Are You Santa Claus?

I'm pretty sure that if you had asked me a few months ago, I would have thought that talking to my kids about sex would be worse that talking to them about Santa Claus. Now, having recently had both of these conversations, I can say for a fact that the talk about Santa Claus is far worse.

Yesterday, I took each of the girls out shopping for Christmas gifts for each other.  Emma and I went out around lunch time, so we stopped at Qdoba for lunch before shopping.  So, I'm sitting there enjoying my quesadilla when she decides we need to have this serious conversation.  If I had known what was about to happen, I would have perhaps picked a more secluded table and not a booth next to the soda fountain.

Emma: Mom, are you the Tooth Fairy?

Me: Why do you think I am the Tooth Fairy?

Emma: Well, remember when I lost my last tooth.  When I woke up, there wasn't anything from the Tooth Fairy.  I was pretending to sleep and I saw you come in and put money on my bed.  [Side note: Brian forgot the night before to play Tooth Fairy.]

Me: Well, sometimes  Moms and Dads have to help out the Tooth Fairy because she gets too busy, she just can't make it to all the houses in one night.

Emma: Well, she is just one little fairy, although, I thought there was more than one.  Well, are you the Easter Bunny?

Me: The Easter Bunny?!  Why would I be the Easter Bunny?

Emma: I need you to tell me the truth.  Are you Santa Claus?

Me: Do you think I am Santa Claus?

Emma (tearing up): I don't know that's why I am asking you.  You're an adult and adults can't lie, so you have to tell me the truth.

Me (tearing up): Are you the only kid in your class that believes in Santa Claus?

Emma (on the verge of tears): Yes.  No one else believes, not even Hannah.

Me: What about Alexa?

Emma: I don't know about her.  Do you have the letter that I left for Santa last year?

Me (tears flowing and unable to answer)

Emma (crying): I think you are Santa.  Why did you lie to me when I asked you the other day?  I guess I shouldn't have written those letters to Santa, Mrs. Claus and the Elf.  You know, I've already written them for this year. [Insert knife in my heart!] I even made the envelopes.  I put glue on them, let it dry, and then licked them.  I guess I can just throw them away.  You lied to me and you are so mean.  I wanted to believe in Santa.

Me: If you want to believe in Santa, you can.  He is real, if you believe it.

Emma: You're Santa.  You're the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.  You lied to me.  Every time I asked you, you lied to me.  Why did you lie to me?  I do want to believe in Santa.  [Poor kid is looking absolutely heartbroken and going back and forth between wanting to believe and being shocked that I lied to her.]

At this point, I am at a loss for words and about to break out in a major sobs in the middle of Qdoba. Meanwhile, people are filling up their drinks and looking at the two of us like we are crazy.  I try to explain that Santa was about the spirit of Christmas, love, and giving and all that jazz, but I am doing an awful job.  I am so heartbroken for Emma and she is so visibly upset about Santa and her lying mother.  Then, I remember this letter to a kid about Santa that I read once on Pinterest, so I decide to show it to Emma.  (Yes, I was really in over my head at this point.)

The letter is really sweet about Santa and needing to believe in things that you can't see.  Blah...blah...blah.  Emma reads it and says, "Well, now I know and I want to forget.  I am just going to go over here and beat my head against the wall."  I felt so awful for her.  The thing that I absolutely love about Emma is she is such a great kid who doesn't generally get caught up in the latest trends, but really just enjoys being a kid. She isn't interested in the clothes, makeup and pop stars like many of the other tweens.  She is happy to play with her dolls and dream about being a pioneer like Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I really hate that kids are forced to grow up so fast that even when they have a kid's heart, you can't protect it.

Emma: I don't understand how you can be Santa.  I mean, you're always broke, right?

Me: Pretty much.

Emma: Well, last year, Santa brought two American Girl dolls, a bike, and a ride on toy for Ella.  That must have been $400.  How can you afford that? (Pause.)  Mom, did you steal that stuff from the store?  Maybe you just help Santa.  He does have a big sleigh and wouldn't need as much help as the Tooth Fairy.  Santa must have helped you some because there is no way you could buy all that stuff.

I had to laugh at that last part, but the rest of the conversation left me feeling a little heartbroken.  I feel like it knocked the Christmas spirit right out of me.  I never imagined before what it would be like to tell the girls about Santa, but it feels awful.  It's like stealing someone's joy and seeing their childhood dreams come crashing down all at once....all that sweet, innocent and adorable imagination of childhood.

Yep, I would gladly talk about how babies are made over Santa Claus.

Top Ten Road Trip Hits

I promised I would report back on the all the fun games and activities I put together for our road trip.  Here are the things that were hits with the kiddos.

 #1 I highly recommend the cookie sheet for the kids.  I bought these at the Dollar Tree and used a paint pen to decorate them with the girls' names.  They loved being able to use it as a flat surface for coloring, eating their snacks, or playing with the different activities.  Towards the end of the trip, Ella was asking for it when we got in the car.  I have to say it was a lifesaver in keeping crayons and other little things in her reach throughout the trip.

#2  The girls really liked the Road Trip Rodeo cards.  We didn't do as many as I thought we would during the trip because we didn't need as many pit stops as I thought we would on the drive.  The girls thought these were so funny and loved completing the tasks.  Emma and Charlotte took turns reading the cards and instructing everyone on what to do. They liked taking charge.

#3 The magnet squares I made were definitely a favorite with the girls.  Emma and Charlotte used them to spell out words and Emma even tried creating a crossword puzzle.  Ella was entertained lining them up along her cookie sheet and played with them for a long time on more than one occasion.  

 #4 This isn't very creative, but I bought a handful of different movies and wrapped them in tissue paper.  The girls got to pick a new mystery movie and unwrap it.  They thought this was fun and the new movies were a good distraction on some of the 10-12 hour driving days.

 #5 I'm going to be honest here and say that I was a bit envious of these glitter bags I made for the girls.  They had so much fun doodling designs or just mashing their hands in the gel.  Something about them was very soothing.  After about a week, a few of the ziplocs started to leak a little, but nothing insane.  It was worth it for the time these amused them in the car.

 #6 Part snack - part activity, the marshmallows and toothpicks were a lot of fun for the girls.  They built all kinds of different contraptions out of them and ate a few along the way.  This is a very cheap activity - a bag of mini marshmallows and a box of toothpicks is about $2.

 #7 These little magnet activity boards that I picked up for $3 at Michaels were a huge hit.  I regretted not getting one for Ella because she was extremely envious of the other girls' magnet boards.  They played with these for days and they are still around now.

 #8 Ella enjoyed playing with her busy book.  I had to control my urges to instruct her on how to engage with each page and just be happy that she was entertaining herself with it.  She enjoyed shoving her hand as well as all the pieces in the book into this glove that I sewed on to one of the pages.

 #9 Another really cheap and easy activity was the handful of pipe cleaners I gave each of the girls.  In no time, they had created an assortment of crowns, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and other things.

 #10 One of the last things I gave the girls were some sticker books that I found for $1 at Walmart.  They had fun putting the stickers on the different pages as well as on each other, the car windows, and anything in sight.  I wasn't so thrilled with the car windows, but I was pretty thrilled with the quiet time.

Just in case you are wondering, Charlotte and Cristina did get all these things too!  They sit in the far back seat in the minivan, so it was hard to get a clear picture of them engaging with the different activities.  Ella sits right behind me in the car, so it was easiest to get pictures of her.

In terms of things that didn't go over as well, the girls weren't too excited about games where they had to engage outside of the car.  While I love the license plate game and the alphabet game, they weren't that interested.  They preferred things that kept their focus in the car, although they did enjoy when I gave them the camera and they were able to take pictures of things we passed along the way.

Public Service Announcement from Emma

I found this picture that I took of Emma's persuasive essay for third grade.  I thought I should help spread the message, since she spent a great deal of time researching for this major assignment.  I love how she clearly states her opinion on smoking in the United States.

For goodness sake, people, think of the cilia!  Don't kill the cilia.

Pollution

I'm glad to know that my girls care about the environment.  The following conversation occurred on the way from my office to the parking garage.

Charlotte (horrified):  Emma!  Emma!  Look at this...pizza on the ground.

(The girls walk a few more steps forward.)

Charlotte (about to blow a fuse):  EMMA!  Will you look at this?  More litter.  There is just trash and litter all over the ground.

Emma (shaking her head):  Teenagers are just so stubborn.  All they care about is skateboarding and makeup. They don't care about the animals that have to live with this pollution.  I hate school, but even I know not to screw around in school.  I listened when they talked about pollution.  I know not to pollute.  Well, I don't really hate school.

I really got a chuckle out of Emma talking about stubborn teenagers.  They were blaming the littering on the college students, but don't realize that there are lots of people walking through the campus and hanging about the outskirts all the time.  It's hard to say who was responsible for all that pollution.

Epic Road Trip - The Final Day!

On Sunday morning, we left Tulsa at 8:30 a.m. to head to our last destination before home - the Rocky Ridge Farm in Mansfield, Missouri.  As we were driving through Missouri, Emma says, "Who would want to live in a place called Misery?"  I said, "It's Missouri."  Emma said, "Missouri, Misery, who would want to live here?"  The drive there was pretty miserable as we encountered our first major rainfall of the trip.

The Rocky Ridge farm is the place where Almanzo and Laura settled once they left South Dakota and it was where they both died.  I enjoyed the museum which housed a number of artifacts from the Ingalls family.  Most notably, Pa's fiddle is there.  If you've read the Little House on the Prairie books, you know what a big part Pa's fiddle played in Laura's stories.

When we were walking up to the house, Cristina asked me, "Does Laura live in this house?"  She seemed to be a bit exasperated with Laura!  I guess it must be a little confusing for a kid to see all these houses that belonged to Laura, but to never actually see Laura living in any of them.   I explained to her that Laura used to live here, but she was dead.  She then proceeded to ask me, "Does Pa live here or is he dead?  Does Ma live here or is she dead?  Does Carrie live here or is she dead?"  Poor kid was disappointed that the whole family was dead.

The white farmhouse was built room by room by Almanzo.  Everything in the house was made to accommodate Laura's short height.  She was only 4 feet 11 inches.  Almanzo made several pieces of furniture and a whole rack of different canes.  He had to use a cane due to complications from an earlier illness.

 I discovered on this trip that I have an affinity for fields of haystacks.  I loved to see the hay all piled up in fields in Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas.  Below is the hayfield on the Rocky Ridge Farm.

 The girls hanging out on the steps of the rock house that Rose had built for her parents.  We were waiting on a tour.

 Crossing over the Mississippi River on our drive back to Georgia.  We ended up logging 4203.6 miles in all on our epic road trip and had such an amazing time.  Having the opportunity to see another part of the country was truly a blessing.  We're not sure what we can do to top this trip in the future.

Epic Road Trip Day Ten

On Saturday morning, we decided to drive up to Independence, Kansas to see another Laura Ingalls Wilder spot.  There was a small replica cabin, one room school house and an old post office on the site of the Ingalls home in Independence, which was the setting of the book, Little House on the Prairie.  We didn't stay at this location very long.  There wasn't much to see and the woman running the place was extremely rude.  It was such a surprise to meet someone so unpleasant because at all the other locations, the workers were super friendly and excited to share stories.

 Charlotte taking a nap in the house with a rag doll.

 After we left Independence, we drove back to Tulsa and took the girls to the 41st Street Plaza of River Parks in the downtown area next to the Arkansas River.  Too bad we couldn't bring along some of the rain from Atlanta to help fill up their river!

 The park had a lot of fun water elements and the girls got drenched running in the fountains and skipping through the different areas.

 I love this picture of Charlotte in her bonnet hopping over the shooting water arcs.

 Once again, Ella was delighted by the WA-TER!  She loves to grab handfuls of it.

 After splashing around for a bit, Ella found this little hammock and rested in it happily until it was time to head back to Jeff and Laura's place.

 When we were in Independence, we bought a little bonnet for Stella and attempted to get a picture of all the girls in their bonnets.  It is hard enough trying to get a good shot with four girls and it was next to impossible with five!

Epic Road Trip Day Nine

On Friday, we got out to see some sites in Tulsa.  In the morning, Laura took us to one of her favorite spots, Turkey Mountain, for a two mile hike.  The girls were a little whinier than normal, but managed the distance without too many complaints.  

 Cristina had to stop for a few breaks along the way.  Maybe if she had chosen more sensible shoes the hike would have been a little easier?  Just a guess.

 Cristina had the camera for much of the hike and I have a lot of pictures of people's footprints.

 After the hike, we had lunch at Subway.  During lunch, Charlotte lost her second tooth.  She was quite excited about it.

 When we were planning the trip to Tulsa, Brian wanted to check out the new Woody Guthrie museum.  After spending time at a few museums during the trip, I figured that the last thing that the kids would want to do is spend the afternoon looking at instruments and musical lyrics.  Brian discovered there was a children's museum in Tulsa and we decided to divide and conquer.  Brian and Jeff had a kid free tour of the Guthrie museum and Laura and I hung out with the girls at the Discovery Lab, Tulsa's Children's Museum.  The main centerpiece of the museum were these giant tape tunnels that went across the main room.  I was really surprised when Ella climbed up in them and went all around by herself with no problems.

 Ella playing with the ball chutes at the museum.

The girls channeling their inner artists at the creation station.

 Charlotte laying on a bed of nails.

 Emma and Ella coming down the slide.  I'm pretty sure those are Cristina's legs in the background.

 Emma and Charlotte built a house out of cardboard boxes.  Charlotte directed all the kids where to put the blocks, so it turned out to her liking.

While we were watching the kids play, Brian was snapping pictures of Woody Guthrie's fiddle, which survived two bombings when he was part of the merchant marines.

 Back at Jeff and Laura's house, the girls had fun playing with Stella and taking turns holding her.  Stella looks like she'll be as big as Cristina in no time!

 I'm pretty sure Charlotte's favorite thing about Laura's house was playing with the dogs, Jack and Coogee.  She is such an animal lover and attracted animals wherever we went during our trip.

 Cristina was thrilled to have the chance to feed Stella.  I don't think she was fast enough for Stella's liking, but she did a good job.

Epic Road Trip Day Eight

On Thursday, we were all pretty happy to just hang out with Jeff, Laura and Baby Stella. The ride to Tulsa wiped us all out.  In the afternoon, their neighbor, Lyle, invited us over to swim in the pool.  The girls were excited to go swimming - one of their favorite activities of all time. Baby Stella showed off her swimming skills from her Diaper Dolphin swim class.  Meanwhile, Emma showed off her floating skills.

 I'm not really sure what possessed Cristina to bite a chunk out of this pool noodle.  I was so embarrassed when I realized what she was doing.

 Ella decided on this trip that she likes swimming pools.  She was more than happy to have Emma take her around in the pool.

 Emma and Charlotte love to create pool races.  Emma challenged Jeff to a race back and forth across the pool.  I don't think he had any idea of the competitive spirit of the Clement girls.

In St. Louis, Emma taught Charlotte how to float in the pool.  Here she is showing off her new skill. 

After swimming in the pool, the girls had fun playing with Stella and pulling her around the house in her wagon.  

Epic Road Trip Day Seven

On Wednesday morning, we decided to let the girls ride the horses one more time before leaving the homestead and heading for Tulsa.  We didn't realize that the horses didn't come out until after 10 a.m., so it set us back on our plans for an early start.  The girls amused themselves again in the church and barn on the property.  Cristina and Ella really enjoyed the stagecoach. Ella kept grabbing the reins and yelling, "Hi-yaw!"

 Finally, the horses came out and the girls took one more spin around the property.  Just as we were walking away, Ella decided that she was finally brave enough to ride the horses.  She enjoyed her ride around the barnyard on Star.

 On our way out of town, we did a quick driving tour of some of the sites mentioned in the books by the By the Shores of Silver Lake, Little Town on the Prairie, and These Happy Golden Years.  Below is the Surveyors' House that they lived in the winter before they moved out to the homestead.  The other house is the house that Charles Ingalls built for Caroline when he gave up farming and moved into town to become a carpenter.

I was a little sad to leave De Smet.  It was my favorite stop on our road trip.