she would gladly do so. But, you can't argue with success. There hasn't been any snitching from her stash (except the two little Twix bars I 'liberated' tonight. Hey, it's a Mom tax. Parents are allowed a little sneaking.)

And finally, just for you, Mom: Pictures of the new Halloween decor I did this year, as you requested.

Total cost for this one was $1.

The kids LOVED these Dollar Tree crows and dubbed them Paco, Pedro and Pancho. Pablo was downstairs on the fireplace mantel next to one of the scarecrows.


I actually got a craft injury from these blocks I made at our Super Saturday. I'm still taking Advil for it a week and a half later. Only I could get a craft injury. I am truly craft impaired.

This one is my favorite. I saw something similar online and made my own version of it while listening to general conference. If you enlarge the picture you can see Frankenstein's bolts and the ghost's sparkles. The kids and Brett loved this one and would come back over and over to look at it or touch it.

Until next year! Boo!