Advent 2013 . . . guilt . . . a glimpse of the action

Well, hello again.  How have you been?  I'm feeling just a tad bit guilty right now.  Tomorrow is December 1, the day we start our fun advent around these parts.  I came to the blog to refresh my memory on what we did last year.  More about that in a minute.  I did notice that I posted once last year.  Once, people!  And, it was a photo.  A school photo.  From fall 2012 posted in June 2013.  Lame.  I also noticed that this blog got 53 view last month.  I can do better.  And, I need to do better because it really is the only record of my kids' antics.  Sure, we have 45,821 photos saved to our hard drive that no one ever looks at and Flannery squirrels away certificates and art projects and ticket stubs up in the attic (or at least tells me she does) but it's the stories that stick!

Like how Collin (who turned 12 a few weeks ago) spends 20 minutes every evening putting lavender infused oil on his face and it drives me crazy.  I have been spending years trying to convince/teach/encourage by older two to moisturize their bodies but now that Collin is taking 20 minutes and only hitting his face (I liken his legs to alligator skin) I am ready to scream.

Or, how Little Man ordered a kids meal at our favorite Japanese/Korean restaurant today and the most beautifully presented kid's meal I have ever seen.  It was contained on a long white platter; 3 square bowls (is that what you call them?  Can a bowl be square) of tator tots, chicken wings, and cut up chicken cutlet, along with 2 cute bowls of dipping sauces, and the cutest little bottle of yogurt drink I have ever seen.

He was so proud of this meal and quickly sucked down the drink.  He then spend the next 60 minutes eating one chicken wing, mostly with a chop stick in each hand.  He didn't eat any tator tots, but dolled them out to his siblings at the rate of about one every 10 minutes.  He was very protective of his 2 uneaten chicken wings and insisted upon taking them home for later (translation=Cayla may NOT eat them!).  He also tried to take home the bones from the one he did eat, but mean mom wouldn't let him.  There was talk that he planned on putting them under his pillow tonight,  Luckily he ate them for dinner later in the evening.  However, I wouldn't doubt that the bones are under his head this very minute.  

And I'd love to tell you that Cayla has come so far this year with managing her emotions.  I'm going to stop just short of calling Emotional Freedom Technique our snake oil, but it's made a world of difference in her behavior.  This poor girl carries so much emotional baggage around with her.  Much of it has to do with the fact that communicating with other people is riddled with anxiety.  But, it is also due to the fact that her brain processes events quite slowly (everyone else has already moved on . . . ).  We do EFT every night and it's amazing what surfaces, what she holds onto.  The other night she wanted to tap on the fact that her little sister shook up one of her sand bottles last year.  She was still mad about it.  Crazy, ridiculous?  Yes!  But the fact that she is still holding onto it emotionally, can verbalize it, and release it has been trans formative.

And, the little lady is just as passionate, talkative, and energetic as always.  She finishes workbooks over the course of a car ride, climbs up a knotted rope in gymnastics class, talks to every person she comes within 5 feet of, and holds our guinea pig every chance she gets.  She still talks a lot about her biological family and misses them terribly.  We visited her biological grandmother at her apartment last week and our little lady was excited beyond words.  We usually meet her somewhere, so going to the apartment was quite a treat.  I'm pretty sure little lady remembered the apartment as she did live there for a time.  She found a toy cat that once was hers and her grandmother let her take it home.  She has been treasuring that cat and very diplomatically managing little man's jealousy:)

But, back to the advent!  I came here to see what we did last year.  Well, there is a nice record of the first 7 days.  What happened beyond that?  Well, luckily, since I'm so disorganized, I JUST cleaned the advent folder off my desk a few weeks ago!  So, may I present, Advent 2013!!!!!!

1. December is here!  Family ice skate today.
2. Rootbeer floats for dessert.
3. Iced Animal Invasion
4. The Yogibo has gotten a refill.  Lounge & relax on the FAT green bean!
5. Afterschool trip to Target - eveyone gets to pick a pack of gum.
6. Let's cut out some snowflakes.
7. Make-a-Tile at Mo*tawi
8. A Cobble*stone Christmas
9. Fancy dinner . . . ooooo . . . laa laa . . . 
10. Let's play Twister!
11. Treats for dinner tonight!  What would you like?  Pub cheese?  Pita chips?  JoeJoes?
12. Lots of performances today!  Unlimited gum for all the concert goers:) (our friend E, Nutcrakcer)
13. Fill somebodies bucket today!  Say hello.  I love you.  Do a favor.  Be nice.  Let us know what you did tonight.
14. Let's go get a tree!
15. Let's make gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate today.
16. Decorate the tree and sing carols.
17. Dinner mix-up.  Pick a new spot for our meal.
18. Cookies for breakfast
19. Happy Birthday, Mama!  Tell her she is spectacular, give her a hug, sing her a song, make her a card, eat a cookie for her, go out to eat, and read her a book!!!!!
20. Let the elving begin.  Ornaments today.
21. Find the fairy door and make an offering
22. Celebrate Solstice, the shortest day of the year.  Do sun salutations, light candles, bring nature into the house.
23. Breakfast at Wash*tenaw Dairy
24. open presents then go swimming
25. Merry Christmas!

Let's keep our fingers crossed that I can keep it up this year.  Happy December!!!!!