Cookies

While Grandma was here the kids decorated Christmas sugar cookies.  I have never made or decorated sugar cookies before.  After helping and observing, I now know why.  They are tons of work, messy and don't taste that great.  If I'm going to put forth the effort to make cookies they are going to be a cookie I or someone in my family enjoys eating.

If you look closely you'll notice the bite missing from Kellyn's cookie.  Several cookies were harmed in a similar manner during the process of decorating

Aric had the most fun decorating cookies and stuck it out with Grandma until all of the cookies were decorated.

Nothing says Christmas like neon food coloring.

Definitely not magazine quality decorating, but the kids had fun.  Hopefully they realize that mommy won't be doing this again and they will have to wait on Grandma to return before they'll get to decorate cookies again.

An Early Christmas Gift

Ryan's parents came to visit last week to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.  While they were here they gave the kids an early Christmas present.  It was a huge hit and I have a feeling we will be bundled up outside playing on it as much as possible.

Creative Play

It makes me smile sometimes when I see the toys left out after play was disrupted.  Where else would you find a housewife hanging out with a horse and a fireman...

...or an elephant driving the baby in a minivan...

...than in the mind of a child overflowing with creativity?

Change

...is coming.

Thankful

Today I am thankful for:

A loving God who never gives me more than I can handle.

A supportive and loving husband who is committed to share the good and the bad with me.

Two wonderful children who have truly blessed and filled our lives.

Family and friends who are always there for us.

To not have to work on Thanksgiving for the first year in quite a long time.

Wishing you a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving day!

Kinect

For his birthday this year Ryan received an upgraded Xbox that came with a Kinect.  Ryan uses the Xbox quite frequently, but the Kinect would go unused if it weren't for one member of our family.

We bought the game Kinectimals for the kids and Aric loves it.  He asks us to "play the tiger game" anytime he thinks about it.  Since he's quite active while playing the game, I don't feel like a terrible mother for allowing my three year old to play video games.

Things Heard Around Here

Kellyn: I want be a cowboy.

Me: No, you can't be a cowboy.

Aric: I want to be dressed as a biker again.

Me: No, you can't be a biker at church.

I do not want to squash my children's dreams or abilities to make decisions for themselves.  I want them to grow up and be able to choose things on their own.  In small ways we allow them to pick out their own clothes.  Some times Most times they don't match and look a bit silly, but they are always quite proud of choosing what to wear.  That being said I draw the line at wearing costumes out of the house, especially to church.  For the record I do not have any problem with bikers going to church or cowboys, either, for that matter.

My Knee

Six weeks ago I had knee surgery.  I mentioned it prior to the surgery, but have not wanted to talk about it since.  The knee surgery was "life changing".  It's not drastic in the way that I am now missing a knee, but it's big enough that I have to make some significant changes in my life.

This wasn't my first knee surgery.  I had surgery on the same knee six years ago.  During the six years in between there were a few times when I thought I might need surgery again.  My knee, however, calmed down and I didn't think about it again until this past May.  I still have no idea how I injured it in May.  I went running in the morning, played outside with the kids while wearing flip flops and by evening I was in an excruciating amount of pain and couldn't bend my knee to 90 degrees.

During surgery my surgeon discovered that I have terrible cartilage (or as Ryan likes to say, "I have the knee of a 400lb man").  My cartilage is softer than it is supposed to be and it shreds and flakes off.  My knee pain and other problems happen when the cartilage is too rough and chewed up from wear and pieces fall off and get in the way of my knee functioning.  The bad thing about cartilage is that they can't fix it.  It can be cleaned off and smoothed out, but they can't ever replace what I am losing.

What does that mean for me?  Well, the biggest change of all is that I am not supposed to run anymore.  I can jog for short distances, but I am not allowed to run long distances.  Running has always been my choice for cardio and not being able to run is heartbreaking and leaves me out of sorts.  I hate the elliptical machine with a passion and I'm not a fan of the recumbent bike.  That doesn't leave many options.  Since surgery I have used my treadmill to walk and I bought a stationary bike stand for my mountain bike.  There's something different about riding on the mountain bike that makes me feel like I'm actually accomplishing something.

I have to wear sensible shoes with high arches that will help take the stress off of my knee.  Thankfully "sensible shoes" do not mean ugly shoes anymore.  However, "sensible shoes" still mean "expensive shoes".  Too bad the doctor couldn't write a prescription for shoes.  I had to clean out my closet of shoes that weren't going to be supportive for me.  There was no point in hanging onto shoes that will only damage my knee further. 

Other changes I have to make are to work hard to keep my quad muscles in good shape.  That is difficult since I was also given limitations in what I can do.  I can't do leg extensions, lunges or any other exercise that will put my knee in a 90 degree angle or greater.  I worked with a physical therapist who gave me some good exercises to start with.  Over time as I get stronger I'll have to figure out some different things to do to keep my leg strong and change things up for me so I won't be bored.  I am also taking large doses of glucosamine and chondroitin.  It may not be proven to be effective, but people swear by it and there is no harm in trying it for my knee.

On my six week follow-up appointment the doctor told me he would see me later.  Hopefully with the changes I make that won't happen for a long time.

Busy

I've been a bit busy lately and the first thing to go when I'm busy is the blog.  Sorry, but that's the reality of my life.  I had two sick children, one of whom is cutting four three molars.  It put mommy a bit on edge dealing with two fussy, needy children.  We're doing better now that both kids are healthy again.

In addition to taking care of the kids I have been preoccupied with making Christmas gifts.  I decided to make Christmas gifts this year for most of our family and friends.  I'm pretty excited about my projects and hope that everyone else likes them as much as I do.  If they don't, I hope they don't let on that they dislike them.  Currently I am about half way through.  I hope to have the rest underway this week.

If that's not enough I spent a good portion of last week in the kitchen making food.  Ryan was promoted at work and in keeping with tradition we provided a meal for his coworkers.  I made dozens and dozens of cookies, pasta salad and peeled eggs for deviled eggs until my fingers literally bled.  Don't worry, I didn't send the bloody egg along.  Last Thursday I spent the day baking bread.  I was given a Friendship bread starter and Thursday it was ready to bake.  I made chocolate chip bread, pumpkin bread, mixed berry bread and lemon poppy seed bread.  It's all waiting in the freezer to be eaten for breakfast.

The last few days I've been working on our dining room table.  The finish on the table was already wearing away.  It just couldn't stand up to heat, cold or a three year old.  It was painful to sand the table and scuff it up further, but its easier to redo the finish now than to refinish the entire table later.  The table is now polyurethaned and drying.  It should stand up to the kids now. 

And that is why I haven't been blogging.

A Handful

Ever since turning two this one has been keeping us on our toes:

If you leave her for two seconds she'll likely wind up somewhere she doesn't belong.

We, mistakenly, thought she started the terrible two's before turning two.  We were wrong.  While she may have dipped her toe into the water to test it out, when she turned two she jumped right in and waves have been splashing ever since.

Frequently we hear the phrase,  "I'm not... (insert taking nap, changing diaper, or other appropriate phrase here)".  I feel like I'm in a constant battle and some days I'm pretty weary from the effort I'm expending to teach and train her.  I remember some pretty terrible incidents with Aric, but I don't remember the magnitude and volume that I am experiencing now.

Regardless, I know the two's don't last forever.  We'll be on to another age and stage before I know it.

 Kellyn may be a handful, but she's my handful and I wouldn't trade her for anything.

Things Heard Around Here

I pick one.

Translation:
I would like to choose a piece of Halloween candy from my bucket.  I guess we'll be hearing this one for awhile.