Happy Thanksgiving?

These pictures are from Thanksgiving #1 on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I had this grand plan on how I would divide the Holiday so we could enjoy both sides of the family with out eating 2 huge dinners in one day. Sunday was with my side of the family and it was wonderful. The kids all played well together, except for my Stella who does not enjoy playing with my nephew ("He growls"). We have learned that we can not take my sisters word for it when she says that you can't tell if the mashed potatoes were made with soy milk (yuck). However her soy ice cream cake was good.
Then Tuesday the fever came. Charlotte didn't really feel warm to me, she was just so lethargic. When I took her temperature it was 103! Holy Crap! I called the doctor in a mini panic (funny how you can keep a calm exterior for your kids' sake). I was told that the bugs going around (including H1N1) meant that I could expect days of a high fever that may never break even with Tylenol. The next 3 days her fever never got below 100, peaking at 103.5. She just wanted to sleep. I would wake her, feed her and then she would fall back asleep in my arms. I have to say that I took advantage of this time to just sit and rock her. My inner mommy just felt better trying to believe that nothing would happen to her when she was in my arms. At one point after she threw up, Adrianne began to cry. I told her if she was worried, she should pray for Charlotte. Then the saddest/sweetest thing ever came out of her mouth:
"Jesus, please don't let Charlotte get so sick that she dies and goes to Heaven to be with you. I would miss her too much."
Thanksgiving day, Jonah took the big girls to the Lang Family get together and I stayed home and had a quiet day with Charlotte aka fever baby. That night when we put the girls to bed, I asked Adrianne what she was thankful for. She said "Mommy & Daddy, Jesus and red licorice". Then Adrianne asked me what I was thankful for. I told her I was thankful for my family... Daddy and my girls, but most of all I am thankful for Jesus. I told her that if I hadn't given my life to Jesus 15 years ago, I wouldn't have this life, this family, these kids.
Jonah and I've been taking this class at church called "Vintage Jesus". It has really made me think, especially the last class we attended which challenged us to think about where our lives would be without Jesus. Now that I am 30, half of my life was lived without Him. Half lived fuller with Him. My life is so transformed by that choice.
Peace in spite of worry. It was a good Thanksgiving. Full of thankfulness.

Thirty

Here are my words of wisdom about being thirty:
1. When you are thirty, nothing on your resume refers to anything done in high school.
2. When you are 20, you want a high paying job to pay for the things you dream of getting. When you are thirty, you want a high paying job to pay for all the things you already own.
3. When you are 30, Midnight is the new 3 am and 7 am is sleeping in.
4. When you are 20, you want to look 25. When you are 30, you want to look 25.
5. When you are 20, you never think any of the weird growing older things will happen to you. By 30, you know it's ALL true!

My 30th Birthday was amazing. Jonah threw a surprise party at a really nice restaurant in Corvallis. They even reprinted the menus with a Birthday message for me! Nearly all my closest friends came and we laughed our heads off. I got to wear the new dress I got at Anthropology and heals... I felt so grown up! I still laugh to myself about how it can even be possible that I've been alive for 30 years. I am so thankful. More about this in my next post.

Student of the Month

Adrianne was chosen by her teacher to be Student of the Month for her class. She was so thrilled to have her name called in front of the whole school at an assembly. I did the mom thing and had to choke back my tears (now I know why my mom was always crying). Her teacher said that she is a friend to all and always comes into class with a good attitude, excited to learn. My little rule minder! The other day I was scolding Stella for hitting her, and I said "Would you like Adrianne to hit you?" to which Adrianne replied:
"Why would I ever do that? I love Stella, I would never hit her!!!"
Adrianne loves her class and for now this is the right place for her. We have all kinds of interesting learning opportunities that help her figure out how the world works (at least at a 5 year old level). Like "christian christians vs. jesus christians" (long story), advocating for yourself to a grown up. We talk everyday about the kids in her class, how they are different/same, what is culture/tradition and what is bad things that we don't do and lots more. This is the meat of parenting... where she really is starting to see how our values are different then others. I'm glad the lessons are very small now.

Berry Cute

Charlotte finally has grown in to the adorable hat that my friend Bethany knitted. She's ready for fall!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We had the opportunity to go with Adrianne's class to Hoffman Family Farms in Canby, OR. This was her first time on the school bus and she was giddy at the thought.
Hoffman Family Farms was amazing. We went for the pumpkin patch but there was so many other things to do. We were given 2 other girls from Adrianne's class and they headed first to the bouncy play ground. Then off to the petting zoo which had bunnies, a highland cow, alpaca's and goats. Then a display that let you learn to milk cows, dig for potatoes and play in a corn pile. They also have "walk on the wild side" which is a look at the animals they have in their wild life rescue. Like a LION! A TIGER! A CAMEL! A BEAR! You get way closer then at the zoo, very cool! We finished with a hay maze and then the pumpkin patch. A very fun field trip!