We’re officially 10 days away from landing in the most magical place in the world! Today Gatsby, our scout elf, helped us start off our countdown to Disney. He arrived in our home donned in Mickey Mouse ears, and hung out in my Minnie Mouse mug for the day.
I’m looking forward to bringing the boys to Disney. It’ll be their first time there and I’m so excited to share the magic that’s Disney during the holiday season. The castle being lit up, the fireworks, the holiday parade, the list goes on and on. It’s bound to be a great time!
On the eve of the day of thanks, I’m thinking of all the things that I’m thankful for.
Being a mom
Alcohol (notice how I included this after the fact that I’m a parent?… don’t judge me)
The opportunity to pursue a higher education
A job
My amazing support system
Love
My family’s health
the list goes on…
During these times it’s important to remember all the things in life that one can be thankful for. For example, the big things in life like “I’m thankful that I have a roof over my head”, to the minor things that you may not pay much attention to like “I’m thankful for sunsets”.
My hope for you, dear reader, is that you have an amazing Thanksgiving surrounded by those that you love most in this world. Also, I want to remind you to take a moment and count your blessings.
Last Saturday we kicked off the holiday season with a trip to the Festival of Trees in Methuen. It was the 23rd annual festival, but our tribe’s first time there.
The Festival of Trees is an opportunity for the community to submit a decorated Christmas tree for the public to win in a raffle. My job, the Greater Lawrence Community Action Council Child Care Center (wow, that really is a ridiculous mouthful) submitted a tree with the theme “Willy Wonka”.
The Willy Wonka tree
I enjoyed seeing all the different trees. A lot of them were great. However, the boys were completely uninterested. Eventually Josiah saw “Santa Clause” walk by and excitedly announced he wanted to see him. I was excited to get some cute pictures of the boys with Mr. Ho Ho Ho himself, but of course why would anything go as planned and desired for me?
Gavin ran over to Santa and happily sat on his lap. Josiah hid behind me. I’m still annoyed. When I’m old a gray, and the boys are grown up, I’ll look back at my precious pictures and come across the photo from Christmas 2016 and see this…
Just one kid, when I should have two pictured. Josiah can be such a stinker.
My eldest child is officially getting homework. He gets these short little stories with new “sight words” that he needs to practice. His first set was a, for, is, me, and see. There was no way my child was going to sit still at the kitchen table with me to practice the words. So, I decided to try to make it interesting and fun.
For some odd reason I have an insane amount of balloons. I blew up five blue ones and took a sharpie to them writing out each word on each balloon. We were going “blueberry picking”. In my best game show announcer voice I would say “can you please pick me the blueberry that says *insert word here*”. Then Josiah would have to find the correct “blueberry” and spell out the word for me.
It wasn’t long before Gavin wanted in. Since Gavin is only in preschool and only knows a handful of letters, I would ask him “can you please pick me the blueberry with the letter *insert letter here from the words*. Then he would pass the “blueberry” to his brother, which he had to spell and identify the word.
It also wasn’t long before Josiah became uninterested in the game. I had to peak his interest. In came the bribe. For every correct word and letter, the boys would get an M&M.
Now to come up with different ways to help him practice his other 50,000″sight words”. Oy vey!
My previous post regarding my feelings about the next president was going to be my one and only post on the matter. However, driving to work Monday morning I heard about a threat made to a neighbor because of who they choose to have over as guests. This happened in Natick, MA, just a little over an hour away from my home. You can see the “letter” written here. Be advised that the language is harsh. If you don’t want to click on the link, below is a quote from the letter to provide you with a feel for what it was regarding.
“We have reclaimed our country by selecting Trump and you are now messing up every thing,” one letter read. -Boston Globe 11/14/16
It’s this kind of blatant racism that’s manifesting now that Trump will be our next president that has me terrified to my core and angry beyond belief. The racists are coming out of the woodwork, believing that they’re now able to overtly show their hatred. They must have been inspired by Trumps rhetoric throughout his campaign. *Bravo, Trump*
I’m not naive. I knew parenting wouldn’t be easy. But, I never thought I’d have to face the challenge of having to sit my young men down and explain that even though they are well-mannered, well-spoken, and respectful, they’ll be judged before they even have a chance to say a word. They’ll be unfairly judged because of their beautiful brown complexion, something completely out of their control. I never thought that being a parent in this era would have me facing the topic of racism. Those days should be behind us. I never thought I’d face the challenge of having to educate my children about those that are ignorant and abhorrent within our society.
This can’t be a reality for our youth, to train them to be overly cautious while out in the community because of the way they look. This can’t be a reality for mothers, waiting to exhale with relief, worried until their hearts make it back home safe and sound. How is it that in 2016 we have reverted back to the horrific days of treating people that don’t look a certain way as if they’re less than, and insignificant? This is the very reason I want to put my children into an indestructible bubble.
*Please note that I’m not at all inferring that all Trump supporters are racist. I mean no disrespect to Trump supporters as a whole. However supporters like the individual that wrote that disgusting letter, shame on you!
Donald Trump is America’s next president. I’m still trying to let that sink in.
To say that I’m devastated by the outcome of our 2016 presidential elections, is an understatement. From my point of view, Trump’s campaign was founded on hatred. Yet, this is where we are, America. I and many, many others must accept it.
I wish that I could somehow put my children into an indestructible bubble to ensure that they’re safe from harm at all times. I fear what these next four years mean for Josiah and Gavin as members of the society that elected this particular candidate.
When I was pregnant with my first son I came across a quote by Elizabeth Stone. To this day it remains one of my favorite quotes about motherhood.
“The decision to become a mother is momentous. It is to forever decide to have your heart go walking around outside your body”. -Elizabeth Stone
Sadly, there is no protective bubble that us mothers can put our hearts into. While my boys were infants I recall constantly putting my hand on their stomachs while they slept to reassure myself that they were still breathing. I barely slept, remaining vigilant over my heart. They both were mobile by their fourth or fifth month, which offered a whole different form of worry for me. All I want to do is protect my heart. Without my heart, I cease to exist.
The reason I’m ranting about my heart in the midst of finding out who our next president is, is because this world is a scary place. It was scary before Trump’s campaign and in my opinion, it’s all the more scarier now that he has won. It becomes monumentally scarier when you’re a parent and have your heart exposed to said world!
Despite feeling absolute terror regarding these next four years, I must remain hopeful and positive. Children are sponges. They learn behaviors and ideas from their parents. I can’t control what happens outside of my house. But I’m in control of what happens inside of my house. More than ever I’m motivated to ensure that my children have kindness, respect, and tolerance instilled in them. As Gandhi said..
*Despite my personal opinion of Donald Trump, I truly wish him success in his presidency. We’re all one nation, and we must stand together.
A t-shirt the boys helped me make during my internship at the YWCA to raise sexual assault/domestic violence awareness
I’m so very late with this post. Halloween was almost two weeks ago and I’m now getting around to sharing about our Halloween. Can you believe that we are already so close to Thanksgiving? Time is flying!
Anyway, back to Halloween. I’m slightly controlling and a sucker for a good themed group costume, but my boys had other plans this year. Last year I chose to do Alice in Wonderland. I was Alice, David was the Mad Hatter, Josiah was the “I’m late” rabbit, and Gavin was the Cheshire Cat. By far my favorite Halloween thus far!
Lucky for me there is one male within our tribe that won’t say no to me. Therefore, I got to pick his costume and he didn’t put up a fuss.
Josiah was the red power ranger this year, and Gavin was the bumblebee transformer. Me and David were Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
It’s always super fun to dress up and walk around the neighborhood collecting candy while chatting with all the neighbors. We had a great time and the boys won a good amount of candy. Candy which mama had no shame stealing from while they slept!
Friday night we tried something new. Something I never thought I’d do… We camped!
Our “bed” for the night.
Okay, so it wasn’t fully “roughing-it”, we were only in the backyard. But in my defense, it was in the part of the backyard that’s woods. It was slightly creepy. I admit I was scared about a clown sighting, as foolish as that sounds. Every acorn dropping to the ground, and every ruffling of leaves, sent me in a “what was that?” terror.
“WHAT WAS THAT?!”
The ground was super hard and me and David barely slept, but the joy and excitement on the faces of the boys recounting that they camped made it all worth it.
We enjoyed a nice fire that Gavin helped collect the sticks for, because “that’s what men do!” Josiah on the other-hand, wasn’t really all that interested in helping. He was more interested in getting s’mores made.
No television, no electronics, absolutely no distractions. Just David, the boys, and myself enjoying each other’s company. I’d say it was a successful “camping trip”.
Wednesday was an absolute success. Josiah had his first field trip and I was fortunate to be able to go, and still get a day’s pay for it. Thank God for earned personal time! We went to Elwood Orchard in Londonderry, where we picked apples and went on a scenic hayride.
Josiah was so excited to have his step-in-dad there with us. On the hayride he announced “I want to sit next to my dad!” Later, Josiah and his friend couldn’t reach an apple so Josiah excitedly ran over to David and asked “dad, can you get the apple for me?” Josiah calling David “dad” is a huge step for our family. David has been in Josiah and Gavin’s life far longer than their biological “dad”, and both boys identify David as dad but have never addressed him as such. It was such a sweet day.
Unfortunately Gavin didn’t get to partake in the sweetness. Gavin was pretty upset he wasn’t able to attend the field trip with us, so we tried to make it up to him by taking him to the park after school I am proud to report he’s finally got the hang of the monkey bars and now enjoys the swings without needing to be pushed. Go Gavin!
What a sight! The three people I love the most in this world. The apples of my eye. How’d I get so lucky? Tonight I’ll end this entry with a quote (see graphic below) from my all-time-favorite woman, aside from my momma, of course, Audrey Hepburn… No matter what life throws your way, or how bad of a day you’re having, etc. Don’t hold on to all that negative stuff. Instead, hold onto the people you love the most in this world.
It’s a special chant the boys learned from my partner David. You can hear the boys saying it whenever they’re doing something “manly”. This past weekend their “manly” activities included lots of yard work. They helped drag cut-down branches into the bonfire pit and collected numerous pine cones for a special bee-keeper project. An important lesson was taught to them this past weekend, a value that I want instilled in them early on. The boys learned about good work ethic and the value of a day’s work.
Something that men don’tdo: bully others. Lately there has been a lot of discussion regarding Republican candidate Donald Trump calling Alicia Machado, the 1996 Miss Universe, “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping”. Last night Josiah overheard coverage of the nonsense and it initiated an innocent fit of giggles. To a five year old “Piggy” is simply a silly word. Unfortunately the truth is that words can hurt. I used the moment as a teachable moment. In our family it’s expected that everyone is respected, regardless if they’re liked or not. I feel confident that my oldest son understood the conversation and grasped the concept of being kind to everyone.
I’m looking forward to bringing the boys to Disney. It’ll be their first time there and I’m so excited to share the magic that’s Disney during the holiday season. The castle being lit up, the fireworks, the holiday parade, the list goes on and on. It’s bound to be a great time!
. I blew up five blue ones and took a sharpie to them writing out each word on each balloon. We were going “blueberry picking”. In my best game show announcer voice I would say “can you please pick me the blueberry that says *insert word here*”. Then Josiah would have to find the correct “blueberry” and spell out the word for me.
d to spell and identify the word.
940 Sabados 