All was Bright!

Christmas was full of good cheer this year.  With our boys, one can never predict whether gifts will be a boon or a bust.  We nailed it this year!  Happiness ruled the day!  We began early, as in off and on from about midnight on.....  I could hear Trish herding them back into their rooms  from time to time with cries of "too early!!"

By 6 AM the excitement could no longer be contained and the usual Christmas morning chaos began.  By 8 AM the gamers were in full force with new Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360  games.  Sam wanted and got an entire arsenal of Nerf weapons, several of which were as big as he is!!  Foan bullets were flying.   It was fun and the fights, for once, were few and far between. 

Later in the afternoon I visited with my brother and his wife at my niece's home.  This was a nice finish to a wonderful Christmas Day!

Smiles were the light of the day!!!!

Santa Paws paid a visit to the pups, much to their delight!

                    It was a very good Christmas!

The Stockings are hung

Yes, the stockings are hung, the kids are asleep, then awake, then back to sleep....  Trish and I could be up for quite awhile.  Last year the boys were up at 3 AM.....  I predict that sleep will be scarce this Christmas Eve.

The boys are allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve.  It's one of our traditions that, frankly, makes Christmas Eve less stressful for those of us who have to endure their whining and boredom all day.  Trish worked until 5; Connor played his video game and Sam and I went to Christmas Eve service at 3. 

The weather was frightful, I must say.  We had a cold rain all day and into the evening.  We needed the rain, but I'm dreaming of last Christmas when we had a delightful WHITE Christmas!  Those who know me know how I do love snow and how I loved last winter when we had a most unusually snowy winter. 

La Nina has cursed me this year, I'm afraid.  Last week we had an 85 degree day that smashed records.  I was NOT happy!  At least it's cold for Christmas, although the forecast calls for at least one 70-something day as the year draws to a close.

I think Santa is going to make a couple of little boys  (not so little) happy tomorrow.  Actually, Connor has the Santa thing figured out, while Sam does, too......kinda....   He desperately wants to believe.  So, I told him that he can definitely believe.  I said that I will always believe since Santa is the spirit of Christmas, of giving.  

So, believing.... in the meaning of Christmas and the spirit of Christmas is what it's all about.

Happy Birthday Jesus, and Merry Christmas Eve to all my friends and family!

This Jolly Old Elf has miles to go before she sleeps.....

And so begin the Teenage years!

We have a teenager under our roof as of this past Monday.  Things will never be the same.  Connor turned 13, and he is quick to remind us that he is now a teenager.  Puberty, however, began to creep in over the summer, so we were more or less prepared, I guess.

The now healing black eye on the new teenager is the result of he and his brother (who has a knot on his forehead) jumping on a neighborhood kid's trampoline with more than one kid on at a time.  Sam's foot smashed into Connor's head and Connor's whatever caught Sam in the forehead.  Both boys had been prohibited from jumping on said trampoline due to an earlier incident that resulted in injury.  Must have slipped their memories,.....

Our new teenager has been awfully grumpy as of late.  I'm not sure if this is due to the new state of being or just the usual ups and downs of kid who is often unstable.  Probably both.  Oh joy.

I have a feeling that this kid is going to be a bit harder to contain in the little bubble he's lived in all of his life due to being bipolar and Autistic.  He's never had much interest in venturing out into the world of peers or even, very often, the neighborhood.  Times they are a changing....

This year he joined his first after-school club and went to his first party since kindergarten.  These were milestones that we were thrilled about.  However, this is a child who we can't lose sight of in Wal-mart since he wanders off to follow whatever catches his attention at the moment.  The coming years will be fraught with new and, for his mom and me, uneasy concerns. 

But, for now, we are getting used to the newly evolved teen who is grumpy and sleeps most of the weekend.  In so many ways he's just a typical newly- minted teen.  Come to think of it, the teenage years are an emotional roller coaster ride that Connor is already familiar with.  He's been riding an emotional roller coaster most of his life.  This might just be old hat to him.

Yep, the birthday boy is growing up.  His voice is deeper and he's taller than his grandma.  It seems like only yesterday he was a little fella flying around the house in his Spider-Man costume.

It was a dark and spooky night...

We do Halloween as we do  most holidays around here.  We go all out with decorations to set the mood, to get into the spirit of the occasion.  It's been a haunted house for weeks with spooky decor.  The furkids are not fond of many of the sights and sounds of the season of the witch.  Mac has never liked hanging objects, things that sway and dangle.  Witch cackles and talking spiders that creep across the floor do not set well with any of the 3 furkids.  They were not happy pooches last night.  The only night they hate more is 4th of July.

The goblins that reside here were decked out for the candy crusade.  Connor became a Greek Warrior for the night while Sam started out as Harry Potter, changed his mind, and with Harry's magic, morphed into a business dude, complete with facial hair.  Trish escorted the candy crusaders.

I, as tradition dictates, kept the home pot brewing and handed out sweet treats to the procession of small vampires, fairies, superheros, witches, creatures and the assorted princesses, bees and lady bugs.  I did this while watching a disappointing 4th game of the World Series.  My Rangers got tricked, I'm afraid.

As I type, the vestiges of Halloween have disappeared into the attic or garage and the turkeys have been trotted out (thankful, as every year, that they are not live and endangered).  They will preen until thanks have been given and the flood of snowmen, angels and ornaments send them off to join the ghosts and Easter bunnies.  I have to admit that the season of snowmen, angels and Christmas trees are my favorite time of the year.  Listening to a stuffed turkey gobbling on the coffee table makes me smile knowing that magical season is just around the corner!

                                                     Hope you had a spooktacular night!

9/11/10

Today is a special day.  No, I'm not talking about the horrible disaster that befell our country 9 years ago on this date.  Today is my favorite and only sister's birthday!!!  It was her special day before the horror of that nightmare we now remember on this day.

I remember how excited I was when she was born.  I was 14, in Jr. high school on that day.  I threw my books in the air with excitement on the news that I had a baby sister (already had 2 little brothers).  I went to find my brother in study hall and totally embarrassed him with the news.  In those days and on into high school, said brother preferred not to associate with me.  When I drove him to school he always walked ahead of me so as not to be 'with' me.  Sister "Cootie factor", I assume! 

We lost our father when Kelly was 11, our mother when she was only 17.  We've always been extra close and I can't imagine my life without her- my sister, my friend.

So, Happy Birthday, dear sister!!  Today we celebrate your birthday!!!!!!

Mirror Mirror and BFF

It's a slow day.  We finally got a brief shower and that was a welcome relief.  I managed to capture some fun photos worthy of the "awwwwwwwwwwwwww" factor. 


Spanky ADORES Mac!  Chews on him and is in his face constantly!  However, from day one, Mac has been the member of the pack that has Spanky simply can't stay away from.  Mac lets him know when enough is enough.

Mr. Curious discovered himself in the mirror while I was in here on the computer.  It was too cute!

Hope the photos brightened your day!!

He Tells Me About the Tar Monster

Another new poem.  We shake our head at the tales that our Connor spins here and at school.  They are a combination of reality, Connor's reality, fantasy and facts he's read or heard. 



He tells me
about the
Tar Monster
who eats kids
whole.
One
was seventeen.
It ate an entire village.
I question
and he tells me he
Googled it
but it’s no longer there.
It scared people
so they took it away.


Columbus
and Presidents
people
his family
tree
so a teacher
informs us.
There are details
only he knows.
Nessie is real;
it’s a fact.
I learned of a bird
at our feeder
that is not found
in Texas. It’s
an Oklahoma bird
that must be lost.


He says
he sees
people we
can’t see,
and we
nod
knowing
this is not
part of his disorder.
When a therapist
questions
the details
spin
then melt
back
into the nebulous
web of his psyche.

This child
of my heart
spins
his reality
like cotton candy
on a warm day,
sticky details that
melt
with the telling,
yet,
he keeps spinning,
adamant
in the tale,
his mind
a web of
whirling fancy.
I can see him
building
thread
upon
thread
and I am mystified.


~~~~8/16/10