Brennan's Prayer

Brennan's Prayer Last Night:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for this day. Help Daddy. Help me and Anna and Ella and Momma. Help the pigs. Help the wild pigs. Thank you for the stars. Thank you for the moon. Thank you for the planets. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Family Photos

Each year Jon and I would send out pictures with our card or Christmas letters. With the exception of one year, the pictures were always of the kids. Last year I tried to get Jon to agree to a family photo for us to send out. My friend Mechiel has a great photographer that I was wanting to do the photos. Jon would NOT agree to it at all. Those of you who knew Jon well know that he did not like having photos taken. Quite honestly, neither do I! But as my friend tells me, "It isn't always about you." Can you guess how many times I've regretted not insisting that we have a family photo done? Enough said.

Mechiel told me in early September that she was going to schedule a photo date for us both to have family pictures taken. It was her Christmas present to me. What a great friend. The first weekend in October, the kids and I met Mechiel and her family at Discovery Green. It was a great place to have pictures taken. The kids had a great time and Reagan did a great job with the pictures. Thanks Mechiel.

Some time, we'll go back just to play.

Rarely A Dull Moment

Initially I wanted to title this post, "Never A Dull Moment" but then realized if there was never a dull moment I wouldn't be able to update my blog! So hence then title, "Rarely A Dull Moment". Like most families these days, in the Greene household there is rarely a dull moment. Surely, most everyone, who reads this, has had similar days as the one I'm about to tell you about.

First, my day at work was packed from the moment I stepped into the building. I'm not sure if I'm still experiencing the backlog from Ike or if I'm way behind because of being at a new school or if it's all of the above. Let me back up a little and say that the evening before, I spent most of the evening making ghost cookies with Nutter Butters, white almond bark and mini chocolate chips in an attempt to be prepared to Boo some friends the next day. (Thanks Carolyn for your help with those cookies and the yummy cabbage rolls you brought over-YUM!) At the end of the day I had to deal with an upset parent-too long of a story to include in my blog and it's quite boring. So, finally I'm able to pick up the kids from my mom's house. Pretty quickly after picking the kids up, I was able to conclude that Miss Ella had not had a nap. You know the signs...screaming as if her fingers had just been chopped off for something minor, wilting to the floor because she wants to "stay with Nana just one more night", or my personal favorite, the drooping of the eyelids and nodding of the bobble head in the four minute drive back to our house. Of course, Ella was in need of "a little room time" for all of you Love & Logic fans. Once she was ready to be nice, she, Anna and Bren took Lola outside and played for a bit. This was my opportunity to fix a little dinner-fish fillets, cooked carrots and rice. The kids came in, washed up and started eating dinner. About half way through eating dinner, Brennan took a bite of fish and then looked like he was about to spit it back out. For those of you who do not know Brennan, this is a very common occurrence for him. He has this "thing" with certain textures. I quickly told him to go spit it out in the trash can which he very obediently did. Unfortunately, after taking a look at what he spit out, he began to spew his dinner all over the floor. The girls ran out of the kitchen just in time for Brennan to throw up more all over the chairs and floor by the table. I was a little frustrated and I asked Brennan, "What did you eat that was so bad?" Brennan took a deep breath and said, "I have NO clue." Can you guess? That is his newest phrase. I sent Brennan to the bathroom to get into the tub while I cleaned up the kitchen. Right after that I bathed Ella.

By this time it was just about dark and getting time for us to go Boo some friends. The kids took Lola out one more time before we left and I took these few minutes to check my email. After about a minute of quiet time there was a banging on the back door and shrieking. I jumped up and rushed to the back door to find Anna screaming but I was not able to understand her. I got her to calm down long enough to explain to me that Lola had crawled under our back fence and into our back neighbor's yard where there is a pretty large lab. Needless to say, she and the other two kids were hysterical. We called to Lola but all we could hear was her yelping a bit. I gave Anna a boost up to the top of the fence so she could look over the edge. Now, I'm not sure that was very smart, but at the time I thought it was a good idea. Anna was able to wedge herself up there and stay there while Ella, Brennan and I ran to the car and drove around the block to our back neighbors house. Long story a little bit shorter, we got Lola back and she was a little shaken and a little dirty but not hurt at all. Anna was so happy to get Lola into her arms. She said, "That dog was just wacking Lola in the head! Well, at least she found her bark." I thought that was a cute comment because we've never heard Lola bark until then. Also, I thought it was pretty sweet because Anna said, "I think Lola is okay because I said a prayer."

The next part of the evening was pretty fun. The kids and I (and Lola) loaded up to Boo friends. We chose 4 families to boo. Two of our booings went off without a hitch. At one of the houses, Anna and Ella dropped off the stuff and ran. When they got back to the van they were just laughing and laughing. Ella said, "They didn't even have a doorbell! We were saying what in the world! Anna was like freaking out! I thought I was going to blow it!" Too cute. One of the families wasn't home (didn't find that out until today) so I'm sure the raccoons got a nice treat that night. Our last family was actually headed out the door as the kids were creeping up to their house, so that one wasn't such a surprise. All in all though, the kids had a great time.

Once we got home it was late and I was exhausted. Remember, Ella hadn't had a nap so I thought she would have been ready to fall over. Where is Super Nanny when you need her? I really could have used her that night. I did manage to get the kids laying down by about 8:50, but I was still dealing with a couple of them (Ella and Brennan) as late as about 10:45. And I wonder why I'm so tired!?!

It's a good thing these kids are cute!

We Just Got Booed!

This evening the kids were bathed and watching the Huffalump movie at about 7:00. As I was updating and installing software on my computer and the kids were watching the movie, we heard a "ding-dong" at the front door. Of course ALL the kids go running to the door, even though only one of them had clothes on, to find that we had just been BOOED! The funny thing is that I didn't even know what this was until this past weekend when I was in Lake Charles at a scrap booking retreat. For those of you who have been sheltered and don't have a clue as to what this means, here it is: Someone brings treats to your door, leaves the following poem, rings the doorbell and then runs away. Then, you and your family enjoy the treats and boo someone else! Here's the poem and a picture of the kids enjoying their treats. I'm so grateful that someone loves us enough to "Boo" us!

"Boo" To You!

We really don't mean to be so rude,

To tell you that you've just been "booed".

But that's what happens to friends of ghouls,

And who are we to break the rules?

1. Attach the ghost outside your door.

2. Enjoy your treats, but then there's more.

3. Make 2 more ghosts and copy this rhyme.

4. Surprise your friends with treats sublime.

Don't get caught. That's the most fun.

Ring the doorbell and then RUN!

What I Love About Ella

Of course there are many things that I love about my Ella. The one thing that is just too tough is the way she still loves to twirl and smell my hair. She'll wake up and first thing she'll climb on my lap and ask, "Can I smell your hair?" After she twirls a small amount of my hair, she takes a great big sniff and says, "Mmmmmmm, your hair smells good." Not every time, but sometimes she tells me, "I wish I were you and you were me and I could smell my hair all the time." That's when she'll sit with me, sucking her fingers and twirling my hair for about as long as I will let her.

Probably Shouldn't But I'm Gonna Post Anyway...

Last night I told Brennan it was time for a bath. Unlike his normal routine of fighting me tooth and nail, he ran like lightning into the bathroom, stripped down and hopped in the tub before I even got in the room. Surprised, I asked him, "Who are you? You can't be Brennan because he never jumps right in the tub without arguing with me?" He replied, "Yes, Mom...it is me...because I have a penis."

Missing Jon

There's no rhyme or reason to why I miss Jon some times more than other times. Right now seems like one of those times. While the kids and I were evacuating, I found myself missing him for selfish reasons. It's tough to get a house ready for evacuating while also watching three children, two cats, a guinea pig and a brand new puppy. Thankfully my mom was there helping me through it all, but it's not the same.

Now that things are slightly back to normal (because of the hurricane) I find that I'm missing him even more. When I take the kids anywhere and I see dads with their kids, my heart breaks. Jon should be out with the kids (and with me!) at the park or at the movies or just swinging them in the yard. How can I be so jealous and still not wish anyone the same sadness we're going through?

I'm not going to write much more tonight because it doesn't seem to be helping me. Really it's only made it worse tonight. Besides, it's 8:20, Anna is attempting to do her homework while the other two sound like they're bouncing and hollering like a couple of monkeys. I'll be off to participate in the nightly rituals of getting everybody off to bed.

I'll end with this. Although I KNOW I am blessed, beyond what words can express, to have been loved by Jon and to have been married to him for almost 9 years, to have three beautiful children that are a testament to our relationship, to continue to have the love and support of family, friends and loved ones, there are days when that is just not enough and I want to stomp my feet like a 5 year old brat and scream, "IT'S NOT FAIR!"