During elementary school, an annual activity that I loved was the reading of Stone Soup and subsequent lunch of stone soup made as we children looked on. I was reading Stone Soup to Accalia and Cole yesterday afternoon and told them about that. They were so excited about us trying it so we went out right away and picked up ingredients to make the soup using this recipe. Accalia and Cole did the majority of chopping and dicing for the soup, and it turned out delicious. Actually, Accalia and Cole really weren't too excited about eating the soup (and didn't eat much at all), but it was a lot of fun creating it together.

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This morning we went to the dollar store in search of candy buttons. No such luck. This is the second store I've looked for them and haven't found them even though I swear I've seen them everywhere. Anyway, the kids were each picking something out, and it often drags out for quite some time with Accalia because she has a very hard time making decisions about what to get. Cole picked out his - playdough - within minutes of entering the store, but Accalia probably stood in that aisle for a half hour or longer trying to make a decision. It's usually not a big deal if we don't have to be someplace or everyone is content, but Ella was getting really fussy. Accalia was nearly in tears because she couldn't decide between a pink and a green version of this craft kit, and I suggested the pink one since she usually picks out the pink version of anything when she can. She still was unsure, though, knowing that there was this green version that she also really wanted (they had each picked out two things and I didn't have enough money along to add a third), but when I told her that she knew that was something else she wanted and could come back and get it next time, she completely relaxed. "Thank you, Mom!" she said as we left the store. "Thank you for helping me make a decision!" Oh boy, can it ever be a gut wrenching decision for her some days.

So today the kids have been busy with the things they got at the dollar store, and I just remembered Accalia has tap today. I would easily have forgotten that. Ella just woke up from her nap and is having a leisurely nurse. Cory will be home a little earlier from work but then goes off to deliver pizzas from 5-10.

One of the most frustrating parts of parenting is helping your children get through those patches where they're making huge developmental leaps, and one of the greatest parts of parenting is after they've made that leap and are having a blast with whatever new skill they've mastered. It's like the calm after the storm. Ella seems to be there right now, and it's a small leap in her verbal skills. The majority of what she says is still fairly indecipherable, but little by little she adds a word here or there and is trying out more sentences and phrases. Her favorites seem to involve Cole. Yesterday morning everyone was waking up, and Ella and Cole decided to stay upstairs to play with the Polly Pocket toys scattered on the bedroom floor. "Are you going to stay up here and play with Cole?" I asked Ella. "Umm, yeah! I go ba ba ga goo Cole!" Accalia's name is a bit tough for her to say yet, so Ella usually refers to Accalia as "A Cole."

Accalia seems to be going through some leaps, too, although hers are definitely more emotional. Accalia was a huge comfort nurser as a baby and toddler - probably more than either of the others - but she's also been the least likely to show affection as she's gotten older. When I tell her I love her, she usually replies, "Okay!" Lately, though, she's been all about showing love to the mama. There are hugs, cuddles on the couch, head on my shoulder, jumping into my arms, etc. She also wants to be there with me helping and being part of keeping the household functioning. She talks a lot about what she'll do when she has her own house or what babies need, etc. I remember going through that stage, too, and thinking about how cool it would be to have your own house with your own dishes to wash and furniture to dust. Why can't it seem so exciting now?

Last night Cory made it home before 11 from his shift delivering pizzas, and he brought back a ton of food given to him for free. Sometimes a cook will be working who makes a little of each type of pizza, so if there's anything left over it gets sent home with other employees. Cory brought back a calzone that he took for his lunch today, breadsticks, and three pizzas (two of which hadn't been cooked yet and are now in our freezer.

Tonight Cory has two counseling sessions but will be home for the rest of the night. Yay!

We're fully mired in the lunchtime blues around here. We need to break out of our rut and come up with some new ideas for the meal, so if anyone wants to share what they do, leave a comment! Today, I told the kids, we were having an "appetizing" lunch - insert groan for corny wordplay - and I set out plates of cheese and crackers, lunch meat rolled up with toothpicks, peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches, apple (two kinds) slices, and several different veggies. They loved that, so I was happy to do something simple that was also entertaining for them.

I've started reading the next Oprah Book Club selection. I'm not quite sure why I tend to read all of her selections; it's not as if I watch her show more than once or twice a year. I think it's because I usually enjoy the books she selects, so I keep on keepin' on. I was a little hesitant about this one since it's nearly 1000 pages long - quite a challenge for someone who has trouble reading through a monthly magazine before the next one arrives - and it takes place during the twelfth century, which is not an I'm particularly interested in. I'm hooked. This is one of those books that I instantly know I'm going to like and that I wish I could just sit around all day lost in it. I've never read any of Ken Follett's work before, but now I'm wondering if I'll have to go back and read everything of his if I'm going to enjoy it this much.

A couple days ago the kids asked if we could make gingerbread cookies. I wasn't sure if we had all of the ingredients, and we forgot about the cookies until today. So I looked and discovered we did indeed have everything necessary. I called to the kids from the kitchen, telling them that we had everything we needed to make the cookies. Cole's response? "Are you being sarcastic?' Not a clue where that response came from, but Cole thought he was pretty clever indeed. So we mixed up the dough and will make the actual cookies tomorrow. Yummy!

Other than that, it's been a pretty quiet day. Cory did some grocery shopping. Ella napped this afternoon. I've been reading whenever the kids allow. Cory's delivering pizzas tonight but should be home in about a half hour.

Usually Cory has a Saturday morning counseling client to see, but he didn't today because of the holiday weekend. That was so nice for him to be able to sleep in a little. Last night I had started getting Christmas decorations out and set up, and today we pretty much finished that. The kids and I set up the tree and decorated it, while Cory hung up outside lights and set up a few wooden cutouts that Myron made for us a few years back. The only thing left to put up are the stockings, and I can't find one. Hmm. We're so Christmas-fied over here that I'm even drinking my coffee out of a great big Santa mug that our friends Amy and Paul gave us about five years ago or so. Accalia has been listening and dancing to this cd. She's playing Christmas songs on the piano. The kids have watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" (the cartoon not the Jim C. version) twice today. Yes, we are going to be so ready to be done with the holidays by the end of next month, but that's okay. Time seems to pass so quickly, and I just want to enjoy this season as much as possible.

Our home is now even more of a wonderland for Ella. She's in love with our tree and stands there looking over each ornament. When one comes off the tree, she runs to me to put it back on. She's been constantly asking for me to hold her up at the entertainment center so we can look at the top where the Christmas village is set up. She points to each piece so I can tell her all about it. Her favorite is the old-fashioned library. We have to play a game of me directing her fingers where to go: "Walk up the steps. Open the door. Walk inside and check out books." Her favorite is when she points at a balcony on the top floor and I have to say, "Go! Go! Go!" That delights her to no end for reasons unknown to me.

Cory's delivering pizzas, and Ella is going from happy to cranky right now thanks to no nap. It didn't help that she was dancing in the kitchen with Accalia and Cole and Cole accidentally tripped her, resulting in a bloody nose. There's one of the true challenges of parenthood - trying to keep a two-year-old with a bloody nose calm and comforted while attempted to keep the blood from going all over the place as she shakes her head back and forth while screaming. Ah, good times.

Hey, guess who wants to look at the Christmas village?

I hope everyone who's celebrating had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday and is enjoying a long vacation. And if that isn't the case for you, then I hope you're having wonderful days no matter where you are and what you're doing.

My parents came yesterday morning and stayed until right before lunch today, so it was a short visit but a good one. We have eaten so much food over the past day and a half, and it's all been so yummy. Cory did most of the cooking, so it was only fair that I did most of the clean up, right? Of course, having my parents around made that job a little easier. After lunch, we took my parents over to see how construction on the new bridge over the Missouri River is progressing, and even though it was only in the 20s, we stayed at the little park for a short time to walk around. My parents actually stayed at a little hotel just a half block from our house because they thought the kids would have fun going to their room. This was huge for Accalia and Cole because they've always wanted to see the inside of the motel rooms, but that's never happened. Really, our visit consisted mostly of eating, visiting and playing. It was a little bit warmer today, so this morning my parents took Accalia and Cole to the park with the duck pond so they could feed the ducks and geese. Soon after that my parents left to return home.

My mom told me that a lot of the relatives in Mankato were expecting some sort of baby announcement from us this Thanksgiving since we seem to do that, but I'm going to have to disappoint those relatives and say that there is currently no baby on the way. And really, we've only made the pregnancy announcement once at Thanksgiving and that was in 1998 when I was pregnant with Accalia. I guess that in 2001 my announcement at this time was that I had miscarried, and it was just a month later that I found out I was pregnant with Cole. We announced Ella's pregnancy at Easter in 2004 - same day, in fact, that Jessica and Jeremy announced her pregnancy with Brooklyn. So that's my short history of pregnancy announcements and holidays.

Last night we all went to bed early - around 10 p.m. I was exhausted and Cory was planning to get up early to hit some Black Friday sales. I so foolishly ventured out this afternoon to pick up a couple things, and Cole and I even stopped at Goodwill to drop off a bag of donations and browse. We found a brand new Eloise board game, which Accalia and Cole have had fun with today. I also picked up a few books for myself and a book for my dad - a collection of stories about flying.

Cory is working tonight and called to say it's quite busy. There are six drivers on tonight, and usually there are three or four on the weekend. He's supposed to be done at 10, and hopefully he won't have to stay longer. Cory works Saturday and Sunday nights, too, but otherwise we don't have big plans for the weekend. Tonight the kids and I have been putting up a few Christmas decorations, gotten out all of our Christmas videos and books, etc. Maybe we'll put up the tree tomorrow.

This weekend has passed so quickly. After our rather disasterous trip to the park on Friday, thankfully things improved. Ella napped nearly all afternoon, but she didn't really wake up in an improved mood. The kids and I went to the Parade of Lights in downtown Yankton that evening. In the eight years we've lived in Yankton, we've never been to that. It's the kick off to the holiday season, I guess, and we get to see one or two or three Santas. The kids came away with quite the stash of candy canes (only Accalia likes), and we had free hot chocolate and marshmallows (not really necessary since it was in the 60s). Ella waved so, so hard at Santa. She was very excited, to say the least. The entire parade only lasted about 15 minutes, which confused the kids since they are used to hour plus parades, but they weren't too sad about returning home. Cory was delivering pizzas that night and didn't get home until close to midnight.

On Saturday, Cory had one appointment in the morning and then we took the kids to McDonalds. Cole had fun except for one small boy who was not particularly nice. Cole was very insulted when the boy called him a taco. It wasn't too hard to see where the boy's less than stellar social skills came from as we listened to him mom - extremely loud and extremely rude to that little boy. The first thing we heard her say when they arrived in the play land was a threat to spank, and it continued the entire time. It just makes you wonder why someone is so miserable and has to treat their child that way.

After lunch, we did our Thanksgiving meal shopping as well as additional groceries. We have everything except for the wine and a pumpkin pie. I'm not ashamed to say I'm too lazy to make a pie. I haven't done that since three years ago when Cole turned the oven to broil while I wasn't looking, which resulted in a very burnt pie. Cory delivered pizzas for about three hours that night, and the rest of the evening we all just sat around catching up on episodes of The Reaper. For whatever reason, all three kids really liked that show last night.

Everyone slept in this morning, and it wasn't long before Cory took Accalia and Cole to Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Mixed reviews from the bunch, but the movie going experience is usually enough to turn a so-so movie into fun for the kids. When Cory told the kids last night about going to the movie, Cole was pretty upset that I wasn't going along. He knows that Ella won't sit still for a movie, but the idea of me not being there wasn't a happy one. We talked more about it this morning when he was well rested, and he was fine with me not going along.

There hasn' been a lot of other stuff going on today. Ella fell asleep around 7 p.m. after going without a nap today. Cory is delivering pizzas until 9:15 or so, and that's about it. Tomorrow I have to tackle bathroom cleaning, and I can't forget to put the turkey in the refrigerator to start thawing.

Today is an amazing November day for South Dakota - sunny and 60 plus degrees. After lunch we went to the park by the Missouri River, partly to see all of the holiday decorations that have been put up (I will refrain from ranting about how early holiday decorations now pop up) and partly to take advantage of this mild day before the cold sets in for good. It started out great, and here are pictures to prove it:





Our outing did not end very well, though, and here's what I could have done differently. This park is huge, one where I can't necessarily see the kids if we're on opposite ends. It's also right along the Missouri River, and water is way too attractive to stay away from, especially for Ella. After Ella had her fill of the playground equipment, she started wandering toward the water, leaving Accalia, Cole and our pile of stuff (jackets, diaper bag, etc.) unattended by me. It was okay at first because I could still vaguely see the kids at the playground, and the park was pretty much deserted save for a few couples walking along the paths. We spent some time on the dock, looking at the green, green water and at the Meridian Bridge and construction of the Discovery Bridge. Then Ella started wandering even farther away down toward the shore. At that point, we would have been too far away to see the other kids or our things. Ella resisted every attempt of mine to turn back, and finally I ended up carrying a crying little girl for quite a distance back to the playground and almost immediately back to our van.

So, with a little more planning on my part, the trip could have been so much happier for all of us, and everyone's needs for exploring and water could have been met. Actually, the most helpful thing would have been to have another adult along so they could have stayed at the playground with Accalia and Cole and I could have wandered around with Ella. However, as the lone adult, I should have done the extremely simple task of taking along my backpack style diaper bag, which is roomy enough to stuff everything inside and handy enough to carry on my back and still keep up with Ella. Then I would have had no worries about where our things were, and I should have just expected that Ella wandering away from the playground meant she would be going far and not just heading back to her siblings. I'm sure Accalia and Cole would have been eager to get down to the water, too. I've just gotten too far out of the routine of going to the parks that I just didn't think of what a wanderer Ella is becoming as she gets older.

Next time, right? It probably didn't help that Ella was pretty much exhausted and fell asleep for a nap soon after we returned home. There are some days where she's not ready to nap until 4 or 5 p.m. and others where she barely makes it past noon.

What, you may ask, am I doing right now? Well, other than blogging, of course. I'm listening to my newly repaired dryer work! The repairman had a cancellation, so he came this morning instead of this afternoon and quickly found that the thermal fuse had opened and was restricting air flow. It would take a lot to top having a working dryer in the house after a three month absence, but a really cool addition to the day is that Ella's new prefolds arrived, have already been washed and are now drying in the dryer. Hooray!

I really, really need to pick up a few groceries today, and I'm hoping that by later this afternoon, when we need to drop Accalia at art, that Cole will be a willing participant in that errand. He's been a bit on the cranky side so far today. Accalia, too. Yesterday they were both closing in on hyper with the amount of energy they had, which perhaps they borrowed from me. I was completely depleted yesterday - crampy, tired, just wanting to curl up in a chair with a good book. Did not happen. Not even close. Let's hope I'm more successful on that front today.

This morning we headed a little over an hour north to visit our friend and her beautiful new baby girl. You know, no matter how many children you have or how many babies you've held, I don't think it ever gets old to hold a newborn. Of course, you don't necessarily feel that way at 3 a.m. when you're desperate for sleep and that said newborn is cooing or crying in your arms. A bonus for this visit was me getting back a couple books I had loaned to her quite some time ago and had forgotten she had. Nice!

We ate lunch and ran a few errands in Sioux Falls and then came back home so Accalia could go to dance and Cory to his two counseling sessions. I did some cleaning this evening, and that was the excitement. Tomorrow is storytime, and on Wednesday a repairman is coming to look at the dryer. Yay!

It's been a while since I've posted pictures, so I'll have to do that soon. For now, though, here's a short video of the kids one night while Cory was away. It's hard to get shots of Ella because as soon as she sees you with the camera she wants to be by your side watching how the pictures turn out. I love how Accalia is just dancing in the background the entire time.



Cole has been one cranky, tired boy today, but he now seems to be in a better mood. Accalia's been pretty tired, too. Hopefully tomorrow will be a happier day for them. We're (Cory included since he has the day off) heading up to see our friend and her new baby. Can't wait! I think the kids are probably more excited about the fact that we're going to eat lunch at Sonic.

Ella had her pictures taken today. I think they turned out pretty cute. She wasn't very interested in smiling or looking at the camera until after she could see the finished result. She was very excited to play with props, though. Cory and Cole scored some great deals at the $1 racks of summer clothes. Cory picked up three pair of shorts, and I found two pair of shorts and a shirt for Cole. Only one pair of shorts will probably fit Cole next summer, but that's okay. I don't know why I never find deals like that for me!

I think I'm going to wash some diapers now. Other then our baby visit tomorrow, the rest of the week will probably be pretty typical. I hope I'll be able to go to that birth center open house next weekend, but I have no ideas beyond that. Oh, and I suppose shopping for Thanksgiving dinner will be a good idea one of these days.

The event that has been so prominent in Cory and my minds' today is the anniversary of Mary's death. Three years ago. I can't believe it's been three years. In some ways it feels as if her death - and life - were lifetimes ago. Accalia says she doesn't remember her, and Cole definitely doesn't. That was one of the most heart-wrenching parts of thinking about life after Mary, that she would no longer be in the hearts or minds of the kids. I see it in different ways, though, even if the kids don't realize it without us mentioning it. The other day Accalia was explaining to Cole how she knows the things she cooks are good: I just taste it with my eyes. We would groan in partly mock frustration when asking Mary about a dish she made and the measurements of the ingredients. "Oh, I don't know. I just add things until it looks right" was her reply. Tonight, out of the blue, Ella reached for the picture of Mary we have in the living room, motioning for me to bring it to her.

While Cory was in Mitchell with his brother and dad, Myron told him that things with Bev probably would not go on much longer. Bev broke her leg this past summer and apparently became extremely pushy about the two of them getting married. Myron said that he doesn't want to get married again, that his life is good right now, and that Mary was the only woman he's wanted to marry. I think this is just what he told Cory - probably different wording with Bev. Neither Cory nor I will be heartbroken to see his relationship with Bev end, truth be told.

The kids and I watched The Wizard of Oz tonight on TBS. My brothers and I would do that every year when we were growing up. We'd always need a snack of Cracker Jacks, too. Not sure why, but those two things are forever connected in my mind.

Accalia wants to play games on the computer, so off I go.

It was so nice having Cory home for the majority of the day. Yesterday we saw him for just a few minutes after I dropped Accalia off at tap and he was getting ready to deliver pizzas. Then we talked for about an hour after he came home before going to bed. This morning Cory had one counseling session, and the timing was such that I took all three kids with me while I set up for the LLL meeting. Then Cory came to us and took Accalia and Cole back home with him.

The meeting went fairly well. There were three other moms there, and between the four of us there were seven children. We had a great discussion except for at one point one of the mothers made a comment of a somewhat political nature that made me cringe. The discussion had gone off topic anyway, so I quickly redirected our conversation. I just really hope no one was offended; well, other than me. One of the mothers became a member today, too, so that takes me up to three members in our Yankton group. Yay!

Our afternoon seemed to go by fairly quickly, but it was also pretty quiet. Ella didn't fall asleep for a nap until around 3 p.m., and then she slept for nearly two hours. Accalia and Cole played with one of the neighbor girls for a little bit, and Cory even napped for a while on the couch.

I finally finished the book I've been reading for a couple months - Love in the Time of Cholera (yes, another Oprah Book Club pick). It obviously took me a while to get into it since it's not a terribly lengthy book - 348 pages - and I enjoyed it for the most part. It's supposed to be a love story that spans more than 50 years, but most of the time I just felt like I was reading about one man's obsession with the woman he couldn't have. I did like the ending, though.

Cory will hopefully be home a little after 10 p.m. from delivering pizzas. Tomorow we'll need to do some grocery shopping, and we're getting Ella's picture taken. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll let me fix her hair a little. Her hair is plentiful and rather out of control. Cory will work for a few hours delivering pizzas, but hopefully he won't be there too late.

I miss Cory. Since last Friday I've only seen him for maybe six hours. That just sucks. I'll maybe see him tomorrow between him coming home from Mitchell and leaving to deliver pizzas and then hopefully for an hour or two after he gets home. It was a pretty quiet day today. I can't even remember what we all did, but when I look around the house I can see we were doing plenty.

I'm positively exhausted right now, which is, I suppose, better than being negatively exhausted. See? I must be really tired if I'm trying to be witty in my blog.

Cory left around 7:30 this morning and spent an exhausting day helping his brother build a new garage. It sounds as if they were well fed by our sister-in-law, though. He'll be there tomorrow and for part of Friday, too. I spent some of the day picking up on the upstairs landing and in Accalia's room, knowing they'd have friends over in the afternoon. Accalia had art, so we dropped her off and then picked up C. and A. at school. They were here until a little after 6 p.m., as were the three neighbor girls. Five extra children in the house definitely saps my energy, but they all got along well for the most part.

Tonight Cole and Ella had baths, and I've been trying to catch up on work and emails. I even ordered new diapers for Ella - just boring old prefolds. Accalia's been flitting around going from one project to another. She seems a little lost tonight.

I talked with my doula today and found out that the doctor I used with Ella's pregnancy (also my GYN) will be moving at some point in the foreseeable future. That sucks because there's not another doctor nearby that I would want to see for a pregnancy, so that means traveling a bit. This is assuming I will have a future pregnancy, of course. There's a birth center opening up in Norfolk, NE, which is about 50 miles away, and that may be something to investigate. There will be an open house next weekend, and I may try to go to that. I drove about 30 miles to see my last doctor, so this wouldn't be too much more of a stretch. It's just that I would lose out on only being two minutes from the hospital and being able to go in minutes before giving birth. Anyway, this isn't something that will be happening in the near future, so I won't dwell on it too much.

There's nothing scheduled for tomorrow, so we'll see what pops up.

We're back home after being gone to Mankato Friday through Monday. We had a great visit. As always, we saw lots of the cousins (always a thrill for the kids), my brothers and their wives. Saw my grandparents. Spent much of the afternoon with Heather and her two kids. Leaving wasn't too bad for the kids knowing they'll see the grandparents again in just a few weeks when they come down for Thanksgiving.

Cory stayed busy delivering pizzas, doing things around the the house, and nursing a cold. He's delivering pizzas tonight, too, but then has the next few days off (from all work) because he's going up to Mitchell to help his brother build their new garage. His dad will be there, too. I think Cory's really looking forward to spending a few days with his brother and father. So, we won't see much of Cory this week, but hopefully we'll have more time together this weekend.

Lots to be done. Hoping Cole is asleep soon so he can get some extra sleep and get over this case of the crankies. Hopefully it's just that and not him getting sick. Maybe I'll be inspired to blog something interesting, too, over the next few days.

Yesterday was a fun and exhausting day for the kids. Accalia dressed up for her art class, wearing this witch costume there as well as when we went to a party put on by the local college


The kids and I went around the neighborhood for about an hour, covering just about four blocks. Accalia dressed as a frog, Cole as Spiderman (without the mask), and Ella as a bee:


After that, we went to the party at the local college where there was a haunted house that scared all three kids and a few games to play. We ran into some friends, too. Cory had a busy night delivering pizzas and even got some candy out of the deal. The kids came away with quite a bit of candy, and right away Accalia sorted through hers and set aside half or more for Cory and me since she didn't like it. Ella seems to enjoy unwrapping the candy more than anything, so you know that means I have to eat up whatever she unwraps and doesn't eat!

It's been a rather rough day around here so far. Ella is napping, and Cole and Accalia are finally playing together happily. I'm attempting to pack and catch up on things before we leave tomorrow. I also woke up with a scratchy throat and feeling a bit under the weather, which hopefully won't get worse just as we're getting ready to visit.

Yesterday was also a happy day because our friend Amy gave birth a a baby girl named Gianna Faith yesterday! I hope to be able to stop on our way out of town or on our way back home to visit, but that completely depends on them as well as if I'm feeling better.