That silly elf!

Christopher the Elf is back! He surprised Josie on Sunday and has been busy causing mischief since.

Hanging out in the Barbie tub

Swimming in the Play Mobil pool with Santa and Snowman

Taking a rest

Peek!

Enjoying some Kisses

He did what?!?!?!?

Peeking at his handiwork

Chilling in the fridge with a glass of milk and some gingerbread man cookies

 He's been a busy little elf so far......can't wait to see what other surprises he has in store.

Ring, ring!

On our way to church tonight Josie was busy reading any and every sign she could see. As we drove past the video store she did a good job of sounding out "family" but got stuck on "video" because it didn't start with a D or M......as in DVD or movie. After we sounded out video she asked what that was and somehow I found myself rambling on about VHS tapes. That concept was lost on Josie so I naturally moved on to cassette tapes, which made no more sense than VHS tapes. I thought I was striking out until she asked if I had smartphones when I was a kid. Aha! Now we're finally speaking the same language! So I start talking about how there were no smartphones or camera phones or games to play on the phone. She responds by asking "Mom, how did you even call anyone then?".

I can't wait to try and explain what a stamp and a post office used to be.

Figgy the guard cat

With Brent's crazy work schedule Josie and I end up spending a lot of time without him in the house. When these shifts first started we considered a security system but feared the alarm going off accidentally would be just as traumatizing as a real threat. Then we considered a dog. That lasted approximately two seconds. The other day I realized we have nothing to worry about because Figgy is here to protect us 24/7. Here's how I know.....

The other morning Figgy was snuggled in and snoring (yes, snoring, but that's a whole different story).

Kind of like this, but with more blankets

 

As Brent was coming home around 6:15am, I could hear the garage door open and noticed that Figgy pried one eye open to confirm that she heard it too.

Peek-a-boo, I see you!

Then, as the door to the house opened, she lifted her whole head up to get a better listen. I could tell that her body was ready to attack if the need called. Either that or she was weighing out leaving the warm bed to see if whoever was making the noise might possibly give her some treats. As her intuition (or was it the warm bed again?) told her it was safe, she snuggled back to sleep. A few minutes later I could hear the sounds of Brent's footsteps coming up the stairs. Again, Figgy lifted her head, her body in full attack mode. She was ready to pounce! Or was she ready for Pounce? Once Brent came through the doorway she took a good look at this would-be attacker, deemed the threat level low, let out a loud groan as if complaining that someone disturbed her slumber, and promptly began snoring again.


Seriously, she does snore. Loudly!
 

So who needs some fancy alarm company or loud barking dog? Not us! We have a stealthy cat who will give subtle clues as to the threat level of the situation. One eye opens means something may or may not be going on and someone may or may not be handing out cat treats. Head up means something really might be going on and the human folk should maybe check it out. Head back down and resumption of snoring means no threat, no treats and nothing to worry about. 

I am thankful.....

For Josie's artistic talent

For Josie's interest in setting the table

For getting our Christmas decorations up

For Figgy's supervision of said decorations

For 3/4 of a pound of butter on our turkey (I might actually like turkey this year!)

For good times with family (notice the rest of the family members are downstairs dealing with the next two thankful items)

For these people (even if I had to pay double time)

Because of this.....

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with whomever you are thankful for!

Josie-isms

Heading into the bathroom at the bowling alley:
J- This bathroom is glorious.

Pretending to have a tummy ache when it's time for bed:
J- My tummy really hurts.
H- Go to bed.
J- Mom, you need to take care of me.
H- What would make you feel better?
J- I don't know! I'm not a doctor!

Discussing school:
J- Two kids kissed at school today.
H- Oh, that's interesting. You know that's not ok, right?
J- I don't kiss mom! I hold hands.
H- With who?????
J- Well I do have two boyfriends.

When its time to vote for president:
H- Ok, now we fill in the bubble for the person we want to vote for.
J- Well who is going to win? That's who I want to vote for.

Going to school night at Wendy's:
H- Let's place our order. What do you want?
J- I have to hurry up. Everyone here wants to see me.

In getting married:
J- Mom, I'm going to marry Ted.
H- Oh honey, that's really sweet, but he's family and you can't marry him.
J- Why not? You were a Fairclough and now you're a Weber. I'm a Weber and if I marry Ted I'm a Fairclough.
H- Um.....that's still not ok.

A gold star day!

Not only did Josie bring home her very first report card today, she also received a medal for reaching 200 steps in the 100 book challenge!

 

How did she choose to celebrate? A nice warm bath.

Creepy!

Another 100 book challenge comment.......

Nick is kind of creeping me out. Turns out he's a good guy and really can fix-it.

Now off to read "The Alien at the Zoo".

Grade school reunion

Tonight was school night at Wendy's which means a certain percentage of the profits at a particular store during set hours will be donated back to the school. Since I'm a team player and all (and maybe feeling a little guilty for not joining the PTA) I took Josie to said Wendy's during said hours. Pretty harmless........until we walked in the door and I heard

Josie's here!

Look, its Josie!

Josie, over here!

Mom, that's Josie!

Can I sit by Josie?

Josie, come to my table!

And this was from at least 6 different kids. Apparently Josie is Miss Social and knows everyone because some of these kids were quite a bit older than her. And they all wanted to sit by her. What am I- chopped liver? It was like a dang reunion in there!

We got our order and made our way through her adoring fans and Josie picked a seat right in the middle of the action. Then that's about all the time I had with her. The rest of the time was spent talking to friends, visiting other tables, giving hugs and grabbing an occasional bite of food. No wonder her cold lunch bag comes home with almost as much food as we packed in it. She's too busy talking to eat!

I guess I should bring this up at the next conference just to make sure its during recess and not during class. In the meantime I'm going to start saving for her senior pictures- I can only imagine how many wallets she's going to want to give out!

Time to unpause

Don't you just love DVR? You can pause, record, rewind and fast forward all from the comfort of your little couch. Best invention ever! And I'm incredibly thankful for DVR due to the events of the past few weeks. Its been a lifesaver!

No, I'm not talking about using it to skip all the political commercials lately (though it has been nice to avoid some of the negativity) or make sure I'm always caught up on Grey's Anatomy and Parenthood (though its very good at that too). Its not that kind of DVR at all.

I'm talking about this type of DVR -Dearly Vital Relatives-
(just to clarify, "relatives" also includes friends because anyone who cares enough to listen to me ramble on about painful urination, plastic thingies in my body and how much damage a 5mm rock can cause might as well be considered family)

This type of DVR has let me pause my entire life in order to focus on letting myself heal. And pausing my life certainly required a bit of fast forwarding and channel jumping for others, but I could not have done it without them. 

Just to name a few:
Visits and phone calls
Food and treats delivered to the house
Flowers, cards and balloons
Invites to another house for food and treats
Help with the 100 book challenge (yep- it definitely doesn't stop for a little kidney stone!)
Shuttle service (to and from school, to and from the doctor)
Puppy licks
Graciously shifting from co-chair to full chair of a committee
Support for Brent and Josie

Speaking of Brent and Josie, a special thank you to them. Brent- I'm sure its been like constant PMS around here for the past 3 weeks and you've tolerated me well. And Josie- every hug and drawing was its own special medicine.

So what am I saying here? I'm back (or at least I'm really close to it) and I appreciate every single one of you who played a role. Thank you.

Cat camping

Now that the weather is getting colder we're spending a lot more time indoors. This weekend Josie asked to set-up her tent in the family room so she could pretend to camp. Apparently Figgy found the "cat room" and wants to go along on the next trip.