Strawn Family Happenings: How Thankful we are

Well, according to last week's online poll, "Would you leave the country if a woman was elected president?" 50% of you would move out of the country if it were a viable option. 30% will stick around to see what happens and 20% say, "Go Hilary!" Vote on this week's poll below.

"Eden, what does a turkey say?"
"Gobble Gobble"

I love that. Can't get over how much fun Eden is at two years old. Granted, I don't think that every moment of the day, but it's cute to hear her say words for the first time. It also serves as a reminder of what we adults say maybe a bit too much. Currently, that reminder would be for Sarah's phrase of "oh my gosh".... in which Eden repeats it with much exaggeration.

The other phrase would be (upon changing a really poopy diaper), "holy moly!" which sounds more like, "ho-y mo-y". Somebody mispronounced Lars' name this morning in church and she firmly and loudly corrected them with her well annunciated, "EL-E-A-ZER!" O-key-do-key then.

This morning during the sermon, Eden began talking and I said to her, "Shh, daddy's talking. We need to be quiet." And she said out loud right back to me, "Daddy need be quiet". She was either trying to repeat me, or else she was trying to shut him up. I'm still not sure which! Then, during bible class, towards the end, Eden got down off my lap and ran up to her daddy who was teaching and yelled, "LUNCH!” The whole class laughed and he quickly wrapped it up and said a prayer. Man, she's just like her mother.

Congratulations to Tammy, Eden's day care provider, who got her down for a nap last Monday without a pacifier! She has gone to sleep every night since then without one. Still hasn't been able to leave Lars' alone, however, if his is sitting there unused. We ask her if she's just keeping it warm for him and she says, "Yes" and puts her head down. As if this makes it all ok. It's a start, at any rate...

Eden is becoming more of a help for me during the day. For example, when he sneezes, she'll come running from wherever she is, climb up on the island for a Kleenex ("NE NEX") and wipe his nose, telling him, "BLOW". Very cute. Unfortunately, he cries every time.

Tuesday night, Lars was up from 0230 on. Around 0500, Al laid Lars on top of his chest and they both slept like that until 0730, when Lars woke up hungry and refreshed and Al woke up sore, cramped and comatose-like as he staggered to the shower. The next morning, I got Eden out of bed and took her to the window to show her the first snowfall of the season. I said, "Look Eden, outside. What is that?" and she said, "What happened?" I told her that it snowed in the night and she pointed to the back yard and said, "Grass hiding" then calmly climbed up on her stool for breakfast. During the day, Eden and I made 8 loaves of pumpkin bread for friends. I just kept moving to stay awake. Of course, with Wednesday normally being an extra long day, we also added a Thanksgiving Eve service to the mix at 7:00 p.m. The LC-MS should just re-title all evening services to "Fun with children".

Wednesday night, Lars slept a grand total of 40 minutes. Since I theorized that Al would be doing the bulk of tomorrow's driving back to Wilcox and I could nap, I stayed up with Lars.

Thursday morning, we got up early to hit the road. We'd packed the car late Wednesday night (because Wednesday was such a slow day with nothing else to do), so we were ready to go once everybody was dressed. The first two hours of the car ride, Al said, "Maybe we just turn around and go home." and "This is nuts. Traveling with two kids is just plain stupid." and "Whose idea was this, anyway." and "Can you keep them quiet, please?"

I kid you not, for that leg of the trip; I had my head and sometimes whole body in the backseat trying to appease one, and then the other. "Cheerios!" "Water!" "WAAAAAHHH" "book dropped it" "WAAAAAHHH" "Lars is hungry. Mommy feed." "WAAAAAAHHHHHH" "More Cheerios please" "Book dropped it" "Shoe off" "WAAAAHHH" "Shoe on!" "Water" "WAAHHH" When the 96 pound mutt got antsy because he had to poop and jumped over the backseat, parking his enormous body half on Lars, who is now being crushed to death, and Eden, who is screaming and bleeding from his claws, I started laughing, as I thought of what great material this was making for my future best selling novel. "Memoirs of a pastor's wife."

We pulled off on the interstate to let Samson do his business. Which he wouldn't. Probably too much traffic. We load back up. Both kids screaming, and hit the next rest stop. I take Samson for a 15 minute walk with Eden. We have success in 19 degree snowy weather. I change both kids’ diapers and feed Lars. Then we switch drivers. Within 5 miles of the rest stop, everybody falls asleep and I'm prying my eyelids open with toothpicks to stay awake. So much for taking last night's late shift for today's nap...

We arrive at the Jenkins on time (miraculous, no doubt) and enjoy a turkey dinner with all the fixings. Al and I wave to the crowd and climb on the bed downstairs with out our children in ear shot and promptly fall asleep. Two hours of uninterrupted sleep. Wow. That's all I have to say about that. Wow.

Friday, we do some visiting around Wilcox. Take another nap. Jenkins are having a football party and playing cards with a dozen people. Al does some serious 10 point pitch playing, which is the woosey version of Euchre and I dislike it very much. I just kicked back and relaxed. That night, we played Settlers of Catan, which is a German strategy game that we really enjoy. Al won in less than 2 hours and we called it a night. Got up and around on Saturday, and Sarah drove home while Al sermonized. We really did more talking than him working, though, and I was thankful to chat while it was quiet. It was a beautiful clear day, and the kids slept the 1st three hours of the trip. The last hour was a bit longer.

No Neck Eliezer. Or as his Papa calls him, "My future MSU nose tackle"

Today, we backed the vehicles out of the garage and got all the Christmas boxes down. Al is sorting hobby stuff to sell and I got three strands of lights up. I don’t' think we'll do the roofline here because it is very high up and we don't have a tall ladder. I'll see where else I can put lights tomorrow. Eden, Lars and I went to Douthits for pizza and a mini-fashion show with the girls, as they were trying on new clothes. Laura and I visited until it was Eden's bedtime. Came home to see that Al had hung all the new frames on the wall going down the steps. Now, we just need to find photos for the frames!

Thanks to Mickey and Wayne for this adorable toy hamper.
The feature of this week's slide show!

Hope everybody had a blessed Thanksgiving weekend and stayed safe. We are very thankful for the people in our lives and the gifts that God has bestowed upon us, above and beyond our salvation. Friends who are family, children who are given to us to care for, a spouse to share life's daily tasks of living and money to provide. Christ be with you all.