Sick days

The entire month of October has been sick time at our house. Colds, stomach flu, ear infections, more colds...yuck. But on the rare "feel good" days we've had some great fun. Last night, of course, we dressed up and went trick-or-treating. Thomas was particularly enthusiastic. Dressed as a Football Guy, he'd walk up to a door and say, "It's me, Thomas!" followed by the customary, "trick or treat, thank you." Finley suffered her little dragon costume with her usual good humor...I sewed this costume with Aaron's mom, Carol, when Jared was a baby, and every Spragueling has worn it for their first Halloween ever since. Gotta love those little traditions. Emma has fallen in love with her cousin Noah's new kitten, Monte. So she dressed up as Monte the cat. Jared wanted to be a Jedi, so I winged an attempt to make him a Jedi cloak. It worked well enough for him. He jumped around wielding his light saber and reveling in what may be one of his last years of truly imaginative dress-up. It was nowhere near the pro job Carol did on our little nephews duds (check it out here), but Jared was more than happy.

The Run-Up:

The run-up to Halloween was a lot of fun. We went to Connor's A-maize-ing Acres and enjoyed some fall fun in the corn maze, raced rubber duckies, shot a corn cob cannon, jumped hay bales, swam in corn kernels, and raced kettle cars.

The yearly trip to the pumpkin patch was good for some pretty sweet photos.

Jared's handiwork

Emma's designSo, sniffles and sick buckets aside, we've really had a pretty good time. And once we're all on the mend we'll be reveling in the balmy fall weather that makes living in Florida worth it.

Sunday Traditions

I dreaded our 1-4pm church schedule at first. Nothing like a three hour block of meetings right during the hungry, sleepy middle of the day, right? But we've found positives to accentuate. There's not much to be done for a cranky Thomas who doesn't get a nap, or a hungry Finley who wants to nurse the entire church block to compensate for not having her own bed to sleep in. But we can focus on the bliss of a slow and lazy Sabbath morning with plenty of time to get everyone ready. And after church we're free to divide and conquer: Grab the iPod, a few juice boxes and peanut butter crackers and we're off. One parent gets a quiet house to "get something done", or to nap, or read, or just quietly stare out the window. The other parent gets a few hours worth of the latest audio book from the iTunes store and a happy carload of kid's dying to hear what happens next, as we drive...wherever. Today I was the "other parent", the audio book was Flyte by Angie Sage, and the destination was the Beach. We don't play on the waves or make sandcastles on our little Sunday excursions. We just roll up our trousers or hike up our skirt tails and walk through the dunes of soft sand, make footprints in the wet beach line near the rising tide, and draw lines in the sand to play red light, green light. It's one of my very favorite Sunday traditions...just a little rejuvenation to cap of a pretty nice day.

Mysterious Day Off

Jared: "Why's there no school?"

Mom: "Um, because it's Labor Day."

Jared: "What's that supposed to celebrate?"

Mom: "Um, uh...that people do such a great job working and making our economy strong, I guess."

Jared: ...Silence, coupled with a look that communicates a deep dissatisfaction with the holiday, or with the explanation, I'm not sure which.

I say, don't look a vacation horse in the mouth. We spent the day swimming and playing Wii at Aunt Shannon and Uncle Darren's house. We had a blast, so to the man who gave us Labor Day...thank you for this mysterious day off!

Reason # 947

Thomas and I were laying in his new firetruck bed reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See when Oliver, our old man German shepherd, walked in whipping his tail as usual. Now, Thomas is not exactly fond of Oliver. He stiffens up and tells Oliver to "go out", and other than that, they have no interaction. So tonight, when Oliver joined us for story time, Thomas exclaimed, "Oh no, it's Oliver. He's gonna eat us!" After laughing out loud, I kissed his clever little cheeks and added "toddler wit" to my long list of reasons I love being the mama.

Creative vibes

From the moment that Emma could express independent thought, we've seen her create her own little world, and her own little friends. But today I found that her hands are begining to translate what her mind dreams up. I was so amazed to find her holding this little dinosaur after seeing it just moments before as a feeble looking pipe cleaner. I walked into the room and she was walking this little guy across the table. Noticing my surprise she said, "I made myself a Brontosaurus friend!" I can't wait to see where her beautiful imagination leads this little girl.

In rushing around to get things accomplished, I'm always grateful for Jared and Emma's help in entertaining Finley or Thomas. Today as I joined them on the floor to play I was struck at how very tender and attentive these two not-so-big kids are.
They are unashamedly delighted at Finley's smile and genuinely thrilled by her every little sound or wiggle.
*sigh* Seeing my Emma cup her baby sister's cheek in her hand, my heart swells...and that relentless voice that tracks my every wrong step and parenting mistake suddenly quiets.

If, when I take their little faces in my hands, they feel even a small part of my adoration, then it is truly leaving its mark. .
And they're taking that love and doing with it what every mother hopes her little ones will do...internalizing it and then turning it out again, drawing others in and allowing them to become dear.

If I wait to start regular posting until I've caught up on all I've missed, I think I'll end up never blogging again! So that long ago started, never completed, catch-up post may or may not ever make it out if the draft file, but let's at least start back in with the everyday ups and downs in Spragueville.



Jared and Emma have started back to school. Jared's off to Third Grade, and Emma is a brand new kindergartener. I'm happy to say that my third-grader will still hug me in public, and still wants me to come to school for lunch and volunteer work. I know the day will come when I'm just not good for his image, but I'm so glad we haven't hit that yet. Emma had some minor K-day jitters, but she faced the transition with confidence and that happy sunshiney outlook we adore in her. I have to admit that I felt miserable on Monday, terrible on Tuesday, and today is kind of a woefull Wednesday. I'm just not a "woo-Hoo!" kind of Mama. I don't look forward to having my little ones away. I'm aware of all of the benefits, theirs and mine: their social interactions, my freedom to accomplish long overdue tasks, their acadmeic growth, my time and attention to be given more fully to Thomas and Finley, and on, and on, and on. So I guess all of these positives outweigh the fact that no matter how many specific questions I ask, I can never quite capture the long day we've spent apart, and at the end of the day I put them to bed feeling like I've missed so much more than I was able catch.
But for my own consolation, I have had many more baby-savoring moments in the past three days. And the slower pace and homebody schedule is much friendlier. Besides, if they never went away, I wouldn't get to have that heart-leaping "Hi, I'm so happy to see you" reunion moment. Today I actually had time to gaze at my sleeping Finley and play on the floor with Tommy. We got the news that Jared has tested into the gifted program at his school, and we are SO excited for him. And Emma's Kindergarten teacher commented on what a delight she is. So now that I've aired my woes, I'll pull up my britches and stride on, because this little life really is pretty spectacular.

Acheive

Jared started this morning with a spectacular run in a kid's 2K race, and then went on to win the "game ball" for his fantastic hitting and feilding at his little league game this afternoon. It was a pretty good day all around.

Poor Timing

Bathed,
lotioned,
jammied,
swaddled,
rocked to sleep
.............pooped.

Let's take it from the top.

Add an "-ie" and get anything you want...

Thomas has taken up the habit of adding an "-ie" to the end of his words, resulting in WAY more "sure you can" answers than he has ever been accustomed to. A simple "juice" request is now an adorable, "Wanna drinkie Juicie! Pleeeease?" Who can tell a fella, "no" or "wait a minute" after a request like that? And since everyone knows that putting on shoes means we're going outside, when he runs up with sandals in hand and chants, "Shoesies, Shoesies, goes to parkie" we slip those hush puppies on and grin all the way to the door.

Disney Days

With four small children running around "the Happiest Place on Earth" we snapped surprisingly few photos. I suppose we were too occupied with living in the moment to actually capture many moments on camera. The few attempts I did make came out blurry at best. The highlights of our days at Disney didn't get any film time at all. But if a picture is worth a thousand words, then perhaps a few hundred words can sketch out a memory. So without further ado, here are the 2007 Sprague Family Disney World Highlights:

*First of all, an honorable mention to our littlests Lady, who spent her first trip to the Magic Kingdom napping in the stroller. Finley was kind enough to go long stretches between nursing, and just hunker right back down to sleep for all of our first day.

*We rode the ferry over the first day and everyone huddled at the window to keep warm in the cool wind while we eagerly awaited the first glimpse.

*A few moments after we walked into the park, Cinderella's castle came into view and Emma was all of a dither. I scooped her up and we hurried to the castle gates right away. She kept asking, "Where are the princesses, Mom? Where are they?" Thomas, Emma and I rode the Carousel in Cinderella's court.

*Jared took Aaron and I on the Big Kid Rides: Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. We all screamed like little girls.

*On day two I got to take Thomas on the Buzz Lightyear Ride. Twice.

*Thanks to Grandma's persistence, we got to eat lunch with our friends from the Hundred Acre Woods. When Pooh and Tigger came by our table to see the kids Jared tried his best to duck out of the photo, but Pooh Bear just wouldn't have it! Thomas was obviously in love with the fluffy fellas. He was so excited he could hardly eat his mac-n-cheese.

I love having small children, who want to ride rides with me and show me all the wonder the Disney crew can contrive. Later in life it'll be thrill rides and music concerts, but right now it's Pooh and Princesses and Log Rides, and I hope these years pass very slowly.

My Blue Heaven

My Finley Gracie...

Three Months Old

Big Blue Eyes

Long Lush Lashes

Pink Ribbon Lips

So Photogenic

and Ample Kissing Opportunities.

Are you jealous?

I may never have the luxury of manicured hands, but Emma will always make sure that these rough hands are full of flowers. I think that more than compensates.

Ahh-laav-ooh

As much as I love nap time, it's the few minutes right before I put Thomas down that I love the most. Those minutes are usually filled with a few renditions of "Balls Balls Game" (more commonly known as "Take Me Out to the Ball Game") and Tommy always sings along, making my heart just want to squeal. I bury my face in his silky hair and kiss his little head just behind his ear while he snuggles my shoulder. When he's calm and still, I ask him, "Ready for bed, or you want more snuggles?" He'll sit up and look at me saying, "Awan 'nuggle." Today, as I kissed his head for the 37Th time and whispered, "I love you", he sat up and said, "Ahh-laav-ooh." Every other problem, demand or detail in life just melts away, and I'm left with this little moment of genuine happiness. I tapped his nose, gave him butterfly kisses and mugga-muggas (Eskimo kisses), and by the time I laid him in bed with a "nigh-nigh mom" my love bucket was full. I'm amazed that no matter how much the demands of the day will tap out of me, these little ones have a way of making sure I don't run dry.