Link Party 86 and My Christmas Story

Hi everyone! How was your Christmas? I hope everyone had a wonderful time with your loved ones. I have been having a great time with my family. Also, I have been reading a lot and I am really having a hard time ripping myself from the books I got when I went to Japan. Remember the pile of books?

There were a bunch of things that went on the last couple of weeks between the Shopping, wrapping, cooking, cleaning and more wrapping... I will share a small part of my Christmas story.

T'was the night before Christmas... I was cooking like mad and Rachel needed some help writing a letter to Santa. As she was writing and drawing a really cute picture to Santa, she looked me up and asked, "Mom, is Santa real?"

I was caught off guard, but quickly regained my motherly smile and voice and asked, "Well, what makes you think he's not real?"

Right now, she is at the point that she believes and wants to believe that Santa is real, but there is a doubt (it started when one of her friends told her he is not real). She said, "I don't know... I know the tooth fairy is not real."

A couple months ago, she was in our office and found a letter she had written to the tooth fairy a while back. Mr. TRH was reading it and forgot to put it away. She found it and immediately asked if the tooth fairy was real. Mr. TRH made up an excuse but she didn't buy it.

Though she had a slight doubt about the existence of Santa, she dropped the subject and kept writing and drawing. I think she wanted to make sure her bases are covered for when Santa comes. She had her letter, picture, and the pile of banana bread slices with chocolate chips (the pile was getting smaller and smaller. I think I had some big mice in our house.... hmmm...).

I read them some Christmas stories, said goodnight and they went to bed...

Mr. TRH and I watched a movie after that then quietly carried all the gifts to the tree, laid them out and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up to the sounds of kids giggling, talking, running, jumping, playing all over the house. They were nice enough to let us sleep till 8:30 or so, but Michael started losing patience (they were up since 4:45 am!). First it was a very quiet polite knock and "Hey, its morning, when are you going to wake up?" to "Hey, mom and dad, it's time to get up! I am gonna break down your door!" We chuckled a little and went downstairs.

They were SO excited and were basically bouncing off the walls.

It is truly a joy to watch the Children open up their presents. Their excitement, big smiles and the gratitude that we felt because we were able to afford to have Christmas was the ultimate gift to us as parents.

Well, on the other hand... it wouldn't hurt having tangible gifts too though (grin...), the gifts that Mr. TRH got and surprised me with were several feet for my sewing machine. They were totally unexpected, but much appreciated because not only were they are very useful gift to me; I felt like he is really paying attention to my interests and my needs.

I hope I can share several projects using those feet on my blog in the future. So, I don't even know how many people would actually link up this time with it being right after Christmas and all, but I am going to host the link party. If you have something to share, link up and have fun visiting other! :)

As usual here are the rules for linking:

1. Please post something YOU made. It doesn't matter if it is crochet, quilt, clothing, anything would be fine. I want to see it! If you use someone's idea or patterns please give them the rightful credit.

2. Link to your specific post, that way it is easier for everybody to find and read it.

3. Please grab the "Tea Rose Home" grab button, and link back from your post. If you can mention the party in your post or place the button on your side bar, that would be great! I want more people to have a chance to come and show off their creations.


<center><a href="http://tearosehome.blogspot.com"><img border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462799092490427250" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 126px; height: 160px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtc9CFJR6Te5CpNgHYGsz2oQcSPEa7ev57prQmm-wO7bU5-IXOUTAJV08BvA-pbdpS2QCr864re5ljtzEGNU20emgmsiG0eSXBf9nArpxdnE1SRy7EGrrnSSMYTt3mS2C3S9d6A8bRk7E/s200/GrabButtonLinkParty.jpg" /></a></center>
That's it! Go ahead to link up and show us what you have been working on!

One funny comment

I have been working on two projects for a while, but I have been really busy with life... so I can't share them with you yet. I think I can post at least one of them next week.

Meanwhile, I can talk about one of the reasons why I was busy today...
You know the holiday, yeah, the one where you go door to door and collect candies. Kids wear costumes and get really excited...

Halloween- That's it! Eventhough, Halloween is tomorrow, the school had a Halloween parade and everthing, so, I was there this morning. Then, the company my hubby works at, planned a Halloween party for the families of the employees, so I had to drive 40 min to his work in the late afternoon. There was also a church Halloween party at night, but we didn't make it to that one. I was way too exhasted.

There was a funny story that I want to share with you all though...

I picked up the kids from school and took them to the mall. Earlier while I went through the boys winter clothes, I discoverd that both of the boys hit a growth spurt in the last few month and their pants were too short! I had a pretty good idea which stores might have sales. After I bought some pants, we had to use the restroom. while we were waiting for one another, I found a poster, it basically said, there is 'trick or treating' in the mall at participating stores tomorrow...

I mumbled to myself " Oh, no..."

Then I heard a huge inhaling sound from behind me and Michael said, "What!? There is trick or treat in the mall too?!!"

I am happy that he is doing so well in school that he can read so fast, although, there are a consequence too.

When I turned around, Michael was standing straight with big smile and said, "Mom, I am in!"

I just had to laugh. The way he said it was so cute and funny. They already got plenty of candies, but still, they want to take every oppotunity they can to get free candies.

I told him, "Michael, I am so not in!"

Sometimes I wonder if God created children with a special microchip in them. It releases "cuteness" every so often to remind us parents why we are doing this (I mean the whole raising children thing) eventhough sometimes it is stressful and crazy.

After that I packed three sugar high kids in the car and went home to make a late lunch for them. And, I had a smile on my face.

A Letter For Future Rachel--Modesty & Fashion--

Dear Future Rachel,

I can't deny that I like clothes; I love them. I am not being materialistic or vein. Every morning I think about the possibilities; color combinations, mix and match, and stuff. It is one of the thing that makes me happy and I always have enjoyed this since I was a little girl. I enjoy the clothing in the same manner that I enjoy quilt making. It's another way to express myself.

Ever since you were born, the enjoyment has more than doubled. I love to dress you and I alike. We don't wear the same thing, but I pick out the same color theme or if I wear a brooch you wear the same flower hair bow. (Your brothers are forever thankful that you came along, because I did that with them too.) I am going to have fun with this until you enter the teenage years and tell me "Oh, mom, please!"

Speaking of the teenage years, I often wonder what kind of young lady you will become. There are many aspect of this, but I will write about modesty and fashion.

There are few things I know:
1. More skin doesn't mean more attractive.

2. Well if more skin get lots of attention from the opposite sex, that is the wrong kind of attention. Trust me you don't want that!

3. Just as important as 2, Don't sell yourself short.

4. Most of the time, people assume who you are with how you are dressed. If you are a nice, decent young lady, why would you make your life harder by wearing something that makes you look less than who you really are?

5. Treat yourself with respect. Dress accordingly.

6. There are many ways to be modest and at the same time accomplish a modern, cute, and stylish look.

I hope you will keep those things in mind as some advice from your mommy. Also, there is a story I want you to read, here goes...

Your daddy was talking to a friend at work, and he told daddy a true story about his friend that happened a while ago.(so, this is fourth hand story telling, details might be little off)
One day, he received a phone call from his neighbor telling him that his teenage daughter would leave the house in modest appropriate clothing and then change into immodest clothing at school. She would then change back before coming home.

He felt some embarrassment and anger but he decided wait a little while. A few days later, his daugther came home with a report card, and it was a good report card. So, to celebrate and reward her for her efforts he took his daughter to a populer hang out spot for her school. She was all excited. All the popular kids were there.

They were talking and having a good time and the father said, "Oh, this place is so hot! I'm sweating." Then he took off his shirt. Now picture this, an overweight hairy chested man wearing a wife-beater shirt a couple sizes too small.

The daughter was shocked and embarrassed and shouted under her breath, " Dad! What are you doing! You are embarrassing me!!"

Then, the father's face turned all serious and he leaned over to his daugther and said, "That's how your mother and I feel when you change at school!"

Wow... what a story... now Rachel, your father is the kind of man that if he really has to go all that way to teach you guys something, he would. Such a self sacrificing and humiliating method, but an effective way to teach. And, trust me on this I am the kind of mother that will support him 100%. I will be behind him.

I hope you will make the right choices. I will always be there for you if you need help on this. We will have a mother and daughter day out and go shopping or go through my closet and be creative so that you can accomplish number 6 on the list. It will be so much fun!!

You don't want a dark spot on your teenage memories do you?

Love,

Mom

Help Wanted

A few days ago I told the boys to clean up their room. Usually Christopher will start cleaning right away and he will finish the job. But Michael is going through the phase where he will drag his feet for a long time and won't do what I ask him to do. A couple of times I went back to check on the boys and went downstairs to cook dinner.

They were supposed to have been cleaning for about an hour, when Michael came to me and said, "Mom, would you give Christopher $5.00 from my spending money?"

Puzzled, I asked, "Why?"

"Well, I made a deal that I would give him my $5.00 and he would clean my part of the room".

Christopher chimed in, "No we didn't!"

I was trying not to laugh and said sternly, "Michael! Keeping your room clean is one of the things you have to do. Do it yourself."

He whined and dragging his feet went back up the stairs. Over the next little while, while I was preparing dinner, I kept thinking to myself, "Boy, where did he come up with that?" He's only six and is already trying to use his resources to solve his problems. How inventive! This is one of those moments that is both frustrating and funny at the same time. Well I guess Michael's first attempt to hire someone failed.

Parenting is not easy. Should I have just let him buy Christpher's services, if Christopher was willing? It is his money and he's gotta learn that the supply is limited. At the same time, he has to learn to work and carry his own wieght around here. Which lesson do I teach? Any one answer is not always the correct answer. And not every situation gets the same lesson.

I sighed and decided to worry about getting dinner prepared for that night.

Farewell

It has been a long time since I brought you home. But it is time to say good-bye. You have been there for us whenever we needed you. Even one of my children was so attached to you. Everyone needs to move on, it will be a little bit wierd to see your usual spot empty. In my heart, I know you will be more useful and appreciated somewhere else. Since my last one doesn't need you anymore, I have to say good-bye to you, "Good-bye, Good-bye, Mr. Potty"

I will enjoy the extra space in the kids small bathroom.

House of Discipline

I was out running some errands. Aaron was home with the children. We were talking on the phone and as Aaron was walking down the stairs he noticed someone was in timeout.



Aaron called Rachel, and she came from the TV room and replied, "What Daddy?"
Aaron then said, "Did you put your baby here?"
"Yes!"
"Why"
"She's in timeout." (Rachel was put into timeout this morning and was probably "reliving" the experience through her baby doll.)
Aaron asked, "Why?"
Rachel smiled and said, "'cause, she hit me"

My New Title

I already told this story to several of my friends. It was a good parenting experience and a funny story, so I decided to share this on my blog.

One day, I had brought up the clean clothes from the laundry room and sorted them out. One pile for my clothes, one pile for Aaron's, another for the boys', and one for Rachel. I took the boys' pile to their room. It is their job to put them away in the closet. On a whim, I opened their sock drawer to throw some clean socks in...

There were no socks!!! I mean none, nada, zip, zilch, zero, it was empty. I do the laundry just about every other day; there should be some there. This is not the first time that this has happened. I was so upset! The boys don't like to wear socks so they take them off and throw them or leave them everywhere. I bought lots of socks just before school started and they are not cheap. I have to put an end to this!

I called the boys and sent them out to hunt for their missing socks. They were everywhere, underneath the couch, behind doors, around the toilet, in the lego bin, in the car, and so on. They found several and we put them together, but there was still 10 socks missing.


As a mom, I always try to find the most effective way to teach and discipline them, whether it works or not. This time, I said, "I am going to take out $3 each from your allowance and replace the socks you've lost!" I was being generous, $6 is not enough to replace 10 pairs of socks. I figured $3 was a lot of money for them too. Since they could see how upset I was they did not argue but said, "OK".

A couple of days later, I took the $6 and bought socks. It was $1.25 each so I had 5 pairs of socks. When the kids came home, I showed them the price tag and explained what I had done. When they saw the socks and price, I could see their shoulders and heads slump and they let out a small sigh like they were thinking, "Oh, this crazy lady really did it."

I guess the discipline worked, they don't leave the socks all over the place anymore. I am many things, a wife, a mother, a quilter, a friend, and now my loving supportive husband gave me the title "Sock Nazi".

The lesson I learned

In my last post I mentioned a little about my shortcomings and mistakes. Well, this is embarrassing to tell this story but it was such a humbling experience and from this mistake I learned great lesson so, I decided to share with you all.

My sons Christopher and Michael go to a charter school two cities away. Michael started kindergarten almost 2 weeks ago. Since their pick up time is different I have to stick around the area or come home and leave again in less than two hours to pick my other son up. During the week they have other activity to go to on top of the homework and reading. As a Mother we have more responsibilities (as most of you know), and my micro business to take care of. I was trying to do it all even though the past 2 weeks have been so crazy, I think I did fairly well starting to adjust to the schedule, but today I spaced it big time.

I went to the school to get Michael at 11:30, I was there 15 minutes early waiting; I was the first in line. Nobody showed up. This is weird, I thought. I waited till 11:45 and decided to go inside the school and parked the car in front of the building. As I was getting the stroller out for Rachel, My sweet husband Aaron and Michael came out from the school and at that moment everything clicked. I made a huge mistake! The pick up time was 10:30, instead of 11:30. I was one hour late!! Friday is a half day, I was supposed to get him earlier, and I knew that. I just spaced it. They were so worried about me because I am a pretty responsible person, something like this never happens. I felt horrible for both Aaron and my little boy who had been waiting for me in the front office by himself until Aaron came from his work. As I was saying "I am sorry" tears came down on my cheeks and I could not stop them. Thank goodness no one was in the parking lot, yes, I was having an emotional break down. I have been too busy.... Michael was walking circles around us at the time but as soon as I started crying he came over and gave me a big hug and said "It’s O.K. mommy. I'm not mad, It's O.K. Just don't do it again".

This little boy, my son, whose head just barely reaches my chest (and I am not a very tall person either), saw that I was very sad and showed great compassion. He never complained that I was late; instead he forgave me, instantly. How amazing is that. Could I act the same way if I were in his shoes? His kindness touched my heart so deeply it made me cry even more.

As much as I love being a mom, some days are harder than others. When they are having a difficult day I often wonder if they are going to be ok and become nice, good people when they grow up, you know usual mom stuff. Today, my 5 year old boy taught me a great lesson: How to be kind and compassionate through his acts and words. I am extremely grateful for that. Thank you Michael and I love you very much. I am proud to be your mom.


Michael on the morning of his first day at Kindergarten. September 2, 2008