The Ultimate Girl Brother

I spent some time with my adult kids. I was shifting toys, clothes, and bedding between rooms, and the place was a mess.  I asked my kids to help me find a top sheet and described it as sparkly. My son said sparkly in a weird baby voice. Then they looked at each other and knowingly chuckled. Ok, I clearly missed something.

They explained that they were quoting a Barbie sidekick. But--plot twist! They didn't name the same sidekick or same movie. They stared at one another in consternation. And then I sat back for the best show ever. I can't actually replicate it because I am just a mom of four girls.

My 25-year-old son proceeded to school my 23-year-old daughter on the polar bear and other cutie sidekick from some Barbie and Mariposa. He gave detail after detail until light dawned on my daughter's face. Ah, yes! Of course! The cutie little thing is the one who said sparkly in a weird baby voice!

If there is another scenario that better exemplifies the ultimate girl brother, I don't know what it is. Although, seeing as how he IS the ultimate girl brother, these scenes happen on the regular.

It Seemed Like Such a Good Idea

 It took days to shake the image from my mind.  My daughter, with safety goggles propped up unsafely on her head, left hand on a piece of wood, right hand aiming a power drill at the same piece of wood, was grinning at me as I entered the area.  To be abundantly clear, her eyes were on ME while her finger was on the trigger of the drill aimed at her hand. Can you see it? I can't STOP seeing it.

The day started so beautifully.  It was a Friday that my husband had off. The girls actually slept in a bit. We had a peaceful breakfast. The weather was nice enough for them to play outside, which they did without a fuss. After a leisurely morning, we thought it would a great idea to spend the afternoon at the science museum.  We had been once before, and it was just the last hour that the place was open.  It went well, so this seemed a great way to fill a few hours.

When we got there, one of our girls was attacked by ADHD FOMO. She couldn't focus on anything because her eyes kept wandering to other areas to see what she was missing. She was totally overwhelmed. 

Next we tried to sit through an astronomy film on the domed screen.  That was just silly, expecting 4, 7, and 9-year-old girls to be still for that long.  Bust.

So we headed for the "Maker" area. Crafting is my girls' idea of heaven. It is the one activity that can occupy the bigs for hours. There were several stations within the area, and I settled into one with the littlest.  The other two wandered around, getting the lay of the land.  They settled in the wood-working area. When the baby followed them, I did, too.

Which is when I got my haunting nightmare image that won't leave me alone.  My husband was setting each up at a different station and had given instructions to the eldest first. Then she apparently ticked every box of instruction and did the opposite. Safety goggles? Certainly not on her eyes. Placement of hands? Certainly right where the drill is going to go. Where do you look when your hand is on the trigger? Well, obviously never at the drill itself. Be still my heart!

Sick

Last Christmas we were sick and shoveling snow.  This year looks like we might squeak by and come out ‘oh for two.’ (I am not a sports person and this is the first time in my whole life I have ever tried actually writing that phrase.  I realize that I don’t know how to spell the ‘oh’ we use for the number zero.  Hmm…)

I actually enjoy shoveling snow.  Sadly, clear skies are forecasted for the whole week.  We have had picturesque snow on the ground for a few weeks, because of the eyeball-freezing tempuratures since the last snowfall.  Looks like we got a thaw just in time to have a brown, muddy Christmas.  I don’t remember ol’ Bing singing anything dreamy about gloppy doggie prints on everything I own! 

For the other part of the score, the kids have had what I am calling a 36 hour fever.  Thankfully, as sick goes, it’s  not so rough.  No stomach issues other than loss of appetite (please pause to sing the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah with me), no wracking cough, no stuffy heads. Both kids more or less slept for two nights and a day, and had a recovery day of lounging. I am truly thankful for these blessings.

The nice thing about sick is the forced slow-down to our schedule.  We have some pretty phenomenal friends and I love spending time with them.  Our calendar can get pretty packed without much effort.  Being on lock-down gives us a chance to reconnect as family, serve one another when we are weak and take the time to rest.  I don’t ever like missing the neat things we had planned, but I am almost always appreciative for the restorative time together.

Hopefully, my husband and I will be spared this particular infection, our doggie will continue to get back to normal (the surprising wet spots on the carpet are getting super old) and we can have a very merry, healthy Christmas! 

Family Traditions

We have some family traditions to help us stay focused on Christ during the Advent season. Some evolved over time, initially happening either by chance or without any regularity, but over the years they have just come to be cherished activities our family anticipates each December.  Other traditions we have established more thoughtfully and with more purpose.  And some on this list are new-to-us traditions.  I’d love to hear from you about the things you do that acknowledge this special time of year.

Most of these are pretty inexpensive and not too time consuming.  Feel free to try some out for your own family.

 

Read Jotham’s Journey	Make and Send Christmas Cards	Donate the Christmas Coin Jar	Go Christmas Caroling	Make a Blessings Poster
Do a Random Act of Kindness	Make Christmas Ornaments	Bake for the Christmas Tree Lighting on Main Street	Decorate the House	Watch Charlie Brown Christmas
Make a Christmas Dinner with Friends	Watch the Grinch with Jim Carrey	Make Paper Snow Flakes	Write a Letter to Family Members	Watch The Santa Clause Movies
Make a Birthday Cake for Jesus	Have an Advent Wreathe	Go See Christmas Lights	Watch the Polar Express	Watch The Very First Noel
Family Game Night	Make a Pinecone Bird Feeder	Special Christmas Breakfast	Make Marshmallow Snowmen	Make Snowmen Pizza
Put on a Play	Christmas PJs	Play the Stocking Game	Make a Christmas Cookie Tree	Find New Christmas Music
Make a Countdown Garland of Green and Red Paper	Make a Christmas Craft	Bring Goodies to Fire, Police and Hospital Workers	Buy gifts through World Vision	Make Popcorn Garlands for the birds

Achievement

My kids had an exciting weekend.  My son tested for the next level in his red belt for tae kwon do on Friday night.  He has tested plenty of times before, but this one was a little nerve wracking.  His teacher told him that if he didn’t break his boards, he would not pass.  My son has his daddy’s long legs, so sparring is pretty easy for him.  He has a memory to beat all, so performing his form and reciting verses is something he can do on demand without much effort. That said, board breaking is his least favorite part of his class. His strength in the other areas has allowed him to skate a little on board breaking.  His teachers wanted to push him and not let him get away with being lazy.  He was pretty anxious about this task and we prayed about it all week. 

My husband took him to the testing while I hosted a Bible study and kept checking Facebook and texts for updates.  As much as we expected it, we know that bad days happen, so the reports that he flew through his sparring and then his form both came with welcome relief.  After too long a wait, we finally got word that he broke all of his boards!  Praise be!

Our daughter was preparing for a test of her own on Sunday.  She participated in a recital and had more dances than ever before, including a solo.  Let me tell you that this girl worked!  For months, she attended classes and practiced diligently at home, building strength, programming the choreography into her muscle memory and worked on elevating a series of moves to an expressive dance.  She was wonderful!  My sorrow is that we were sitting so far from the stage, that I didn’t get any photos or videos.  Great sorrow. 

Mirroring that loss, I didn’t get any footage of my boy at all.  Here are just a few pictures of them sort of around the times of their achievements.  Best I can do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Creative Girl

During school the other day, my girl got the clay out and made a couple of yummy-looking creations while I was reading.  Check them out!

  Ice cream…

  And cookies!