Christmas Newsletter 2010

Sunny Happenings
Blog Entries for 2010

. . . James continues to amaze me. He has once again repaired our old green van. He is getting quite handy as a mechanic. “Is this a good thing?” I wonder. He ensures me time and time again that due to his skills, we may never need a new vehicle again! He is also very handy at fixing anything and everything from holes “accidentally” kicked in the wall by rivaling siblings to cupboard doors “accidentally” being ripped off by rushing children and dryers that are well past their prime. At this rate, we will never “have need” of a new thing again! James is the backbone of our family and keeps us all in stitches with his humor and fun anecdotes. He continues to love working at Policy Technologies, and they continue to love having him work for them.
. . . Life is busy. I never imagined how busy it would be having children of such varied ages. It is also a lot of fun and never dull or boring in our home. One minute I will be cuddling and reading to the younger boys, and the next I’ll be dealing with hormones and doling out dating or driving advice to the older kids. I am also a working mom. I only work part time with my home cleaning business, but it sure feels like full-time to me! I have done a lot of traveling over the past year, and it always gives me a much needed break from the crazy monotony (is that an oxymoron?) of home life. James is always there for me, encouraging me to take those much needed breaks (maybe a little too encouraging), and holding down the fort while I’m gone. James and I attended girl’s camp with the girls this summer. We left Alex and the boys home alone. I found out later (from an anonymous source) that the boys wore the same clothes the entire time we were gone, slept on the couch and stayed up as late as they wanted. I am so grateful for Alex and that all three of them were alive and happy when we got back!
. . . Life could not be any better for Alex (17). He is having an amazing senior year. Each day he straps his guitar onto his back and leaves at 715 for zero hour seminary in his little Celica convertible. He doesn’t have much time for homework in his dual--enrollment college classes because he has to rush to his job at the local grocery store right after school. He does, however, take lots of time in the wee hours to work on various projects. His most recent project was a set of "mouse trap" auto--spring angel wings, covered with feathers. These spectacular wings won him First place at Drama Districts, and 4th place at Drama State. After graduation, the sky is the limit for him! Alex is interested in joining the Army Reserves, but when I asked what area of work he would like to do, he looked at me with a half smile, then started listing off several careers that he's interested in; fire fighter, actor, costume designer, blacksmith, Coroner, and Rock Star. I must say, his interests are varied!
. . . The Elusive Hannah (14) (as Alex calls her) spends every waking moment reading (when she’s not on Facebook, of course). She completed her goal this year of reading 100 books, which is most likely how she earned the title “elusive”. Hannah is loving being a teenager and a freshman this year. She was saddened that school would be closed for two weeks during the holidays. She really loves it. Or, maybe she just loves hanging with her friends and watching boys on whom she has crushes, but to which she would never admit. She has once again decided to play the violin in Orchestra, although her only scheduled concert was canceled.
. . .Emily (12) spent an entire month this past summer in California helping care for our two-year-old quadruplet cousins and their new baby sister. She has boundless energy when it comes to children. She loves to care for them and has become a star babysitter in our neighborhood. We only wish that energy would transfer to doing chores and cleaning her room! We are so lucky to be able to listen to Emily practice her flute, however, we prefer it to be more than six inches away from our ears. She has come a long way since last year. It has been fun watching her grow into a spunky and fun young woman.
. . . Hunter (9) is such a fun and sweet boy. He is getting so tall! I keep asking him to stop growing, but he just won’t listen. He’ll say, “I’m trying not to, Mom,” with a sheepish grin. I hope that isn’t psychological abuse on my part. He may end up with a tall-person complex when he’s an adult or something. I guess that’s what therapy is for. Hunter has gotten the citizenship award in his class for the past two trimesters, and his report card came home with straight As. When Hunter isn’t reading Charlie Bone, he is trading Pokemon cards or playing on the Wii. He would much rather play on the Wii than do anything else, and lets me know it if I interrupt him for something as mundane as setting the table for dinner!
. . . Connor (7) is our little creative genius. Each time I throw something like a cardboard tube or crumpled foil into the trash, I am certain I will see it again brought back to life in a new form later on. I am never disappointed. He is a thinker and is fascinated with numbers, clocks, and time. I often hear the boys tossing math problems back and forth to each other. Connor can usually solve the multiplication problems that Hunter is learning. I personally find it amazing and wonder how his brain can compute things so easily at this age. He also loves to paint and wants to be an artist when he grows up.
We feel very blessed this year in so many ways. We have jobs that we love. We are healthy, and aside from the usual trials of life, we are happy. We have striven this year to reach out to those who have been less fortunate than us. It seems that times are getting more and more difficult for everyone and we feel a burden to help in any way we can. We hope this year, that you too can reach out to your fellow man in any way possible to lighten a load, bring a smile, or just give an encouraging word. These are the truest gifts of Christmas.

With Love,

the Moore Family;
James, Sunny, Alex, Hannah, Emily, Hunter, and Connor

Disastrous Christmas Caroling . . . then fun!

I had been anticipating this moment for several weeks now; my beautiful family wearing coats and hats with matching scarves, and smiling rosy-faced as we sang in perfect harmony amid the gently falling snow on the doorsteps of my client's homes while presenting them with magnificent handmade tokens of the season.

(high pitched screeching sound of ripping brakes)

It was not to be so . . .
I had spent long moments fantasizing about how wonderful it would be. I carefully hand crafted the treats into jars with handmade tags accented with coordinating ribbon.

I knew we were out of time to rehearse and even pin down the numbers to sing. We had the potential. Serious potential. What we lacked was organization and coordination. I was willing to try anyway.

The weather wasn't cooperating. After freeze-raining all day yesterday and frightfully low temperatures all day today, the roads. walkways and porches were sheets of ice.

I hoped that James would drive home from work and happily and merrily pick us all up and we could travel together to bring joy to the hearts of the people up north.

I was told on the phone that due to the weather, we had a very small window of opportunity before the roads were too treacherous to travail and if I still wanted to do it, I would have to immediately drive up myself and pick him up at work.

I felt my first pang of doom.

I roused the children. The little boys were perfectly willing as long as McDonald's was part of the bargain. I could handle that. So, after convincing them to switch out the pink snow boots for black, they hopped into the van.

I roused the teenagers (roused might be too optimistic). They dragged their feet. They were doing way more important things like Facebook and chatting with girls on the phone.

"Pang" It was the second sound of doom. I put on a BIG SMILE and bit off the words I really wanted to say to them. They didn't have the same courtesy.

I started getting that feeling in my stomach. You know, the one that tells you that your dreams are dashing to the ground. And yet I pressed on.

I started driving and asked them what songs they would like to sing. "WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SONGS TO SING!" They yelled.

I pressed on the brakes to stop at the stop sign and heard the antilocks engage. It seemed we were in slow motion as we gently slid beyond the stop sign. My mind whirred as I came to the realization that we would not be driving up the steep hill into my client's neighborhood.

I conceded.

I would not give my teenagers the satisfaction of knowing that the weather was the ultimate deciding factor. I would let them stew.

Once back home and safe and sound, we decided to make graham cracker houses. None of us were in the mood.

As we worked, we began to laugh and joke.

After a little while, Emily said, "I love this family!"

In unison, Hannah and I both said, "I love this family too--jinx, personal jinx, knock on wood!" To which we all burst out laughing.

Tetanus Scare and bonus Christmas Money

I had to take Alex to Redi Care today because we thought he had Tetanus. He stepped on a nail during Drama class at school two weeks ago while building thrones for the sets for his two upcoming plays; Much Ado About Nothing and Once Upon a Mattress. His jaw has been in mortal pain ever since. Of course, I only found out last night–after our regular doctor’s office was closed. But hey, we met our deductible, so now I look for any excuse to go to the doctor since it’s practically free, and that way I can feel better about those 12 lovely insurance payments I made throughout the year.

“Just in case” the doctor prescribed an anti inflammatory and an antibiotic. A tetanus shot was administered, and then we drove to the pharmacy at the grocery store where Alex recently got a job as a bagger. He grabbed a cart and started pushing it along, flexing his abs as he pushed. He told me that soon he’s going to have rock hard abs from pushing all of those carts through the snow and back into the store. I laughed. It won’t be much longer until he’s out on his own. Graduation is just around the corner. Life will be boring without Alex constantly doing thousands of projects and experiments. Although the messes annoy me, I will miss seeing him in creativity mode.

I don’t think I’ll miss seeing his room piled with junk knee high! I have to close his door every day so I don’t have to look at it. Most days it’s a battle I choose not to fight. Tomorrow I will be cleaning it and charging him $20 an hour. How do you think that will go? I could really use some last minute Christmas money :)