Merry, Merry Christmas

We had a very Merry Christmas. Everyone was very grateful for all their gifts. My favorite part was the hugs of gratitude.

Nathan Turns 2

My baby Nathan turned 2 on December 13th. He is such a doll. My days would be completely boring without him around. We have the most fun together. He loves to be outside more than anything. Now Nathan has just started a gymnastics class and is rolling all over the place. His favorite time of day is when his siblings come home.

We saved our celebration until Jay was able to be home with us. Nathan got a new tricycle and he helped his daddy put it together.

Also this weekend we had a birthday celebration for Nathan, my brother Steve and my nephew Sam. Sam and Nathan share a birthday.

Nathan ate cake for the first time this weekend. He had been offered cake before, but just didn't trust it. He was most pleased to have two cakes and thought they were the best part of the party.

Warning: Funny

I have to set this up. I got a forward today from a friend. The forward had the warning on it that it was funny, but lot of them do and I didn't take it seriously enough. I have put my children to bed, but no one is asleep yet. While reading I am hearing, Mommy, what are you doing? Mom, are you okay? Mom are you laughing or crying? Mommy are you snorting? Mommy are you choking? I was trying really hard to be quiet with my laughing, but I think I just made it worse. So here is your warning, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

GIRLS EYES ONLY!! Warning: Hysterically funny! Hair Removal

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner,play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: "Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet." So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom. It was one of those"cold wax" kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off. No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be? I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!) So I pull one of the thin strips out. Its two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ("Cold wax," yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works! OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire. With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (it was a long strip). I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!! I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!! Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP! Another deep breath and RIPP! Everything is spinning and spotted. I think I may pass out...must stay conscious...must stay conscious. Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal. I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold up the strip! There's no hair on it. Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX??? Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The hair that should be on the strip...it's not! I touch... I am touching wax!! I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake...remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down. Sealed shut! My butt is sealed shut. Sealed shut! I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself "Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!" What can I do to melt the wax? Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right??? *WRONG!!!!!!!* I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit. Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub...in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax. So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!!!!! I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter"So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!" There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me. She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, "Are we talking cheeks or hole or hoo-ha?" She's laughing out loud by now...I can hear her. I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else's night. While we go through various solutions. I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor. Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!! By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event. My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point? I rub some on and.. OH MY GOSH!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend. It's sooo painful, but I really don't care. "IT WORKS!! It works !!" I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair...THE HAIR IS STILL HERE.......ALL OF IT! So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point. Next week I'm going to try hair color.....

Nothing to Blog About

I was trying to keep my blog more current, but I can't find anything to blog about. I feel a little like a hamster in wheel going round and round everyday. I could say that we need more pencils in the house at homework time even though during the rest of the day there are plenty. I could tell you that each of my children would have been great only children with the amount of things each one has to do each day and the way they blossom when given undivided attention. I don't even have the attachment on my camera to add picture to my blog right now. I think my husband took it with him. It was almost 80 degrees here today and my baby wore shorts in December. In two days it will be cold again. Not much to report, but I am reporting it anyway.

Totally Inspired

I watched the show Fun-Shui on HGTV tonight and now I am adding that website to my favorites list. I as mentally going through my house rearranging and buying lots of plants. I don't know if it will help our energy in the house, but I don't think it will hurt. Any decorating I did at this point would help. Check it out, it has great ideas. www.hgtv.com/fun

School Papers

I am constantly amazed and frustrated by the amount of paper that my children bring home each night. Most of it appears to be busy work, but you never know how much that busy work means to a child. I try hard to keep a few things, but many need to be discreetly moved to the recycle box during the night. Sarah comes home the other day with no less than 12 different paper items all of which she is extremely proud of. I asked which things she wanted to keep in the keep box for school papers. She carefully went through the pile and moves all of the papers to the keep pile. After that she says, "Can I have my own file folder box to keep things in, I just can't trust you, you throw things away?" Nothing like a child to keep you honest. Meanwhile that trader of an oldest child is discreetly laughing at my situation from behind her back. Her own box seems like a good idea to me.

Silver Lining

We were planning a great trip to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. After having had a sick baby and myself being totally laid up for a day and a half that felt like a week, I dragged myself from the bed and began to pack for the trip. I accomplished miracles. I packed everything and left the house in decent order, better than before illness. We picked Jay up from the airport and were on our way. No real traffic for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We made it to the West side of Charlottesville, almost 3 hours from home when the baby threw up and we turned around and came home. It was very sad and many tears were shed, but there was a silver lining to this dark cloud. It is Sunday night now and our Christmas Tree is up, there is a pretty new wreath on the door, our furniture is rearranged and looks better than it has since we moved in, I have a new rug in the family room and those are just the obvious improvements. Now the baby still doesn't seem quite right and I still have an iffy stomach, but we accomplished much. Oh and not to forget, Jay and my dad completed the shingles on half of the garage. We did very well.

In Sickness and In Health

Jay has been able to come home and join us every weekend since we left him in Rhode Island at the end of the summer. We have been having a wonderful time. We work hard most of Saturday and watch a movie and football Saturday night. Then Sunday he plays games with the children and lets me have a bit of alone time with my pillow. It really has been good. Since last weekend had an extra day for Veteran's Day and next weekend is a long weekend for Thanksgiving, Jay didn't come home this weekend. We did well without him, no tears since he will be here Wednesday night. Last night, I was working hard on the laundry and had just told the big kids to go to bed when at 9:15 what should I hear but the sounds of throwing up. Nathan was doing the projectile thing big time. I won't go into details because that is just gross, but I will say that this is why children should be raised with two parents. There are other good reasons besides sickness, but that one right there seems good enough for me. One parent can't clean the child, comfort the child, rock and sooth the child and do the laundry at the same time. By the way, my washer takes 52 minutes to do a super duty wash and 2nd rinse. I have timed it now. We made it through and I received lots of good snuggles from the sick baby who still isn't feeling great. I just couldn't believe of all the weekends Jay missed this one. He was very sympathetic over the phone though.

Dancing in Red High Heels

Last year inspired by Kelly Pickler's song Red High Heels I went out and bought a pair of Jessica Simpson 4 inch red high heels. They are my daughter's favorite thing to play dress up in. Rarely are those red shoes neatly in my closet. Most of the time they are in different rooms scattered throughout the house. Today tops it all. Thursdays are crazy here. Dance and piano follow school very fast on Thursdays. I told Sarah to go to the bathroom and wait for me. Bathroom time is very important right after school and there is usually a line. So while Sarah waited for me she got undressed to get ready for dance. I found her practicing her dance completely naked in my red high heels with some random jewelery on. My first thought is I can't believe this, it is so funny I need to get the camera. Quickly followed by my second thought, I can't take a picture of this. So my third thought was I have to share this moment. No picture to go with this blog.

Remember Me on You Tube

My sister-in-law sent this to Jay today. Alex came home from school to find me crying from watching it. It really moved me. Tissue alert.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

Cookies and Milk

I try to be a modern mom and feed my children well. At least that is what I tell myself when it isn't dinner time and all is calm. When it is dinner time and we are out and about at dance and piano and Chick-Fil-A is having family night I forget all about being concerned with a balanced diet. Anyway, my point is that especially after school I want the children to have a nice healthy snack. That usually digresses to complaining about what is being offered, or not eating anything and complaining of starvation. Today however, I was making chocolate chip cookies for a pack meeting tonight and I gave the boys a warm cookie and some milk after school. You would think that Mary Poppins had moved in. They were so happy. The look of peace and pleasure on their faces as they ate the warm sugary treat made me want to give them that everyday. I believe it was truly as emotionally satisfying as it was tasty. Makes it hard to give them carrots and cheese now.

Our Incredible Summer - The Forsgren Family Reunion

Our summer vacation began early in the morning of June 24th. That is my oldest birthday. We began our car trip out West with the Forsgren Family Reunion as our destination. Day one, load into the new Hyundai Entourage (that is worth every penny we paid for it). It has automatic doors, leather seats and a mounted DVD player. YEAH! We had four days to get to Bear Lake Idaho. We made it within 10 minutes of check-in on Thursday afternoon. Pretty good timing.

Jay comes from a family of 10 living children. Those children have multiplied and replenished to the tune of 39 grand children at the time of the reunion. Since then we have added 1 more birth and great hopes of two more to be adopted soon. Jay's sister Carolyn planned and executed a great gathering. We shared 1 very nice large house that overlooked the lake. After Friday morning picture taking, which was interesting to say the least, there was much fun to be had. People went to the lake, played pool and ping pong at the house, and just hung out all over. No one had a schedule to keep so we just spent time together. Our favorite way to play. Carolyn and her husband Chad bought all the food, but we took turns preparing it. Every evening we spent time playing games until too tired to see and think.

The children are spaced so closely in age that it has allowed for them to grow up very close as siblings. They all love each other so much and it comes across very clearly when we get together. They have the best time when they are together. They play rough and then they sit around and talk about how old they are getting. Our greatest accomplishment of the reunion was that there were no trips to the emergency room.

Our Incredible Summer - Birthdays and Baptism

I neglected to mention on Jay’s homecoming that he came home a whole day early. That left us with a day that had been blank on the calendar that we could fill. My parents always say that if I can fit it in the calendar square I think I can do it. Well, we decided to celebrate Sarah and Alex’s birthdays. Both fell in June and last year both had sorry birthdays due to their dad leaving. This time it wasn’t looking any better because the calendar was so full. We sent out email invites to Chuck E Cheese for the day after Jay got home and put together two rockin’ parties. Both had a great turnout for last minute parties and most of all their dad was home to help celebrate.
On the second day after Jay got home we had Spencer’s baptism. That was wonderful for him. He had asked Grandpa to speak at his baptism and even though it wasn’t the most convenient thing for Grandpa to do, he came. It meant so much to Spencer who really hates living so far from Grandma and Grandpa.
We ran late to the baptism, but considering it was just our family and friends it turned out okay. Our friend Ken gave a talk on baptism that involved car keys. Spencer was really impressed by it. Then Jay baptized Spencer. Grandpa gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and compared it to an imaginary friend which Spencer could totally relate to. Then Spencer was confirmed. We forgot our camera and so we don’t have any pictures to document. Spencer’s friend Nathan from school came. Grandmama, Granddaddy, Mr. Mike and Miss Mary Sue were also there. Our best friends from church were there along with all of Ken’s family too. What a special two days!

Our Incredible Summer - Jay's Homecoming

A week after school got out for summer vacation, Jay came home from Iraq. He had been gone for a year with only a two week visit at home during that year. We were so glad to finally have him back. Jay caught an earlier flight from Baltimore than we had thought he would and so at the last minute after months of planning we were rushing out the door unprepared. In hind sight, you really don’t have to prepare; he was just glad to see us and didn’t care what we were wearing or how our hair looked. We had a poster that Spencer’s class had made for him. The airport made us passes and let us go to the gate to greet him. A crowded flight to Orlando was lining up in between where the passenger got off and where we were, but when he finally got off and saw us the crowds parted to let him through. He looked fantastic. No kidding, it wasn’t just the six months of not having seen him, he looked terrific. In all our rushing we hadn’t been able to bring the baby because he was still sleeping, but my parents with the baby and our neighbors and Jay’s dad were all waiting for us after we gathered Jay up and left the terminal. I just love homecomings!

Our Incredible Summer - School's Out

Our incredible summer began with finishing out school and activities. Sarah performed in her first dance recital and was so great. All we heard the whole dance year was that she was not going to go on stage and no one could make her. By the end of the year a star had been born. I didn't believe that she would do it until the day before when she completed her dress rehearsal. The fancy make-up really helped. Sarah knew her whole dance and did fantastic.

The boys had their first piano recital. Their teacher was awesome and she helped them pick the best music to show their talent well and make them comfortable. Alex played the them from Star Wars and Spencer played I Love to Ride the Roller Coaster. They were very proud of themselves and all they had accomplished. So was I. It was a great recital.

For school, Alex finished Elementary School and Sarah completed Kindergarten. Spencer completed 2nd grade, but they don't make a big deal out of that at this school. Alex had a great completion ceremony and a pool party. Sadly though two of his best friends moved away right after school got out.

Sarah's class had a completion party too with superlatives included. Sarah was given the award for "Most Glorious Hair" and an award for not "moving her bear" the whole year. That means that she didn't get in trouble. She worked and worried very hard about that all year.

It was a great school year. Sarah's dance teacher was Miss Tammy. Alex and Spencer took piano from Melissa White. The children's teachers were Mrs. Christensen, Mrs. True, Mrs. Stitt and Mrs. Kulas.

Cape Cod

Last Saturday the family went to Cape Cod for the day. It wasn't the best time of year to go, but we were looking for an activity and this seemed like the one to do. We played Mini-Golf in Hyannis and rode the carousel. It was a beautiful day and we had a great deal of fun, but we also had a tired baby and so much traffic you couldn't believe it. My favorite sight of the day was while we were in traffic for 2 hours and a half we saw a bumper sticker that said, "If it is called tourist season then why can't we shot them?"

Surprise

I did it. I kept a secret. It is hard for me to keep secrets. I hate them. I want to know what I am getting for Christmas and birthdays and everything. I also like to tell others what they are getting just as much. In spite of this personality flaw I kept a secret from my husband for two weeks. Actually, I kept two secrets. The first one was that I had invited his friend Ken up from North Carolina to visit for the weekend as Jay's birthday present. Ken is in the red shirt in the background. The second surprise was that we had a surprise party for Jay for his 35th birthday. It was a beautiful day and so many great people came to help him celebrate. Jay was truly surprised and loved it. As people kept showing up he could believe so many people had come out for him and he was very humbled by all the love shown him. I love him so much. He is such a wonderful person, it makes me very happy to have given him this gift. He was also totally floored that I actually kept a secret.

All is quiet

Inside my house all is quiet. Not a sound, not even snoring. Everyone is asleep, even my husband who is waiting to use the computer and has fallen asleep on the sofa.
But outside my house life is a party. Cars are going past steadily, horns honk randomly, someone is reviving an engine and the other people with him think it is really funny. Several different groups of people are gathered around on the porches and roofs visiting. It is clearly a Friday night and because we don't have air conditioning we are hearing it all. Such a contrast between inside the house and outside.
But the house is cute and in a fun location and it is only for a month so I'm not complaining.