My favorite educational moment

My favorite moment isn't the "ah haaa" moment I usually like. It wasn't vocabulary mastery, the delivery of a convincing Shakespeare soliloquy. My favorite moment happened today when Bean was doing the dastardly task of taking care of the basics. Bean has to take the CAT test again this year, so as always, we spend a little time "teaching tot he test" which I detest, but we both agreed to accept as part of the bureaucratic hoops.

Today we were covering various forms of literature and their placement when he asked "...a textbook...what's a textbook"? I laughed when I told him that it was like a reference book used in schools covering various subjects.

I wish each child knew where to go to find the information that interested him rather than have to learn a prescribed set of information for a given year.

The day after

The day after Thanksgiving we joined Dad and Stephanie at their hotel for a farewell breakfast before the headed for the airport. It was nice to have a quiet chat and sum up the events of their visit. Their visit was most enjoyable and memorable.

This is traditionally our quiet day at home for Jeff and I. We ended up retuning home and getting our Christmas decorations up. We chowed on more Thanksgiving dinner, went to the store for a few last minute decorative things and fell in to bed early. How nice it was fall into our nice warm soft bed. Sometimes it is the simple things that mean the most!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving started out quiet enough and took a long walk with Finnegan. Then I came home and spent the next 6 hours listening to the parade, cooking, planning, washing, cutting, boiling, basting, and figuring out ways to put each dish that each person requested in a bowl or on a plate. Now that does not sound like a task in and of itself, BUT considering it is just Jeff and I, we haven't loads of bowls, plates and serving platters readily available.

When Jeff got up he was so helpful. We ended up using our patio set in addition to our dining room table It was throwing it down outside and Jeff stood out there and cleaned the patio set before bringing it in to dry it off. Just was we finished the table preparations Dad and Stephanie arrived. Once the major preparations were finished Amy got here. I cleaned up a bit and the Mennell clan arrived in full force.

They brought goodies with them. A full platter plus a shaker full of fresh baked cookies. YUM!

Dinner was made just on time, the ham was hot, each person had their personal request filled, we all sat around the table crowded and sharing conversation, laughs, and food. I could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving dinner.

Following dinner we decorated the Christmas tree, roughhoused, and devoured the homemade apple pie that Bean made from scratch!

Each person signed the tablecloth that will keep me occupied stitching for the next year.

May each of you find that you had a multitude of things to be thankful for this year.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving

Today was the quiet before the storm a.k.a. Thanksgiving. We had a lunch with Dad and Stef at our favorite tea house. It was so relaxing. We started the morning at Dad and Stephanie's hotel. Jeff and Dad played Cribbage as usual. Stef and I chatted. Then, the four of us rode over to the tea house and we were seated at my favorite table.

We spent nearly two hours at lunch and moseying around the import part of the shop. Right after lunch we returned to the hotel. Dad ans Stef were gracious enough to allow Bean and Diz swim while we chatted. We watched the boys play in the pool for awhile. Dad started feeling a bit sleepy I think, and his eyes were burning from the chlorine so he and Jeff retired to the lobby to play more Cribbage; leaving us girls to mind the boys and chat. It is a fond memory. Stef held Donovan and we watched Diz's confidence grow and Beans social skills develop as he started playing with another boy about his age. All in all it was a pleasant afternoon.

Dad and Stef then invited everyone to dinner. Amy was uncertain that she would be able to attend but make it just in time. Neil had a late patient so was unable to join us. So the 9 of us descended upon Ruby Tuesday's. It was nice to chat and not cook before Thanksgiving which would prove a 7 hour labor of love. Our heartfelt thanks!

The Berlin Inn

The 24th I got the opportunity to take my Dad and Stef to the Berlin Inn. We had a lovely dinner and were attended by a great server. Best of all it was a quiet dinner with Amy and Charissa. Neil was kind enough to mind the two older boys. Donovan slept through the entire meal. We chatted about old time, met new grandchildren, shared a laugh and generally had a wonderful, albeit mildly crowded evening. We even topped it off with a desert each and shared a bite of everyone's chosen goodies. Dad even got a fresh baked sugar free pumpkin pie that was still slightly warm. His was the only dessert I didn't take a taste of as I really detest pumpkin anything:-P

It was wonderful to watch Dad and Stef discover the latest greatest grandson! It was lovely to watch Dad take Donovan into his arms and get a glimpse into the past and see what it must have been like when I was a baby. He was so gentle and tender. Stephanie looked on so adoringly but unobtrusively. It was great that Donovan got his introductions without his older brothers feeling displaced while all the attention was focused on the newest addition.

Recognition

My favorite thing so far today has to be that Jeff has received the recognition he deserves. After countless sleep deprived nights, 3:00 a.m. call, loyalty to the company, through 4 recent changes of owner, has been given a big promotion. I am uncertain what it will be titled, but he will have four teams under him and he has been goaded into a management position. Jay, the man he has trusted implicitly for years told him that this job was right up his alley EXCEPT that it was management. Jeff even suggested two others for the position. Yesterday he received a call from the person in charge of this venture, to say "Yeah, we interviewed the others and they are not right for the position. You are the only one qualified for this position. So after much cajoling, Jeff has in fact taken the position. He will transition out of his current position that no longer challenged him, or afforded forward/upward motility over time, and assume full responsibility of a new crew.

I am so proud of him!

My daughter's strength

Congratulations to Neil and Rissy on the birth of their latest son! While this is Rissy's story, so I will be brief, this has to go down as ONE of my favorite days. I was awakened by a text message from Rissy, Friday evening as we were entertaining guests that mentioned her 1st contraction that made her stop in her tracks, in the local grocery store. I knew this was going to head in to the "Real McCoy." Rissy had been experiencing contractions for weeks, but the fact that it made her stop and focus on the bread at the store made me laugh. She did not want to attract attention so while she waited for the contraction to pass she read the ingredients on the bread. This memory is probably indelibly etched in my mind.

I told her to expect the unexpected as I do all of my client's. It was my turn to remember this lesson. I was on standby should she need me during labor, but of course I had in my head a few versions of how this may or may not occur. It was nothing like what actually happened.

Rissy texted me again at 5:24 a.m. Saturday morning the 7th of November. It read like this:
I'm sorry for waking you but i don't know what else to do:( I'm not handling these very well at all:( the pain is unbelievably intense and now with every contraction... (left out, out of respect for her privacy)but I'm not sure exactly. Can you please help:-(

I texted back the info I needed to help her. She texted back..."can I call you?" I texted back with "of course" It is best to hear people in labor to get a better idea of what is going on. She called a few minutes later. When I listened to her, her contraction went from 7-9 minutes to about every minute lasting for 1min 15sec. I could tell be listening to her that she was in transition, but did not want to excite or panic her. I helped her through a couple and suggested she awaken Neil. She had been dealing with these contractions for nearly 3 hours brilliantly on her own. I also suggested she call her midwife. I did tell her after those two things were done, I that I was glad she was on her way and it sounded like transition to me. historically once she approached transition things went really fast. I stayed on the phone while she was en route to the birth center. She was told to go to the one she had not intended on going to as their intended birth center was full...a first. I listened and breathed with her on the phone all the while listening to her taking a break from breathing while still contracting to direct Neil's driving.

She arrived at the birth center and 8 minutes later my third grandson was born.

In hindsight after listening to how she wasn't handling the contractions well and they were so intense I thought to myself "Yep transition is like that!" I thought she did better than she even knows. Her strength, when I know she was so frightened of "natural childbirth" amazes me. She was sure that these intense contractions would likely go on for hours.

I arrived to see her holding her newborn son, still in the tub.

It is truly the BEST birth I never attended.

Congratulations to the entire family and a special bow to my amazing daughter.

Fright Town

For those of you unaware Jeff is just a little kid in a mans body. He wanted to go and see haunter houses this year for Trick-or-Treat. SO Friday night we went to downtown with Amy to the Memorial Coliseum and did the whole haunted house tour, which consisted of three separate haunted houses, each with a different theme, in one location.

As Amy pointed out we were glad that we did them in the order we did. The 1st house was not spooky at all, but had some very creepy props.

The second house was supposed to be a gas station with a grocer next to it. They had some real jumpers and things we had not seen before like auto accidents and people repairing the autos who would run things across the fence in front of you causing them to spark.

The funniest part was when there was a pressure pad on the floor with a dead body cut up in the floor board, and Jeff missed it, so I wanted him to see it, so I stopped and tried to get it to go on again. Meanwhile not a foot behind me was Amy being chased by a guy on stilts. Suddenly I hear "Freaking GO!" I was laughing so hard I could hardly breath!

While I don't like being scared/startled, I have to admit it was fun to go...once a year. I try to let my imagination go with the flow rather than fighting it. I think it makes it more fun:-)

I hope your Halloween was spooktacular!