12 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 1

It's November 12th, and everywhere I look I see Christmas. Even the town has it's lights all down Main Street and around the courthouse. I understand being organized and prepared, but what happened to Thanksgiving. Is it just eating, watching football, and shopping? Or is it a holiday to get ready for Christmas?

Many families have their own traditions, so this year we are starting our own. It's common for families to count down the days leading up to Christmas, which gave me the idea to countdown the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Each day we will complete an act of giving.

Today we took donuts to the librarians. This was a tough one for the boys because they didn't want to share. After they each had one they wanted to take the boxes home with us for later. I compared their happiness for donuts with what others will feel when they get a donut. When I explained that the librarians didn't have any donuts and that it would make them happy, they agreed. After all, who wouldn't love a donut on a Saturday morning.

I hope that this is a ripple effect, and all your families will do little acts of giving. Make teaching kindness and giving a priority.

Veterans Day

I compared veterans to the toy soldiers from Toy Story. It was something my toddlers could relate to.  Once I mentioned that their aunt and uncles were veterans and we were celebrating them, my 4-year old said that he always wanted Veterans Day to get here. I think he's expecting a party with cake and presents for them.

We have a coloring book that explains most patriotic holidays, so we colored a few pages after I read the description. (The coloring book was passed out at a 4th of July parade. We might be nerdy because we kept it.) We were going to mail the colored pages to their aunt and uncles (my sister, brother, and brother-in-law) who are veterans. However, it wouldn't get there in time, and I wanted to reach more people to say thank you.

We settled on making a video instead. I borrowed my friends iPAD because it has iMovie on it, which makes it pretty simple to make videos. My sons loved it. They freaked out when they saw themselves in a "real" movie. They went through and named all the people in the movie. They called my husband's grandpa Daddy. My grandfather they called "a man." They have never met either of our grandpas, but they must recognize that strong Jensen gene pool.

This video is for all the veterans out there. We may not understand all of your sacrifices, but we do understand it's for all of us. Thank you!
As a side note, my brother-in-law didn't make it into the video, so here's his Veterans Day shout out: David Banks.

Vote

My first voting experience was in the 2003 caucus. I had just turned 18, and I participated so I could get extra credit for Government class. The only thing I really remember about it is that all the veterans were in favor of John Kerry. I didn't know anything about the candidates or the issues. I don't even remember who I voted for.

I'm not a political person, but I feel like it's a responsibility to vote. I usually tell people that if you don't vote you shouldn't be complaining about any political decisions. If you were happy to let other people make the decision for you at the polls, then you gave up your choice in political decisions.

This year my husband and I filled out our absentee ballots with our sons. To help them understand the process we first read some library books about voting. The library loves to highlight books related to the time of year, so they weren't too difficult to find.

Next we did some voting on what to have for dessert. As a family we voted on cake or cookies. The cookies won. My 3-year old son was upset that the cake didn't win. My husband and I had a laugh about that because his fit will probably be similar to adults' after this election.

Lastly, we went through the absentee ballot with them. We explained what the names and circles meant. After it was filled out we sealed and mailed it.

It's a day away. Remember to vote.

Now the real issue is cake or cookies? Vote in the comments below. 

Parenting success

One of the first things I saw this morning was a parenting failure on social media. Usually, parenting failures are funny, which is why people share them with the world. However, I've noticed that not a lot of people will post their parenting successes. Maybe its for fear of seeming like a braggart, but I think if we don't look for the good things we drown in the failure. Plus this is my blog, I can brag about my parenting prowess.

Happy babies make
for success.

These are my parenting successes in the last 24 hours:

1. My 4-year old wanted his Halloween candy for breakfast, but when I said no he settled for organizing the candy. He made piles of the same candy and asked me for little baggies to put the organized candy.

2. My 3-year old didn't hit anyone with his sword while trick o treating. He didn't even hit his brother.

3. After trick o treating the boys settled for one piece of candy after supper along with a homemade brownie that they made with Grandma.

4. The boys wrestled in the living room while the adults tried to get supper on the table. Supper was late after trick o treating.

5. Breakfast wasn't spilt on the table, even with my 3-year old's sword next to his cereal.

6. My 3-year old let his brother hold his sword while he finished getting ready for preschool.

The boys helping Grandma
make brownies.

7. My 4-year old explained that there wasn't time to have the Halloween party at preschool, but they still had fun anyway. Although, he came home with treats and he wore his costume, so I'm not sure why he thinks it wasn't a party.

8. The boys were up at 5:30am and asked to read books in our bed. We read with the flashlight on my phone until the alarm went off.

9. No one was injured.

10. No one had any meltdowns, including the adults.

I can't take all the credit for these successes. My husband had a lot to do with it, so I guess these are his successes too. Also, my mother-in-law is helping us out a couple of days while I substitute teach.

Many of these successes involve candy and that sword, but that has been our world the last 24 hours. My next parenting strategy is to eat all their candy and hide that sword.

Happy Halloween!

A bunny and a clown are the only two things I ever remember being for Halloween when I was a child. The bunny costume had a store bought tail and ears that I wore with a white sweat suit. The clown was a hand me down from my sister. My mom had sewn the clown suit; the clown shoes were antiques that my grandpa had worn as a Shriner; and the clown painted face itched and turned my face a blotchy red when I tried to wash it off. I'm proud that my husband and I have come a long way from the bunny and clown. We made our son's costumes this year.

A couple of weeks ago I asked my sons what they wanted to be for Halloween. My 3-year old said he wanted to be Spider Man. As he said it he would hold his hand out and pretend to shoot webs. My 4-year old said he wanted to be a flying bat, not Batman. Every night at supper I would ask them that same question: what do you want to be for Halloween? My 3-year old changed his to a pirate with a sword. The sword was very important to him. My 4-year was adamant about being a flying bat.

We started with the flying bat costume. My husband went to the thrift store and bought a brown fuzzy blanket. That is what we used for the bat wings. We had my son lay down on the folded blanket so we could cut and mark the wings. My husband drew the scallops on the blanket with a crayon, cut them out, and then sewed them onto a black thermal long sleeved shirt. We had some Batman glasses that were in a Happy Meal, so I hot glued the same blanket material to the glasses. He wore black pants and black boots to finish off the costume. He also requested vampire teeth because he wanted to be a Vampire Bat. He was very specific.

The pirate was a little more difficult because the day of construction he just wanted to be a bad guy with a sword. I was a little frustrated because he said this after I had just sewed the eye patch. I took black felt material, cut the eye patch and sewed black elastic to each side of it. He was not impressed. I used the straw cowboy hat from his birthday party to make the pirate hat. I took off the star, stapled the sides up, spray painted it black, and I painted a skull and crossbones on the front. The sword and hook were much more involved. I'm not really sure the magic that my husband used for them. The sword is made out of thin wood and covered with silver shiny tape. The hook is made from the same wood and tape, but it has a ball on one end. The ball was stuck through the end of a white sock for him to hold onto. He wore black pants, white thermal shirt, black boots, and a belt to hold his sword. He loved the sword and hook.

My 10-month old girl was a pumpkin. Her costume was a hand me down from her brothers. Maybe she'll want to be a bat or pirate when she gets older.

Bring on the candy!

Happy Birthday!

When my husband and I were in our twenties, celebrating our birthdays meant an endless sleugh of drinking and eating. The different restaurants; the different cakes, cookies, and pies; the many drinks for the guest of honor; that's how I knew it was October. My birthday at the beginning of the month and my husbands at the end makes me exhausted just thinking about it. Our mature thirties has taught us a few things about birthdays:

1. After 25, if your birthday doesn't end in a 5 or a 0 it's not worth having a party.

2. Only 1 cake.

3. Surprises beat presents.

4. Two-three drinks maximum on the day of your birthday.

5. Family and friends might forget, but Facebook will remind everyone in the world.

Today is my husband's birthday, so this post is for him. This post is one of the stops on his birthday scavenger hunt. The boys and I set up clues around the house and his cubicle at work. Each clue has a little surprise with it. This is clue number 9.

We know you are great
You fix, clean, and mow
You are the best date
You even tow.

You have done so
Much for us
So wrapped with a bow
Look in the kids' bus.

Happy Birthday Jeff! You are the zig in my zag; the ag in my bag; the ying to my yang; the rock in my field; the fertilizer to my plant; the mustard to my ketchup. Have the best day!

Pumpkin Seeds

My son asked me if he could put his hand in a pumpkin. Both boys got to pull out the pumpkin goo in preschool. I guess by the middle of October it's expected that you've already put your hand in a pumpkin. With Halloween looming, we put our hands in pumpkins.

I cut the top off of the pumpkin and the boys pulled out the slime, seeds, and goo. The seeds run along the creases of the pumpkin, so we tried to save all the seeds. We put the seeds in one bowl, and the the fleshy tissue in another. We soaked the seeds in water to remove all the slime surrounding them. We took all the seeds out of the water and let them dry on a paper towel.

The dry seeds were put on two baking sheets. One for sweet and one for salty. We put 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt on the pumpkin seeds. The boys mixed everything. We made sure the seeds were all coated and spread them out. We baked them for 20-30 minutes at 350. The key is to make sure the sugar doesn't burn. 

The second baking sheet was the salty batch for my husband. We put 2 teaspoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of chili powder, and 1 teaspoon salt on top of the clean dry pumpkin seeds. We baked them for 30 minutes at 350.

If we could do it over again I probably wouldn't cook the sweet seeds so long. They were a little burnt. I would add more salt and chili powder to the second batch because the seasoning wasn't very strong.

We carved the pumpkins and put them on our front porch. We are starting our Halloween preparation.