1m2aSandbox

Yes, we’re out of school all week and our Staycation poster is up and working. We’ve got lots of playdates and pajama days and fun family outings and holiday baking and Nutcracker viewings and more on the calendar –

So much fun stuff to do, so little time.

Yesterday I told the girls I was going grocery shopping and would be buying for next week, when they’re out of school and on Staycation.

Me: Is there anything special you’d like me to make sure we have in the house for next week’s Staycation?

Maddie: Jellybeans and bacon. The good bacon, from the farmer, not the junk from the supermarket.

A girl after my own heart. I love this on SO many levels.

I’ve always resisted the Christmas season starting earlier and earlier every year – I’m a decorate-the-tree-on-the-24th kinda girl. And by 24th, I don’t mean “of November”.

But now that I’m a mom and my life is more complicated, I find November to be my biggest crunch month – the month when I do all the running around and shopping and prepping and pre-holiday stuff. Not that I’m dying to start singing Christmas carols: it’s just that I resent having my entire December taken up with busyness, and I try to get some of that out of the way now.

This doesn’t have anything to do with mothering, except in the larger “mother the world” sort of way, but bear with me.

I know a lot of us are looking at the disaster in the Philippines and wanting to help. It reminds me of Hurricane Sandy, and how quickly people want to reach out, give a warm blanket and a hot meal and a hug. I love that about humanity – when something like this hits, it stirs our hearts, even if it’s half a world away.

A good friend of mine works at World Vision a non-governmental organization that is one of the tops, in my opinion, at being right there in an international crisis with aid. He’s worked for them for years, has seen First Response teams in action across the globe, and knows what he’s talking about. Which is why I stopped and read this article he posted yesterday – The Ten Worst Things To Donate After A Disaster.

My mother left Thursday morning for a week in her old hometown and a high school reunion.

The girls began working on her “welcome home” banner Wednesday night.

Yes, before she’d left.

Can you say “attached”?

Tis the season for colds and flus and allergies, and I find myself hovering around Defcon Three sometimes in my hyper-alertness for signs of sniffles and such.

We weathered Cora’s case of the croup remarkably well last week, using only natural home remedies and getting her back on her feet super fast. And having remedies on hand to help treat an illness is great- but having something on hand TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T GET SICK IN THE FIRST PLACE is even better.

We do a few different things here: first, we take natural vitamins that are pretty much just dehydrated fruits and vegetables. We don’t take them all year long, since we eat a ton of produce – both fruits and veggies – when we’re making smoothies multiple times a day. But when the weather turns cold somehow an ice-cold strawberry/blackberry smoothie just doesn’t hit the spot. So our vitamin regime starts back up.

I don’t know quite how this happened, but the girls lost a total of three teeth on Friday.

I know, right??

We went to the dentist Friday morning (yes, I’m the sadist who makes her kids go to the dentist the morning after Halloween) and as the dentist did a routine cleaning, one of Maddie’s teeth popped out. The staff made such a huge deal over the whole thing that Cora began determinedly working at her loose bottom tooth, trying to match her sister.