Happy Holidays

Ted, Helen, Robbie, Katie, Grace, and Noah

Christmas 2008

Everyone at It'll Fit'll would like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and a wonderful New Year!!

Until next year-

Take care,

Sue

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Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Helen in our driveway after 11" of snow!

I just heard on the news, we received 11" of snow with more to come tomorrow evening! I am very fortunate to have such a wonderful neighbor, he shovels me out every snow storm we have. He told me he has nothing else to do, he knows how busy I am with the kids. School was cancelled today, the kids got an extra day of Christmas vacation. I was ready for the storm, I got all my grocery shopping done yesterday so I wouldn't have to go out while the kids are home for break. We can hibernate for the next two weeks, that is such a great feeling. Just being able to sleep longer, lounge around in our jammies, and being able to put a pair of comfortable jeans with holes in the knees on, that's the life!

I did much better this year with my planning, last year I was awake until 2:30am finishing up my elf duties. I am ready, I have about an hour of duty this year, so I will be able to get a good night's sleep. Having six kids pumped up about Santa coming can lead to a very exhausting day. The energy in this house is very high and getting higher each day we get closer to Santa coming. Noah has really paid attention this year, he keeps explaining to me how Santa gets here. "Mom, Santa comes here in his sleigh, his reindeer bring him. He leaves toys for us, he's giving me trucks, that's it, just trucks." It is so cute, I usually grab him and give him kisses because he is so cute when he says it. Ted came up to me the other night and asked me out of the blue, "Mommy, do you believe in Santa?" I said, "Of course I do! Why do you ask?" He said, "Okay, no reason." It was as if he had some doubt and just hearing from me that I do believe was good enough for him...oh the power we mom's have!

This is our 3rd Holiday season without Peter, for some reason it is harder than last year. The first year I had so much help from very generous people. One anonymous person bought me a new washing machine because the one that came with our house was not big enough for us. Last year I was given gift cards from both churches, they were from the local grocery stores. This year reminds me of the first Christmas without Peter. There have been some very generous people once again. An anonymous person has paid the kids tuition for 3 months, I was speechless, I cried. I am blessed to have these wonderful people help me out. I hope one day to pay it forward, isn't that what life is all about?

Until next time-

Take care,

Sue

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Rumbly Tummies

This week started off with a phone call from the nurse at Helen's school, "Helen is crying, she wet her pants, she just isn't herself, can you come and pick her up?" I received this message as soon as I came home from dropping off the others at school. She was fine when she was getting ready for school, there were no signs of her not feeling well. I went and picked her up, she didn't look sick to me. When we got home I fixed her a spot on the couch, turned on Dora, per her request, and took her temperature, it was low grade. I'd say after about 15 minutes she became quite irritable, I took her temperature again, this time it was high enough for medicine. Once the medicine kicked in, about 1o minutes, she was fine again. We went and picked up the preschoolers and came back home. The day was moving along when the phone rang again, it was about 1:30pm. "Ted's not feeling well, he's been laying down in the office, why don't you talk to him." Ted got on the phone, I asked him how he felt, he said not so good. He sounded okay, I asked him if he could finish out the day seeing how he only had a little over an hour left. I didn't want to take Helen out more than I had to. He told me he could, so off he went to join his class in music, they're practicing for the Christmas concert on Friday. About 50 minutes later I received another phone call, "Ted just threw up, can you come and get him?" I arranged to have all the kids ready to go when I picked him up so I didn't have to make another trip. Once we came home it was one right after the other. It started with complaints of a stomachache, and they didn't need to go potty. They either fell asleep, threw up, or fell asleep and then threw up. During all of the kids getting sick, I myself had a rumbly tummy. We all went to bed a little early that night. I was planning on sending Robbie and Katie to school the next day, they weren't as sick as the rest of them. When I woke up on Tuesday morning I knew there was no way I was getting dressed to take them to school, my stomach was worse. I woke them up and asked how they felt, Katie told me, "Not so good", and from my experience with Ted the day before, I knew she was sick. I tried to wake Robbie, no luck. I called everyone in sick and went back to bed with Helen joining me. Thank goodness there was no throwing up, just a bunch of tummy aches. Everyone went back to school today and I received no phone calls telling me to pick someone up. There was a lot of homework for them to do so I called them in to Greek school and Religion class so they could get it done. Helen is still not feeling up to par, she fell asleep on the couch when we came home, I woke her up and put her to bed. She always gets it worse than the rest of them. Tomorrow's another day, hopefully another good night sleep will do the trick for her.

I hope all of you are able to get out and do your shopping, I haven't! I'm going out Friday morning, hopefully I will get lucky and get most of it done. I know what I'm getting, it's just getting the opportunity to get out and get it. Tomorrow Grace, Noah, and I are hitting the grocery store for ingredients to make Christmas cookies. I'm giving their teachers a plate of them as their gift. I just can't afford to buy gifts for all of them, I would have nine teachers to buy for! I have already gone the inexpensive route in the past, since most of them are repeat teachers, they have already received those gifts.

I'm off to bed, I still have that rumbly in tummy!
Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue





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Code Adam

Have you ever seen those people on the news who have been victims of a crime and they say, "You always think, that will never happen to me, and then it does." I had one of those moments yesterday while shopping with Grace and Noah for her birthday present. Grace turned five yesterday so I took her to the store so she could pick out anything she wanted(within the budget). Noah seemed to think he could pick something out too, when I explained to him why he had to put the Playdough back, he became angry with me. He stomped his feet all the way to the shelf and put the container down with a bang. He then started to look at some of the other toys around that same area. Grace in the meantime was looking at some High School Musical 3 merchandise. Some of the things she was looking at were a bit unreasonably priced, so I was trying to suggest other things to her. I turned back around expecting to see Noah, but instead found a whole lot of nothing. I started walking up and down the aisles calling his name...no response. It was eerily quiet, there was no movement around us anywhere, not even other shoppers. I looked down every aisle of the toy department, I then back tracked thinking he may go where we had already been. The whole time I was calling his name, still no response. Grace kept talking about what doll she wanted and could we go back so she pick it out. It was then she heard the panic in my voice when I told her, "We're not doing anything until we find Noah, do you realize he's lost?" From then on she said nothing else, she just followed me and helped look for Noah. I ended up going to the front desk and explaining to them what had happened and how I couldn't find him anywhere. They made an announcement over the loud speaker, "Attention, there is a lost boy by the name of Noah wearing an orange coat, if anyone sees him can you bring him to the front desk, his mom and big sister are waiting for him. Noah, if you hear me, come to the front, mom is waiting for you." The phone started ringing at the desk with questions, how old?, where was he last seen? Another mom came and asked me how old and where were we when I realized he was gone. She went looking for him. Another call came in, I'm assuming it was the manager, the clerk wasn't supposed to announce over the loud speaker the way she did. I heard her say, "Well, if he was taken, he'd be long gone by now!" That's when my thoughts started racing, and even more so when I heard over the loud speaker, "Code Adam". I knew exactly what that meant, I used to work in retail. For those of you who may not know, it means, possible child abduction, check and lock all doors, check the restrooms, and the fitting rooms. It was named after Adam Walsh who was abducted from a store at a mall in Florida, his dad hosts the show, Americas Most Wanted. Time seemed to stand still, every time the phone rang my heart raced even more. I felt so helpless, I wanted to run through that store screaming his name, begging him to answer. Finally the call came in, he was found in the toy department, by the trucks. He wouldn't go with any of the employees so I headed back there. He was walking with the mom who had asked me about him earlier, he was holding a truck and crying. I was so relieved to see him, I picked him up and gave him a huge hug, the whole time talking to him about the importance of staying by me and answering me when I call his name. This whole ordeal, I think, lasted about 15 minutes. Grace finally got to pick out her present and then we went home. I lectured him the whole ride home, raising my voice a few times. When we picked up the older kids from school I told them the story. I had them tell Noah the importance of listening to me while out shopping. I hope he learned a lesson yesterday, I sure did! I never thought I would hear, "Code Adam" being called for one of my kids. I am breathing a huge sigh of relief, and I'm very thankful it turned out the way it did, there are a lot of parents out there who aren't so lucky.

Until next time-
Take Care,
Sue






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