Mission Impossible

Last week, the kids and I went to Arkansas, which means I flew with both of them by myself. Most of the people I talked to in the airport and who knew how we traveled asked me questions like "How did you do it?" "What were you thinking?" and "Are you crazy?" But we made it there and back without any major incidents or meltdowns.

But I did not go without a plan! For one thing, I planned not to have any downtime for myself. Just as a security measure, I made sure we all dressed alike.

To cut down on bulk we bought an umbrella stroller, which is conveniently light, but could not be pushed with one hand, so Caleb had to trail along behind me.

I attached a note to his ankle that had my cell number on it and told him to "look for someone who looks like a grandma" if he lost me and ask her to call it. I thought he didn't understand, but he clearly explained the whole thing to the man sitting behind us on one of our flights.

One of my distraction techniques was to introduce Caleb to a couple of things he'd never seen...like wax lips!

And we did a couple of art projects - here's our "barf bag sticker collage".

After everything, it was not as hard to travel with two as I thought it would be. Three is siginificantly more mature than 2 1/2 and Caleb was able to play by himself or look out the window most of the time. And Annalise was generally charming and thought everyone wanted to hold her. Thankfully, most of the people sitting next to us did!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Little Green Thumb and Distractions A-plenty

Being out of town for five months pretty much killed most of my plants. I actually had a couple survive total neglect. So Caleb and I have started gardening during Annalise's morning nap. I guess plants are on his mind because when he and Rob went to Home Depot, he picked out these marigolds for me...and he takes care of them too and they are thriving :)

Tomorrow we are going to Arkansas, which I have been looking forward to, and we are flying, which I am not looking forward to! Rob is staying in Miami to work, so I am going solo with both kids. I spent the last few weeks brainstorming all sorts of distractions to occupy Caleb with on the flights. We have a layover in Charlotte. I have way more snacks than I intend to give him, multiple simple craft projects, a few small and lesser loved toys (we've left toys on airplanes before), and lots and lots of books.

I am so prepared for Caleb that I totally forgot I will be holding Annalise in my lap for the entire trip. I forgot that she is cruising now and likes to tear paper and pull my hair. I forgot that she loves to throw her sippy cup...and has quite an arm! She also loves to push buttons. So today I decided we would invest in toy with a lot of buttons, if it is too noisy, I will just switch it off, she likes to push the buttons even if they don't make noise (noise is preferred however).

And lucky us, K-mart was having a clearance on toys! And I found a nice LeapFrog phonics toy with individual buttons for each letter of the alphabet and it was half price! ....And it is totally in Spanish, which I didn't notice initially, but that's ok, I just have no idea what it's saying.

A Few Pictures and Funny Things Caleb is Saying These Days

I know you do it too - the door bell rings and you know it's someone you don't want to let in, so you just don't answer...


Caleb had his 3 year physical this week. He was very nervous so we talked about it a lot so he would know what to expect. We gave him this doctor kit so he could have some fun with it. He ended up not needing any shots, but had to have a finger prick, I told him it would hurt just for a second and that would be it - he was such a tough guy! I asked him afterwards if it hurt and he said, "Only for a minute", which was funny coming from someone who can't tell time :)

I turned out to be a good thing we gave him the kit - bear is evidentally very sick and requires a lot of shots!

My little Picaso...when this kid wants to paint, he is serious about it!

The other day we were out and Caleb saw a crushed cup in a parking lot, he always (ALWAYS) wants to know "Who did that?", but that day he said, "A glitter bug threw that down there!"

She's so graceful when she's sleeping...


Annalise is forever putting something tiny in her mouth. I'll put my hand under her chin and say, "What's in your mouth Annalise?" Today Caleb heard me asking her and he piped in, "Just a tongue!"


In other news, we have had TWO people come and see our house this week. Our realtor came on Monday to take pictures (and if you know our address, you can see them online, but I'm not listing the link here!). When she left, I asked how much notice I could expect when people wanted to see the house. She said, "At least 2 hours or as much as a day." Between my 2 wiggly ones and the black furry one, I thought 2 hours would be the absolute minimum I could manage to make the house presentable, but for the showing on Wednesday I had 1 hour notice and the one on Thursday I had 30 minutes! It certainly is a big incentive to make the bed as soon as you get up in the morning! I'm on day 12 of Flylady and I must say, she is the big reason we were able to get things presentable in half an hour.

A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts Interview

A SCRAPBOOK OF CHRISTMAS FIRSTS

(Leafwood Publishers, October 2008)

A wonderful new gift book, A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts, is available in October for Christmas giving. Today, I’ve invited the six coauthors to share their unique story of how they came together to publish this exciting book full of stories, recipes, tips for simplifying the holidays and so much more (click on bookcover to see the trailer!).

First, let me introduce Cathy Messecar, Leslie Wilson, Brenda Nixon, Trish Berg, Terra Hangen and Karen Robbins. Thank you for being here today, ladies.

Karen: Thank you for the invitation.

You are from three different areas of the country—Texas, California, and Ohio. How did you all meet?

Terra: We all six joined The Writers View, an online group for professional Christian writers. Trish and Brenda met in person in 2004 for lunch, I understand, and on 9/18/04, after reading a post Brenda sent to TWV, I sent an email to Brenda, asking if she would like to join with me and walk alongside each other, as a Barnabas group. Brenda said yes that same day, and suggested Trish too. Very quickly Cathy, Leslie and Karen joined in and our stalwart band of six was formed. Living in California, I was so happy to find 5 Barnabas writers in other states so we could bring together a wealth of different viewpoints and expertise

Brenda: Actually, We haven’t met. We’re all great colleagues and friends via the internet. Four years ago Terra and I formed a dyad to support each other as Christians who write in the secular markets. Along came Trish, Cathy, Karen, and Leslie (not necessarily in that order) and we formed a close knit bond of support, creative energy, and professional accountability.

Karen: I met Trish through an online forum called The Writers View and she invited me to join the group.

Trish: Although we belong to the same Yahoo writing group, we met one by one online. Eventually, the six of us decided that since we all write as Christians for a secular market through magazine articles and newspaper columns, we could support and encourage one another.

Leslie: Though we met virtually through The Writers View, I have been blessed to give and get hugs from Trish (at a MOPS conference), Cathy (in the area on business) and Karen (in town for a writers' conference). I can’t wait to meet Terra and Brenda face-to-face, though I feel as though I already know them!

How did you come up with the idea to do a book together?

Brenda: The book is Cathy’s brainchild. She mentioned the concept of telling stories of events that happened for the first time at Christmas and sharing holiday historical tidbits and recipes and each said, “If you need any help, let me know.” That offer morphed into each of us equally contributing and co-authoring A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts.

Trish: Yep, Cathy came up with the idea and the title, and asked us if we wanted to join her on this project. Of course, we said Yes!

Terra: Cathy mentioned the idea for a Christmas book to the group, and someone (I think it was Leslie) suggested that maybe our group could all write the book together. Cathy agreed to lead the way on the project. The earliest email I have on this is from 9/7/05, which shows that this has been a three year collaboration from idea to publication.

Karen: (Chuckling) Terra is a librarian and keeps our historical records by saving our e-mails.

Leslie: Actually, Terra, I wrote that comment (in a group e-mail) kind of tongue-in-cheek. Cathy, the ultra-sweet person she is, took my joking at face value and here we are. However, I believe God prompted the passion and ideas we all bring to the project and that He will do mighty things as a result of our collaboration!

Why did you decide on a Christmas theme?

Brenda: It was Cathy’s concept to write a book centering on Christmas.

Cathy: For several years, I’d been thinking about Christmas as a threshold to introduce Jesus to folks who aren’t familiar with him, and I love a simpler Christmas with the emphasis on family, friends and doing for others. I knew of some families who had experienced “firsts” at Christmas—reunions, losses, special surprises—and I wanted to collect those stories.

Terra: Cathy’s idea immediately resonated with me because Christmas books are “a way past watchful dragons,” as C. S. Lewis wrote. Many people won’t buy a book about being a Christian, but will buy a holiday and family fun book, thus the “past watchful dragons.” People who want to grow in their faith, and people who have no faith but celebrate Christmas will buy our book and hopefully be led to put the focus back on Christ for the holiday, and for their lives.

Leslie: Though Cathy birthed the idea, the rest of us quickly hopped on board. Not only is Christmas special to me—especially now that I have a family of my own—but also that particular holiday cries out to be simplified, to return to the meaningful aspects of celebration, and to lose some of the hype and commercialism.

Tell me a little about what is in A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts? What is your favorite part?

Cathy: I like that you can read one chapter in about 15 minutes and, with all the different suggestions, it feels like Christmas Eve. Makes you want to set up the nativity! Many of the suggestions for family activities can be adapted for any family get-together.

Karen: There are heartwarming stories about things that happened for the first time at Christmas. For instance, one of my stories is about the first Christmas with our adopted children. And the book is pretty. When I first saw the colorful pages and drawings, I fell in love with the illustrator’s work.

Brenda: I don’t have a favorite part – I love it all!

Terra: I like the way the parts are woven into a seamless whole, like a patchwork quilt, that is stronger and more beautiful than the parts.

Trish: It’s like everything you ever wanted to know about Christmas, all the best tips and recipes, and neat stories all wrapped up in this perfect little package.

Leslie: I love reading the special stories, hints, recipes—whatever—and imagining the precious family time that precipitated each moment. Plus, the book is gorgeous, beautifully printed, truly something to be proud of. And we are.

I’ve heard that the book is really a nice gift book; can you tell me a little about the format?

Cathy: Yes, it’s a hardbound book, full color interior. The layout makes it easy to read. It has a definite scrapbooky look on the interior. Different logos identify sections, such as an oilcloth-look Christmas stocking appears beside the “Stocking Stuffer Tradition” (help for connecting family members), and the “Cookie Canister” recipes are on a recipe card, and the back ground of “A Gift For You” is a gift box with bow. It’s a classy gift that they can be placed on a coffee table or in a guest bedroom during the holiday season.

Brenda: I like to describe it as a Starbuck’s sorta gift book. It’s high quality, crisp, and practical.

With six different personalities and areas of ministry, how did you manage to put this all together and still remain friends?

Karen: We pray a lot for each other and it helps that none of us have an over-inflated ego.

Cathy: There were no squabbles. Surely, we had differing opinions, but we knew that any of us could suggest an idea for this book and that each idea would get fair reviews from others. We actually voted on some aspects—everyone in favor say, “Aye.” If you’ve ever watched women at a Dutch treat luncheon when they divide up a meal ticket, it can be intense as they split the ticket down to the penny. As the project came together, I was in awe of my gracious coauthors, unselfish women who respect each other.
For some decisions, we did a round robin—things like book title and chapter titles and what categories to put into the book. Then, as compiler, I’d send out a list of needs to The Word Quilters, that’s what we call ourselves. For instance in a section we call “Peppermints for Little Ones” (hints for children’s activities), I’d put out a call, and the WQs sent in their hints, and then I put them into appropriate chapters.

Brenda: (Smiling) Are we still friends? Seriously, we each have our own platform, ministry, and family life, and those interests kept this project in perspective – it was important but not the only thing on our plates. No one was so enmeshed in this project that she campaigned for her own way. We never had a bitter disagreement or insistence to be “right.”

Terra: We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders.We offer support and ideas for our separate writing projects and for personal prayer requests. I love these ladies, and I have only met one of them in person. So far, Karen is the only one who has met each of us, and one day we hope to meet in person, in a circle of friendship and love.

Trish: I think we are all very flexible and forgiving. We do have a variety of personalities here, but God has worked amazing things through our little group.

Leslie: Though I have seven non-fiction projects in various stages of completion, I could not be more thankful that this is the one to reach publication first. I am truly blessed to have worked with these women, learned from them, watched as they’ve poured heart and soul into crafting a product that will impact lives for the Lord.

Where can my readers get a copy of SOCF?

Cathy: The coauthors will all have a supply, plus our publisher, Leafwood Publishers, will have plenty of copies and discounts for buying five or more. Or they can be ordered at most online stores or by your local bookstore.

Karen: And anyone who leaves a comment here can be entered in a drawing for a free book and a gift basket worth $200! For a list of its contents, check our blog, A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts. And while you're there, leave another comment and increase your chances of winning!

Tell me more about your blog.

Karen: We started our blog in July and it is accumulating a wealth of information about Christmas. Each of us posts one day a week following the theme for that week. Watch for new recipes, tips, ways to simplify, stories, etc., similar to what is in our book.

Leslie: Ooh, ooh, let me answer this one. I’m probably the newest to blogging among the group, but I LOVE it. I’ve enjoyed posting and receiving comments back from readers. What an amazing adventure having an online voice can be! This blog will focus on a different theme each week—anything from tips to avoid overeating during the holidays to how to give a guest room special touches—and expand on the material in the book. I think readers will get to know the authors’ individual personalities and connect on a more personal level. Plus, they get that many more ideas, information, inspiration (!) at no additional cost.

WQs: As an added bonus for inviting us to your blog, we’d like to pass along this Christmas tidbit to you and your readers:

Enjoy a blessed Christmas this year! And thanks for inviting us to share our book, A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts, with you.

Look Who's THREE!

Can it really have been three years since they handed me that tiny face, swaddled into a bundle, who needed to be held so so much, who got so pudgy, who was so eager to walk, but slow to talk...and now is so busy, so not-pudgy, and so full of words! Caleb is THREE!

So...some highlights from our day. We started off with sprinkle pancakes!

Then we went to the Gold Coast Railway Museum, which is very impressive, I recommend it.


They had several cars, some pretty old, that you could walk through. Some fixed up and some not so much.

They even had a double decker car.

Passenger car.

Tanker in the yard.

The museum also has a building devoted to model trains and it has a whole room full of train tables with Thomas type trains on it. We went once with our playgroup and it is such a great place to take toddlers and preschoolers.

They play so well together when there is a barrier between them!


We invited a (very) few friends over and had pizza and cake, so not a formal party, but it was fun.

Caleb's train cake - in planning this cake, I foresaw that it was going to be too challenging to make the engine look a lot like Thomas, so I figured, ice it blue, add a face and that will be Thomas enough, Caleb was so incredibly delighted!

The big moment!

No icing for babies! She has to wait for her birthday next month!

Caleb decorated these party hats we're wearing here. I had a piece of poster board we only used a corner of, so I let him finger paint the rest of it and then cut it into half circles and made the hats. It was sooooooo easy and looked very nice.

Yea presents!

From Mommy and Daddy - a real backpack, which he asked for...and which just happens to be big enough to hold all of his trains and track pieces.

Applesauce

The other night, Caleb and Rob were talking and Rob commented on how Caleb will repeat whatever he hears. Rob said, "Caleb, tell Mommy to make me some cake and ice cream!"

Obediently, Caleb repeated, "Make Daddy cake and ice cream!"

"Ok," I said, "Tell Daddy to give Mommy a foot massage."

Caleb paused for a second and then turned to Rob, "Give Mommy some applesauce!"

Sooooooooo Cute!

Wordless Wednesday

Two Pictures I Took for No Reason Unless I Post them Here

Question: Do you have a bumper sticker on your car? And if you do...is it a bank bumper sticker. I would think the percentage of bank bumper stickers that find their way onto an actual bumper is pretty low, but we have seen A LOT of "Riverside Bank [Hearts] Me" bumper stickers. Rob's theory is that all these people have overdrafted and the bank has said, "Look we can charge you a huge overdraft fee...or you could put this on your car."

This is our Ft Myers (and therefore former) neighbor's cat...evidentally testing that whole 9 lives theory.

Key West

Have you ever noticed...well if you don't live in Florida, I'm sure you haven't even considered it, but Key West never seems to get hit by a hurricane. They are always in the "cone" and constantly evacuating and the news is always showing locals foolishly "riding out the storm", but in my experience, Key West always gets some strong breezes and misses the brunt of the storm.

I'm sure the main reason this is is that Key West's area is only 7 1/2 square miles, so even though they are hanging right in the middle of a busy hurricane zone, they are such a small target that the odds of getting a direct hit are actually pretty low. Granted, you don't have to get a direct hit to have a bad storm.

Regardless, the attitude of those who live in the Keys is pretty laid back. I guess - like the rest of Florida - they just put up with hurricane season in order to enjoy the rest of the year.

MOPS & 'Canes

The kids and I went to a MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) this morning. It was really great - they actually had childcare! At the meeting there were refreshments, a speaker, and craft time...which sounds kind of kindergarten-y to write, but it was fun. Anyway, the speaker had two quotes that kind of stuck with me -

One was "Find significance under your feet rather than over the fence."

The other was, "When the student is ready, the teacher arrives." - which sounds like something from a fortune cookie (and I read online is a Buddhist proverb), but I really see how this is true. Sometimes you will hear someone on the radio or a sermon and feel like they are talking just to you, but what is really happening is you have some part of you that is very hungry for answers and their words fill that hole. What is more important is a Biblical proverb I read last night:

Like an archer who wounds at random
is he who hires a fool or any passer-by. (Pr. 26:10)

Obviously an archer not noticing who he is aiming at will eventually hit someone he cares about. I thought it was a pretty strong warning about being careful who your surround yourself with...which was the point of our speaker this morning - When we are feeling empty, whoever is around us is going to put stuff inside and the long term consequences can be serious.

The MOPS group was part of a church we visited last weekend. A lot of churches around here seem to have a lot of things going on, but for a mother of small children, a lot of those things aren't realistic - too late at night, no child care provided, etc. So this group seemed great to me - and I'm sure to the other mothers who were there. As of last spring (when we came to Ft. Myers), our church in Miami didn't have anything going on that I could really get involved with outside of Sunday morning - and even morning nap schedules messed with that.

That said, we are going back to Miami day after tomorrow and my job there will be to keep our house in a continual state of being clean enough to show to potential buyers. I think I am going to re-join Flylady.

Otherwise, I've been watching the tropics...it is Cape Verde season (the most active part of hurricane season) and the Atlantic does not disappoint. There are 3 named storms right now:

Hanna - whose projected target gets farther and farther north, sometimes these storms sort of go along the coast without ever coming on shore and curl back into the sea. Hopefully that will be Hanna's path. It's good to be on the western side of these storms - for some reason they are always lopsided and the worst weather is on the east.


Ike - which looks bad for now, but his forecast path has also moved north (he had looked like he was headed for the Keys), I'm learning that it is not worth your time to stress over these things until they are within 3 days of you.


Josephine - she's just too far away to really watch yet.


Ack! Well, it's September 4 (Happy Birthday Brian!), things traditionally peak out around September 10. But it only takes one - Hurricane Andrew came in a year with only 6 named storms - average is 10.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Mini-Trip

I guess we've done a lot of half day trips this summer - going places nearby so that we could be home for naptime and stay on schedule, but today we went all out and spent a whole day out and about. We went to the Pioneer Day Festival at the Pioneer Museum and Village in Dade City, Florida - which is no where near Dade county!

It was a very nice day in a place very unlike where we are about to return to. Although the museum was not away from town, it had a sort of summer camp feel to it.
Both of our kids were delighted to find some of their favorite things there! Annalise loves horses (actually I think Annalise just loves animals, she is a pretty big dog person already).
And Caleb...kind of, sort of...is into trains.
And of course he cared nothing about this big swirly lollipop.

















These pictures are from the 1860s fashion show.



The guy dressed as a soldier had just come from a civil war reenactment at Gettysburg - where there were over 25,000 participants! The actual battle didn't even have that many soldiers.

The "village" part of this place was made up of historic buildings that had been brought to the property and restored. Here's Caleb in the schoolhouse.
I like how the old schoolhouses were so patriotic!

There was a civil war reenactment as a part of the festival too. The soldiers had their camps around the village.
The Confederates march through town.
Posing with a soldier.
Here is the battlefield where they held the reenactment. There was no actual battle at Dade City, so they actually made up a sort of script for the battle. It was supposed to be "of the same sort" of battle as most civil war battles, except that the field was very small, so the armies were much closer to each other than they would have been in reality.
The battle began with the rebs approaching a Union camp and then pulling back as the Union soldiers began to fire at them.
There was a whole lot of pops and booms and smoke.
I noticed that the Union stood close together and fired on command...
while the confederates were more spread out and fired at will.

It was a blazing hot day and for all the booming and popping, there were no casualties until the very end of the battle! Rob said it was very interesting how all the fallen soldiers seemed to get hit in the shade.

Some other things we saw...there was so much I did not photograph.
It was useless to try to tell Caleb that this engine was not a train engine.
Old shoes.
Old tractor.

We succeeded in thoroughly exhausting both Caleb and Annalise!
Annalise gives our adventure a thumbs up :)