Everything New

Update on 12/17/06:

Fire Drills

As a kid, I remember going through the motions of the fire drill at school. The biggest thrill for me was getting a chance to go outside and socialize when I know otherwise we'd be inside doing school work, so for me at least, the fire drill had nothing to do with being prepared in the event of a disaster.

But now, however, I feel differently. Fire drills aren't fun. They're about survival. I run through a list of "fire drills" on a daily basis - what if someone chokes, what if someone escapes from the house, and the most fearsome dreaded one of all - what if someone undresses, poops on the floor, and plays in it. I think I'm prepared. I think I'll have everything under control. Every event in the sequence is played out over and over until I'm comfortable that when it happens (and it will), things will run as smoothly as well-choreographed play.

Then, the dreaded moment happened a few days ago! Far from choreographed, it was more like the episode from I Love Lucy where Lucy goes into labor. We had people running to and fro screaming for hot water and towels. Madness! Max had disrobed, pooped and had it smeared all over his body. Awful stuff. It was a complete family effort and I'm SO grateful Loren was around. He and Kelli got Max bathed. Angus helped them by running for wipes. I cleaned up the carpet while fending off the girls who looked as though they were ready to play in it like it was play-doh. Wow! That's the first and unfortunately not the last time we'll be dealing with that. One-piece outfits are a must right now!

We made Christmas cookies yesterday - even our 2-year-old trio helped. Loren was a bit skeptical as to what sort of help they would provide in the cookie-decorating department. I told him "Don't worry. I'm prepared for the mess. It's not about the cookies, remember? It's about the memories." Another thought-I-was-prepared-for-anything moment! Halfway through the decorating, Max dumped the little silver balls (remember the ones that used to be safe for decorating cookies?) we were using on the cookies ALL over the floor. Little candy b.b.'s everywhere. Messy sprinkles, colored icing, cookie crumbs and silver balls everywhere! Took me far longer to clean up than to decorate the cookies. But, it's all about the memories, huh?

Other stuff:

Angus is getting ready to start flag football in January. That should be pretty exciting for him.
The little ones are talking up a storm. I was discussing shopping with Nadia today and she said, "Yeah. Shopping's nice."
While shopping, we fed them jelly bones (jelly beans) to keep them happy. (Nadia's interpretation of the word) Love their words!
Angus asked me today if he could have a bra. During the conversation, I told him he had nothing to fill it. He said he could fill his bra with a Buzz Lightyear.
Angus invented a new song called "Spill Some Blood on the Floor" and says it's a new Christmas song.
Kevin finished his semester with (he thinks) pretty much straight A's
Kelli has been driving me everywhere lately and is such a great driver. I'm so relaxed with her at the wheel - really.
Kristi and Paul just found a house to rent out in California and are moving in after Christmas and little Camryn's on the verge of crawling already. How can that be?!