Thank You, From the Bottom of my Chart

I used to be so good about writing thank you notes for anything and everything. If someone did something thoughtful or invited me over for coffee or gave me a gift, a handwritten note (in calligraphy, no less) was soon to follow.

Fast forward to Christmas 2009...I was so grateful to have received only a small handful of gifts this year. I thought, "Oh, thank goodness, I only have to write four thank you notes!" Never  mind the lovely dinners, cookie parties, and playdates surrounding Christmas...I just can't keep up with that level of handwritten appreciation anymore!

But now I have not only my own thank you notes to write, but the kids' thank you's as well! I took them to the dollar store and let them each pick their own pack of thank you cards, just to give them some ownership over the whole process. We made a chart for each kid with the gifts they received and the name of the giver, to be crossed off as the note is written. Our 6-year-old is painstakingly handwriting his own notes, and with his birthday just three days after Christmas, we let him combine both celebrations into one thank you note. He still isn't finished.

Last year, I made him draw a picture of each gift inside blank cards. When he finally finished all his artwork, I am so ashamed to admit that I completely lost his cards, his list of gifts and givers, and the envelopes (which I had already addressed). Those never got sent.

While KID 1 can just barely write his own thank you's this year, KID 2 can NOT, thank you very much. It is apparently my job to thank everyone for her gifts. I've tried having her "decorate" the cards herself in the past, but it becomes tedious for her and she finds something else to do before she's reached the second card.

I've heard of parents taking a picture of the kids with their gifts, but that just seems like extra work for me. Finding the gifts, taking the photo while berating the child in question to "smile like you really like your present!" and then actually having the photos printed and included in each appropriate envelope...I am SO not doing that.

How do you show friends and family appreciation for your kids' gifts? Any ideas for making the process a little easier?

In Honor of October 7th...

...I've decided it's officially time to panic a little about how quickly October seems to fly by. We have a birthday to celebrate this month AND halloween details to attend to. I'm not sure why I always wait til the last minute to put halloween costumes together, but I'd really rather not stress myself out this year. I love to make the kids' costumes, or at least assemble them from things I've found to create a character they are familiar with. I try not to sew the entire thing...that's way too time and energy consuming!

Isn't this picture hilarious? I told them to look sad because they are lost and hungry...pretty good, huh? I have much better pics of them in costume, but this one was too funny!

Last year, they were Hansel and Gretel. I ordered real leather liederhosen (used) from eBay for KID 1 (that's how I bribed him to be Hansel). All he needed were suspenders and knee socks to finish the look of a little German ragamuffin. KID 2 wore a handmade gown I found at a consignment sale for a few dollars. All I had to make for her costume was an apron and a kerchief for her head. The apron was actually a ruffled pillow sham that I cut in half and sewed onto a long  fabric band (to tie it in back). I sew a mean straight line. Anything more complicated than that requires supervision.

Anyway, I'm thinking Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf will be making an appearance this year. Daddy can be the Woodcutter and Mommy can be the Grandmother. I will definitely be hitting the thrift shop for my granny dress and any extras we may need to finish the look, but we've got everything here except for the red hooded cape. If you've got one I can use, let me know. Otherwise, I'm going to have to get sewing...yikes! Pretty sure I can stick to straight lines for this one...right?

And the birthday...how badly does a three year old need a birthday party? I mean, seriously! Maybe I'm a horrible mother for saying so, but I really don't think they need big parties with friends every single year. Are you tying the noose right now?

What halloween awesomeness do you have planned? I know Rachel's son will be beaming his Buzz Lightyear laser at his friends for halloween. Does anyone else dress up with their kids?

Happy Birthday To Me

My last full-time job was working as an accountant in the basement of our local hospital. It was a small office of about 10 women and our male boss. Most of the ladies had degrees in accounting while mine was in business management. I was one of the youngest in the department, so I was the low-girl on the totem pole in lots of ways. The ladies were all very nice, but they kept to themselves. They didn't want to share any of the fun accounting work, so I got to do lots of grunt work, as my friend Natalie called it; think Cinderella forced to work for the IRS. One of my actual jobs was the laundry statistic for the Medicare cost report. Most of the other girls were your stereotypical accountants and were not really outgoing. One of my first ventures in my new department was to learn everyone's birthdays, which were not usually recognized or celebrated.

I started buying birthday cards and passed the card around for everyone to sign. I was quickly given the task of social director for the department, which meant birthday cards and holiday food days. I started working in the office in August, and my birthday was in May. The first year I worked there, someone was kind enough to buy me a card in return - not that it's all about that. By my second birthday in the office, I was in the middle of numerous failed infertility treatments, and I recently had braces put on my teeth. I get canker sores a lot, and my mouth was freaking out about all of the metal inside it. It was a severe allergic reaction to say the least. On my actual birthday, all of my coworkers forgot what day it was, and I ended up at my doctor's office getting my canker sores burnt over with silver nitrate sticks. It was so painful that I had tears running down my cheeks.

I was so mad at all of my coworkers. Short of quiting, I didn't know what to do, so I called my Aunt Barb for advice. She has always been my rock. I remember once when I was a teenager she took me out to eat just to spend time with me. She told me that no one at her office ever remembered her birthday either, so she sent herself an anonymous cake. She even gave me the number of her baker. I called and had a strawberry cake with butter cream icing delivered the very next day. It was decorated with pretty roses and read, "Happy Belated Birthday! You're the Best!" It was kind of an inside joke because they all thought I was the boss's favorite, which I was not, BTW. Would he forget his favorite employee's birthday, after all? When the cake was delivered, I acted so surprised. I thanked them profusely and begged them to tell me who sent it. It was hilarious, and I never told them I sent it.

The next year for my birthday, they surprised me with a food day in my honor cake and all.