Gingerbread Houses

To me there is nothing quite like the scent of gingerbread at Christmastime. We always make gingerbread cookies at Christmas, and now, houses. My sister's fiancee's family has a tradition of decorating gingerbread houses every year, and we loved the idea. So we set to work. First, we sought out a candy store that carries old and new, in order to procure an unbelievable quantity of candy (really, an embarrasingly large amount). Then, we set to work making the gingerbread dough, and baking the individual pieces for the houses (I simply make a template and then cut the pieces out with a sharp knife).
















To glue together the houses, we use boiling sugar. It sets almost instantly and is near impossible to break.













We made 3 large houses (one for our family and the other two families, dear friends, who joined us) and two smaller ones (just 'cuz). Then we laid out the bowls and bowls of candy and the kids (six boys ages 10 and under) went to work! The kids had a great time and we had just as much fun helping and watching. And it didn't take me long to scrape up the remains from the kitchen floor, which amazes me.

Budding Triathlete

On the day we moved from Arizona, we first went to StarPointe (community center/pool) for a kids triathlon - Ryan's first! He competed in a run, bike ride around the lake (two laps) and then swimming.

He started out strong...but then later during the bike ride, after all the kids had gone by on the second lap, Ryan was nowhere to be found. I started to get worried - I wondered if something had happened to him? Why was he not coming around? After a very long time, he finally was coming up the last leg of the bike ride, tears streaming down his face. He had gotten a flat tire! And yet, he continued to ride...or try to anyway. I would have quit, but not him. He didn't even get off the bike. He actually pedaled it all the way, as hard as it was for him. He came in last, but he was first in tenacity!

Stretching before the big race.

And they're off!



Now to the bikes.


This next picture is after the second lap - when he rode most the lap on a flat tire. The man next to him stuck by him the whole time, encouraging him. We found out later that the event staffers were radioing each other about the problem - but that "this kid still wants to finish".


Following that grueling bike ride, he jumped into the pool and did his swimming laps.


After all that, he still ran to the finish line. Disappointed, but undeterred!

A 10 year old and an 8 year old...

SO as if having a 10 year old wasn't enough....Alex turned 8 on Thanksgiving Day. I wondered when and if his birthday would ever fall on Thanksgiving - wonder no more!

Eight years ago, we had family visiting for Thanksgiving. The family did most of the thanksgiving dinner work - I couldn't stay on my feet very long (very swollen) and the contractions would really get going, telling me I needed to slow down. So I'd sit down, put up my edema-riddled feet and the contractions would stop. They were never very regular, but they were strong. Pretty strong for Braxton-Hicks, I thought, but they couldn't possibly be "real" - I wasn't due for another month. I was prepping myself for having a Christmas baby. The plant where we worked was in the middle of a maintenance/refueling outage during that time as well, so I worked that weekend a little for the outage. The following Monday, everyone was either back home or back at work (my mother in law was also working the outage at the time). I had to leave work early for a doctor's appointment - and since it was the last month of the pregnancy, the appointments would now be weekly. Hubby drove me the hour and a half to my OB/GYN; that was another peculiarity of this pregnancy - if I was driving a car for more than 30 minutes, I'd get some serious contractions, with alarming regulatiy. It wasn't as bad as a passenger, but still happened.

So we went in for the appointment. When my doctor did the examination she looked at me, startled, and asked "Are you in labor?" I was pretty sure I wasn't. She exclaimed that I was 6 cm dialated and 80% effaced. Holy cow! I guess those weren't Braxton-Hicks after all. "Woo-hoo," I thought, "I did that standing on my head. I am Iron Woman! I may not even need an epidural for this one." Yeah right, whatever. "I can't let you go home," our doctor informed us, "...you need to go straight to the hospital. We're having a baby tonight." WOW! That was unexpected. Guess I shouldn't have said "See you tomorrow" to my coworkers when I left...and then it hit me...omg, this baby will be a month early. I started to worry.

So off to the hospital we went. They hooked me up to all manner of monitor and what not - no big deal, I wasn't a rookie this time. My girlfriend Jenn, bless her heart, stayed at our house and took care of our then-two year old, Ryan, while all of this was going on. I was put on a pitocin drip to speed things along. But later that night, we found that I'd only dilated 2 more cm. "We'll have to do another c-section," my doctor informed us. I was devastated - terrified by my last experience (I got really sick). I thought for sure I'd be able to do this one the old fashioned way. Not so much.

But no matter...it wasn't long before our baby joined us...another boy!! My sweet baby Alexander...and my recovery was MUCH better this time...He's still my baby, too.

A Decade Gone By...

Time flies when you're having fun, right? 10 years ago on November 7, the birth of my son inducted me into the ranks of motherhood. 10 years. That's double digits. Approximately 3652.5 days. One decade. Not going there with the number of hours/minutes...I'm certain the size of the number would be too much for me.

We got out his baby book and looked at the pictures from before he was born and the day he was born, and then the ensuing months of capturing every smirk, smile, and coo. That little boy changed our world, and we are so blessed. Every minute of it. Every question of "am I doing the right thing" to celebrating his successes with him. He's changed so much in the last few years, coming into his own. And yet he is still just a little boy.

Ryan woke up to a new bike, a Jeff Gordon jacket, and some walkie talkies, among other things from his grandparents and family.


This marked the second year that I didn't do all the party planning per se; instead we took him and 7 of his friends to a pizza place that has rides and go karts and all manner of things that attract 10 year old boys. They had a blast!



I marvel at how I now have a 10 year old. It's been said that once you have a child, you completely forget what your life was like before children. While that is not entirely true, there is something to be said about sharing the memories of your days with a small one that you helped bring into the world....