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She’s ready for the weekend.

Can someone tell me why kids prefer to sit anywhere but where they are SUPPOSED to sit?

– Martha

PS — Here’s an update. In case anyone was wondering what the little boy whose name began with an “X” brought into the Thanksgiving feast, he brought in homemade “X”-shaped cookies. Smart mom.

1) He tells you he’s “pooped” his pants. Or, if it’s the second time in a day, he explains that he “did it again.”

2) Then, he runs to the diaper changing area.

3) As you take off the diaper, he waves and says “hello” to his “peeper” and then informs you that the mess he created is a “yucky stink.”

4) Then, he explains that he needs “some lotion on his rear.”

5) Then, when it’s all over he says “thank you” and runs off.

– Martha

• Do you want to meet other new moms? Have a place to talk about the joys and challenges and be able to ask questions? All moms and their babies under one year old are invited to attend Saratoga Hospital’s weekly New Moms Group, Fridays at noon. Come for support, for advice, or just to have some fun outside of the house with your baby and other moms just like you! No registration is required. For more information, call 580-2450.

• The Chapman Historical Museum is hosting Family Day events on Saturday, at 1pm and 2pm. Participants will make traditional holiday crafts and hand-dipped candles. Supplies and volunteer assistance will be provided. Cost is $3 per child. Accompanying adults are free. Due to limited space and supplies reservations are required and can be made by calling the Chapman Historical Museum at (518) 793-2826.

• Sound Waves, featuring the music works of Handel, Elgar and Schumann that depict rivers and seas, will be presented by the Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra Sunday at 4 p.m. at Glens Falls High School. Guest soloist is Bolton Landing resident contralto Meredith Parsons McComb. Music director Charles Peltz will give a pre-concert talk at 3:15 p.m. Cost is $25 for adults and $10 for students.

-Julie

P.S. Support local artisans and find economical and unique Christmas gifts at the area’s many craft shows this weekend. Come see me at the Church of Annunciation Classy Craft For Christmas show Friday or Saturday.

• One of my boys called me a mean mom because I made him go back to sch0ol this week. He said I was only sending them to get rid of them. Rule is if you are free of fever for 24 hours, you are well enough to go to school. (Don’t tell them how happy I was to have some time to myself this week.)

Looking over the 5-year-old’s school work from the day, I came across a coloring sheet called, “Thanksgiving Feast.”

The directions asked for the students to draw a picture of some of their favorite Thanksgiving foods along with the first letter each food began with.

Abby drew a picture of olives in a bowl, along with the letter “O”.

Next, she drew a picture of some cauliflower, with the letter “C.”

“What’s this food?” I asked, looking down at a picture of a green circle filled with some seeds, beginning with the letter “Q”.

“It’s a Qucumber, Mom,” she said.

Of course.

That night, she also had homework to do. The class is to have their very own Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday. Each kid is supposed to bring in a food that starts with the first letter of their name.

For Abby, this is easy. There are plenty of options: applesauce, animal crackers, etc.

BUT, I wasn’t thinking about her.

My first thoughts went to a little boy in her class, named “Xander.”

It’s worth going to the feast just to see what his mother comes up with!

– Martha

I saw a segment on a local newscast last night asking Can you do Christmas for 4 for under $500? Is that really such a big deal? We regularly spend about that much on our family of 6, without feeling restricted.

This year we are taking up our own kind of shopping challenge though, at least in regards to the kids’ gifts.

They all said that they want a certain expensive-when-you-add-in-all-the-extras game system. We told them they could probably get it if they didn’t expect anything else. They actually agreed.

The boys don’t know it but they will have some other things under the tree on Christmas morning. My plan is to see how well I can do at finding things at thrift stores and crafts shows or making some on my own.

I already found relatively large gifts for two of the boys that they will be thrilled with. They don’t need to know I spent a buck on each of them.

I’ll keep you posted on how I’m doing and give you a tally after the holiday. In the meantime, let us know how you plan to save/spend this season.

-Julie

I was served breakfast in bed this morning.

English muffin topped with peanut butter and mini- marshmallows (in the shape of a smiley face) never tasted so good.

Happy Birthday to me.

– Martha

I was down for the count all weekend with what I believe was H1N1. Two of my boys probably had it too, but other than having fevers and a cough you wouldn’t know they were sick, especially with a little Tylenol in them.

I wasn’t sure how I would cope with dh and the oldest away for most of it, but the younger boys really stepped up to the plate.

We were well enough to get groceries early Saturday morning, so they helped themselves to easy things like cereal, fruit, yogurt,  frozen pizza and popsicles when they got hungry. They even thought about my needs, frequently asking me if I wanted anything to eat.

There was one time I didn’t need the help, but appreciated the effort. I’m rarely left alone, even when I go to shower or bathe. Despite leaving them in front of the tv with warnings to stay out of the bathroom, there is always something they just have to tell me. Or show me.

It started with the youngest thinking I needed company in the tub. Not him, no, but a surfing polar bear, swimming dog, 3 frogs, a lion and a skeleton. Then, the middle two had to share the craft project they had started at the kitchen table. It just couldn’t wait until I was done.

Overall, we all survived. It was dh who had his hands full when he did get home. He was the one who had to make sure they cleaned up the messes they had made, do the dishes and get caught up on the  mountains of laundry in the basement.

I only hope he doesn’t get sick too.

-Julie

The kid will pick up bugs and study them.

He’ll chase after garter snacks.

But, THIS he was afraid of.

“Mom! Get it. Get it. Fudge! Fudge! ” he said, pointing to a black speck floating in the water

Dutifully, I pulled the bit of black fuzz from his bathwater. The boy had been wearing a pair of new black socks. The black sock fuzz stuck between his toes was released when plopped into the bath. The sight of little floaty things in the water was too much for him to bear.

“More, Mom! Fudge! Fudge! Get it! I scare!”

I retrieved more fuzz.

Then, more.

“MOM! Get it!”

Finally, it was more than I could bear.

“Here. Mom will fix it.”

I put a healthy squirt of bubble bath into the water. Black fuzz is much harder to detect among two thousand bubbles.

Smart mommy wins again.

– Martha

It’s not a party till someone loses a shoe.

“Can I go now? Please. PLEASE!”

I looked down at the child’s barely touched plate of chicken. Then, out at the dance floor at the two flower girls already dancing.

“Go ahead. Go dance.”

Before the last word was out of my mouth, the banquet hall seat next to me was empty. And soon, I was  watching three little girls jump, jive, juke and contort under the twinkling lights to instrumental dinner music.

She must get it from my mother, I thought to myself, watching the girl twist and hop. There was a woman who never met a chicken dance she didn’t like. As for me, I stopped dancing at wedding receptions when the MC Hammer “running man” move went out of style.

I prefer spending the dance portion of weddings doing more constructive things like gathering up unspoken for chocolate wedding favors and watching the cast of dancers found at most every wedding: the older couple who can do the jitter bug to the envy of all; the slightly intoxicated girl whose skirt bounces dangerously higher with each successive Isley Brothers call to “Shout!” ; and the group of college friends singing (and acting out) the always-popular-at-weddings “Grease” song medley.

It was during all this watching that it happened: my girl lost her shoe. It shot clear off her foot during one of her interpretive dance moves.

This was our second wedding in one month’s time. Our daughter danced at both celebrations with such abandon that her fancy patent leather shoes spent more time sailing off than staying neatly buckled on. But, who could blame her, or her equally exuberant flower-girl friends? To my little girl, whose ultimate life’s ambition is to be a beauuuutiful princess (who explores outer space), there is no event more magical than a wedding. The big, lacy dresses, the lights, the music, the mass quantities of sliced pepperoni, it is like a page straight from a fairytale.

I relaxed and enjoyed my chocolates. Only one thing could disturb my tranquility: the beats of a steel drums. “Oh no, a CONGA LINE!”

“Okay, everyone get up out of your seats!” threatened the DJ.

I wanted to pull my “I’m pregnant, I can’t” exemption card, but I’m not THAT pregnant. I’m still in the “she looks bloated” stage, not the “she’s so big, she might tip over in a conga line” stage.

My problem with the conga line is, I’m not versed in conga line etiquette. For the person in front of me, do I hold his hips? His shoulders? When do I shout? When do I kick? I chose shoulders, limited shouting and no kicking.

As the conga snaked around, I could see my daughter far ahead in the line. She was tossing her head back and laughing. It made me think about how fun and magical weddings really are… even the conga line part.

The night continued in much the same way till at last the little girl returned to her chair. She leaned back on me and closed her eyes. It was time to head home.

“Come on, princess,” I said. “Let’s gather up your shoes. Daddy will carry you to our coach.”

– Martha