advent... fail

 

just a note:

this is not a reflection on the quality of “truth in the tinsel.” amanda did an amazing job creating an advent calendar that reflects beautifully on the events of Jesus’ birth. we will definitely do this again! the daily readings were well thought out and the daily craft solidified the story and provided extra hours of role play for my kiddos to reenact the events. i HIGHLY recommend it!!

in 2011 i purchased  Truth in the Tinsel.  it was all over the blogosphere and i thought it would be awesome to do with the kids.  i never got my act together with supplies or anything, and i was working full time nights, so it never made it off the computer.

this year was gonna be different! i was prepared!

in early November, i sent the file to my hubby to print (he has a laser printer... way faster than mine)

i made a list immediately of the things we didn’t have in our craft closet.  i even read through the material to see what the ornaments looked like and what we could substitute.

went to walmart to get all the extra supplies (we weren’t missing too many). 

we cut out the countdown squares and put them on the wall in one of our pocket charts.

the children were excited to do this.

we started strong.  i had 1.5 weeks off at the beginning of the month (weird scheduling thing) and we were off and running!  even the moose participated!

then, disaster.  i had to work.  i forgot to get the craft ready for daddy.  have no fear, he improvised!!  he used paper plates for zecheriah and sent me pics while i was at work.  awesome job!!

then, the busyness of the season took over, the kids stopped asking about the craft, and around day 12 we stopped altogether. 

*sigh*

i had such high hopes for our advent season. 

another mommy fail...

there is always next year, right? 

my dad would be shakin' his head...

i (we) did something really stupid the other day.

it actually took place over several days. i thought about whether or not to blog about it because it is, well, embarrassing.

a pregnant moment, if you will.

at least, that is what i am blaming it on. my husband cannot use that excuse.

it started at around 2 am on a friday night.

chirp.

chirp.

honey..did you hear that? didn't we just change that battery?

honey?...

ok. fine, i will get it. grumble, grumble, stomp down the stairs, get the 9 volt battery, listen for the chirp again (like watching water come to a boil), get the chair, replace the battery....

ahhhhh silence.

2 hours later?

chirp.

chirp.

seriously?

ok. now on to dismantle the thing. they are electrically wired in our house. and the darned thing kept chirping.

every 3-4 hours it would chirp 4-6 times in 30 second intervals.

i changed ALL the smoke detector batteries (5 of them) in the house over the course of the day.

saturday night...10 o'clock.

chirp.

no!

chirp.

augh!!!!

2 am, we totally disconnect the one where the sound is emanating from.

this is getting ridiculous. i even called the fire department (non-emergent line) to see if they could help me.

apparently, ours are just old and need replaced. ok, no biggie, right?

HA!

$80 later and five new smoke detectors from home depot. sheesh!

i installed them myself (rather proud of that).

surely we will have a good night's sleep.

9 pm.

chirp.

now, i am not a swearing woman, but i was definitely saying a few choice words under my breath. i mean, really. we have to get up in the morning at 4:30. this is getting silly! we disconnect the culprit again. silence.

1 am.

chirp. chirp. chirp. chirp.

i am going to kill someone or something. this is outrageous.

next day, i am searching for the chirp. i have taken all of the newly installed smoke detectors down one by one to hopefully eliminate the one that is the cause. i am imagining large bills to an electrician to come fix our system. i am imagining fires raging through the house and destroying us because we won't have any warning. it is awful.

but, wait...is it the doorbell? nah...couldn't be! but, i feel it on the wall during the next cycle of chirping and it vibrates with each chirp.

really? ok. i don't like the doorbell anyway. the KISA can just disconnect it when he gets home.

he does.

chirp. AUGH!!!!!

the really stupid part?

we have a carbon monoxide detector that resides in the electrical outlet directly below the doorbell and the supposed defective smoke detector.

it was blocked by 4 large bags of clothing we were donating. i couldn't see the darned thing, and i forgot we had it.

changed the battery.

the LOB on the display was a dead giveaway.

silence. no chirping. peace.

and utter embarrassment.

lessons learned?

don't let your bags of clothing reside in your hallway for any extended period of time.

be able to laugh at yourself...and your husband...

update on Mr DTV

a while ago i wrote a thank you letter to the powers that be for helping me get rid of the TV. if you want to read it, go here. i will wait. i am listening to "The Father's Love" on Sovereign Grace's new cd, Sons and Daughters, and i want to dance around a bit anyway.

ok. are you up to speed? did you pay attention to all the things i was going to do in lieu of watching television? i have managed to do several of the things on the list. working on my bible study, reading more books (i am in the chronicles of narnia right now, book 6), and playing games with my husband (wink, and no wink). and you know what happened?

well (blush)...

we got pregnant.

yup.

#4 is on the way and due in april 2010.

that is what happens when you free up your evenings!

the thing that happened at the playground....

Tell us about that time at the playground when that thing happened.

i chose the number 5 prompt at Mama's Losin' It: Your assignment. Mama Kat's got some fun prompts to get you creative juices stirring...head on over to check them out, then blog away!

this one is pretty easy for me...as it just happened a few months ago!

well. on a beautiful day in february we (tic-tac, bonobo, stinkerbell and me) decided to take a walk after lunch. it was a pretty comfortable 73 degrees, and the sky was just perfect. we took a walk on this bike path we had just discovered that takes us over the freeway (the boys love crossing 8 lanes of traffic on a bridge...*shudder*)..i had stinkerbell in my backpacker (the ergo, highly recommend it!) and the boys were holding my hands. we made it across without incident, and then the boys wanted to hop a small white fence to play in a neighborhood playground (we don't live in this neighborhood, so i am fairly certain we broke a rule or two...although we know several people who live there...does that count?) only one other girl was playing there, so i figured it was okay..and i needed a break..i was actually sweating after walking for 20 minutes with a 25 pounder on my back!

so, there we are..playing on the "tot lot" which stinkerbell was having so much fun on. and then i see bonobo climbing up the slide..the wrong way, of course! just as i am about to tell him "slides are for going down, not up!" he slips at the top and then immediately begins to cry. i figured he bit his tongue, cuz he hit the deck with his chin pretty hard, but, no. instead, he finally looks up at me and BLOOD is streaming down his shirt!!!!! all my nursing skills go out the window! thankfully, they returned quickly, and i got him down and tried to staunch the bleeding with his shirt (his favorite shirt, by the way). he really doesn't like me holding pressure, so he starts screaming, which brings the grandmother of the other little girl running...of course, stinkerbell is now toddling off the playground in search of the "birdie?" and tic-tac is panicking behind me "is he bleeding? MOMMY...IS HE BLEEDING?????" ahhh, my sensitive one!

i can now get a pretty good look at the damage, and yup...gonna need stitches. my bet is at least three. and i have no cell phone. no diaper bag. nada. ugh. and then the kind grandmother asks..do you live close by? to which i (shamefully) answer...we live over the freeway...i think she seriously contemplated calling the HOA police, but figured out that i had been punished enough. now i have to gather everyone quickly (remember stinkerbell?) and try to navigate the 3/4 mile to our house half dragging my kids by the hand (tic-tac) and wrist (bonobo-he was quite bloody!) i can only imagine the sight we were. oh, well...

final suture count..4...bonobo actually held perfectly still for the suturing. he didn't like the bandaid much...he really dislikes adhesives being removed from his person. other than that, he was a perfect gentleman! i think tic-tac had a harder time with the needle and suturing than bonobo did. oh, and did i mention that it was stinkerbell's naptime? augh...

the good news...i got out all the blood from his shirt with my miracle detergent...yippee!

ouch

i am not up to blogging at the moment. i am still sore/stiff from our recent rear end collision at a horrific speed...we were at a complete stop on the interstate at the tail end of commute traffic when a minivan decided to attempt lane changing instead of braking and ended up slamming into the back of my saturn vue. a paid for vehicle, thank you. one that is 6 years old and won't give us very much to work with when it comes to replacing it. see, when the van hit us, it propelled us into the highlander in front of us (also stopped) causing our air bags to deploy (yikes!) and propelling him into the truck in front of him. the good news? everyone walked away...some even drove away. thank the Lord for 5 pt harnesses for child seats. all 3 of my precious ones were in the car freaking out over the crash, the air bags, and that darned horn that wouldn't shut up!!! anyway. i am sore. and cranky. and looking at the computer hurts my neck. i hope to feel better soon...