Tuesday, December 22, 2009
:)
For the time being, the Witkowski family is on an internet hiatus; rest assured, we'll be back in the new year, but for the next few weeks, we're off line at home and enjoying some much needed and deserved family time. Have a wonderful Christmas holiday with your families and we'll see you in 2010!
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
It's Probably His Cousin...
On the way home from taking Geo to work this morning, we encountered a deer. She was standing on the side of the road until we got closer and she darted in front of me. It's a great way to start the day, for sure, especially if you're Gabe. He was SO excited that there was a deer by our car, because it *had* to be a reindeer. He excitedly asked, "which reindeer is THAT one Mom??" I told him it wasn't a reindeer, just a white tailed deer-he thought about it for a minute then asked "are you SURE it wasn't a reindeer??" I told him no, it was a white tailed deer and that reindeer don't live in Illinois. He sighed and said "maybe that was cousin or something" I laughed and agreed, that yes, maybe it WAS his cousin. Goofy boy; he is SO into Christmas this year, and it's SO much fun :)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Oh Bother
We've had a string of blustery days here in Northern Illinois, we have about 6 inches of snow, not counting the drifts. I haven't uploaded many pictures lately because I've been rather
Hope you're all toasty warm wherever you are today!!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Oh really?
Our fridge is COVERED in family pictures; one of my favorites is of Geo's grandpa (Hi Grandpa!!!) laying in a hammock totally and utterly relaxed with a big grin on his face. It amuses me to no end, I really love that picture (and one of these days, I'll upload it)
Bitsy girl likes to look at the pictures and point people out, tonight after dinner she was doing just that. She got to the picture of Grandpa the Great, pointed to it, touched his face, and said "hey, that looks like my grandpa" I suppressed a laugh and said "That's because it IS your grandpa Bits" Shocked, she turned to look at it, touched his face again and said "oh hi Grandpa, it's me Bits!"
Goofy goofy goofy girl! So sweet :)
Bitsy girl likes to look at the pictures and point people out, tonight after dinner she was doing just that. She got to the picture of Grandpa the Great, pointed to it, touched his face, and said "hey, that looks like my grandpa" I suppressed a laugh and said "That's because it IS your grandpa Bits" Shocked, she turned to look at it, touched his face again and said "oh hi Grandpa, it's me Bits!"
Goofy goofy goofy girl! So sweet :)
*shakes head*
Do you remember the scene in "Elf" where Will Ferrell's character is eating cotton balls in the doctor's office? He eats them, much to the chagrin of his father; in between eating them he asks about the skeleton. Funny movie-if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Great story, great soundtrack, perfect Holiday movie.
ANYWAY...so this morning I was making bread, as I usually do once a week. My family has been come addicted to fresh homemade bread. They only eat store bought bread if they "have to" The poor dears, having to eat store bought bread, what kind of mother am I? Their disdain for store bought bread ranks right up there with their disdain for PAPER napkins. How dare I not have cloth napkins for them? But, as usual, I digress, let me get back to my bread making this morning. SarahAnne likes to get a small piece of dough and kneed it while I kneed the main batch. This morning was not unlike other mornings, I handed her a piece of dough to kneed and turned back to kneeding my dough. I admit I wasn't paying the closest attention to her, I was preoccupied with the fact that the plow guy plowed in my sidewalk and I'd have to go out in the snow and wind to dig the sidewalk out, but I didn't think I was completely ignoring her. I asked her for her dough so it could be put with the rest of the dough to rise and she looked at me, grinned and said "ha ha" Red flags immediately went up, "ha ha" means only one thing-she's done something she should NOT have done. I asked her "what did you do??" and started looking for her dough ball. She said "HA HA I ATE IT!" and ran off giggling. Yes, that's right, she ate RAW bread dough. *shudder* I'm feeling nauseous thinking about it. So far she seems fine, but ewww...raw bread dough? What the heck kid?!
Bitsy the elf, what's your favorite color?!
ANYWAY...so this morning I was making bread, as I usually do once a week. My family has been come addicted to fresh homemade bread. They only eat store bought bread if they "have to" The poor dears, having to eat store bought bread, what kind of mother am I? Their disdain for store bought bread ranks right up there with their disdain for PAPER napkins. How dare I not have cloth napkins for them? But, as usual, I digress, let me get back to my bread making this morning. SarahAnne likes to get a small piece of dough and kneed it while I kneed the main batch. This morning was not unlike other mornings, I handed her a piece of dough to kneed and turned back to kneeding my dough. I admit I wasn't paying the closest attention to her, I was preoccupied with the fact that the plow guy plowed in my sidewalk and I'd have to go out in the snow and wind to dig the sidewalk out, but I didn't think I was completely ignoring her. I asked her for her dough so it could be put with the rest of the dough to rise and she looked at me, grinned and said "ha ha" Red flags immediately went up, "ha ha" means only one thing-she's done something she should NOT have done. I asked her "what did you do??" and started looking for her dough ball. She said "HA HA I ATE IT!" and ran off giggling. Yes, that's right, she ate RAW bread dough. *shudder* I'm feeling nauseous thinking about it. So far she seems fine, but ewww...raw bread dough? What the heck kid?!
Bitsy the elf, what's your favorite color?!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Feminism and Child Rearing
Rather than regaling you with cute tales of what my children did this week (and there was plenty, in fact, SarahAnne and Gabe just got back from picking up coffee and donuts and SarahAnne decided to make snow angel in the dirt 1/2329979 of an inch of snow we had, very cute for a dirty little girl, that is) HOWEVER today I'm going to talk about a disturbing trend I'm seeing...anti feminism blogs.
I am kind of in shock at the sheer number of blogs I see these days talking about how feminists have ruined families and society, how the work force is skewed toward women who are taking mens' jobs, and feminism and gender roles. I won't link to any of these blogs to protect theirignorance identity, but I'm sure if you're so inclined you can find them.
From the time I was a little girl, my parents instilled in me (and my brother and sister) that we could do whatever we wanted if we put our minds to it. We were ALL raised to do household chores, from dishes to laundry to taking out the trash. There were no "girl" jobs, no specific "boy" jobs. Just chores to be done. Both of my parents worked; they both did things around the house equally. When my father would be laid off in the winter (he was a construction worker) he would do the majority of household chores, when my mom only worked part time, she would do the majority of the household chores. Imagine my surprise when I found out (via blogging!) that my family has been affected by feminism. Housework is a woman's job. Working outside of the home, even if for financial difficulty, is feminism taking men's jobs and, oh my heavens, a man doing laundry is screwing up gender roles
*gasp* *horror* *insert shock here*
What is feminism? For me, feminism means that as a woman, I have the choice to stay home or be in the workforce. I have the right to an equal salary and benefits if I choose to be in said workforce. It means that I have an equal say in what happens with my family and my country (What is this woman's suffrage you speak of? Women are to be allowed to vote?? The hell you say!) It means that I have the choice of what happens to my body; my reproductive rights are just that: MINE.
Now, my first reaction to all these "Oh the horrors of feminism" blog postings was to rant and rave and talk about what lunatics these women were...and my second, admittedly much more juvenile, reaction was to point and laugh, a la Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons and say "Oh you crazy anti feminist bloggers, if it weren't for the feminists you wouldn't have the privilege of sitting at home on your computer ranting about the horrors of feminism"
It's a catch-22 really, you can piss and moan all you'd like about the horrors of feminism and what it's doing to your families, workforce, etc but without those awful women fighting for your rights as women to be treated equally, you wouldn't be able to do the things you are doing. I wonder how many of the anti feminist bloggers would like to give up their reproductive rights, their right to vote, and the right to choose what is right for them as a woman (ie: working/staying home) That's what I thought...you can't have it both ways. In the meantime, I'll be over here haw hawing like Mr. Muntz, telling my son and daughter that no matter what, they are both free to choose what they'd like to do in life as well as teaching them both how to cook and do laundry...and cast ballots to ensure that feminism lives on so that THEIR children have the right to choose what's best for THEM, male or female. Haw Haw!
I am kind of in shock at the sheer number of blogs I see these days talking about how feminists have ruined families and society, how the work force is skewed toward women who are taking mens' jobs, and feminism and gender roles. I won't link to any of these blogs to protect their
From the time I was a little girl, my parents instilled in me (and my brother and sister) that we could do whatever we wanted if we put our minds to it. We were ALL raised to do household chores, from dishes to laundry to taking out the trash. There were no "girl" jobs, no specific "boy" jobs. Just chores to be done. Both of my parents worked; they both did things around the house equally. When my father would be laid off in the winter (he was a construction worker) he would do the majority of household chores, when my mom only worked part time, she would do the majority of the household chores. Imagine my surprise when I found out (via blogging!) that my family has been affected by feminism. Housework is a woman's job. Working outside of the home, even if for financial difficulty, is feminism taking men's jobs and, oh my heavens, a man doing laundry is screwing up gender roles
*gasp* *horror* *insert shock here*
What is feminism? For me, feminism means that as a woman, I have the choice to stay home or be in the workforce. I have the right to an equal salary and benefits if I choose to be in said workforce. It means that I have an equal say in what happens with my family and my country (What is this woman's suffrage you speak of? Women are to be allowed to vote?? The hell you say!) It means that I have the choice of what happens to my body; my reproductive rights are just that: MINE.
Now, my first reaction to all these "Oh the horrors of feminism" blog postings was to rant and rave and talk about what lunatics these women were...and my second, admittedly much more juvenile, reaction was to point and laugh, a la Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons and say "Oh you crazy anti feminist bloggers, if it weren't for the feminists you wouldn't have the privilege of sitting at home on your computer ranting about the horrors of feminism"
It's a catch-22 really, you can piss and moan all you'd like about the horrors of feminism and what it's doing to your families, workforce, etc but without those awful women fighting for your rights as women to be treated equally, you wouldn't be able to do the things you are doing. I wonder how many of the anti feminist bloggers would like to give up their reproductive rights, their right to vote, and the right to choose what is right for them as a woman (ie: working/staying home) That's what I thought...you can't have it both ways. In the meantime, I'll be over here haw hawing like Mr. Muntz, telling my son and daughter that no matter what, they are both free to choose what they'd like to do in life as well as teaching them both how to cook and do laundry...and cast ballots to ensure that feminism lives on so that THEIR children have the right to choose what's best for THEM, male or female. Haw Haw!
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Little Things
The simple things truly are the best...thank you Greats-your intentions may not have been to make things better, but they did :) We love you guys!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Ever the Optomist...
Gabe is such a sweet natured child; so loving and caring towards others (except for Bitsy on occasion he he)he's always so concerned with other people, he's very sensitive-he's just a great kid. I really truly adore him.
Tonight at dinner we were talking about his friend B, who has CP and uses a wheel chair to get around. Gabriel asked me why his buddy couldn't walk. I explained tp he that B's brain sends messages to his legs, but his legs just don't get the message correctly. He thought about it for a moment and said "but he'll walk when he gets bigger, like I did right?" I gently explained, that no, he probably wouldn't walk when he gets bigger, that he'll probably always have to use his wheelchair to get around. He thought about it for another minute or so and said "But I can walk and my legs don't always work right, he will be able to walk when he is bigger, I know it" I told him we could hope that happened and we would pray about it, but it wasn't our decision.
And then, as he walked to the trash can and then to the sink, I thought about how truly miraculous the conversation we had was, because the kid in the wheel chair, with the legs that "don't get the message" could have very well been Gabriel, in fact, it SHOULD have been Gabriel. People always tell us how lucky we are and while Geo and I DO know how lucky we are, it gets tiring to hear it sometimes. Maybe, though, we don't realize JUST how lucky we truly are when it comes to Gabe and his health and maybe Gabe and my conversation tonight was a gentle nudge reminding me to NOT take his walking/running/toileting for granted because it COULD have been and SHOULD have been him in the wheelchair. It could have been SarahAnne asking me why Gabe uses a chair to get around, it could have been my nieces or nephews asking why he's in a chair or wears a diaper still...but it's not and for that I am eternally grateful and thinking about just how lucky we all are that Gabe can do what he does. I hope that the next time I start to feel down about Gabe's spina bifida, I'll be able to look at this and think "hey you know what, you ARE lucky; so many people have it so much worse and God made it so YOU are not one of them" and maybe it'll give the dose of reality I so badly need at the time.
On that note, it's time for bed...it's been a very posty day for me over here so I'll consider this my Early Thankful Thursday post ;)
Tonight at dinner we were talking about his friend B, who has CP and uses a wheel chair to get around. Gabriel asked me why his buddy couldn't walk. I explained tp he that B's brain sends messages to his legs, but his legs just don't get the message correctly. He thought about it for a moment and said "but he'll walk when he gets bigger, like I did right?" I gently explained, that no, he probably wouldn't walk when he gets bigger, that he'll probably always have to use his wheelchair to get around. He thought about it for another minute or so and said "But I can walk and my legs don't always work right, he will be able to walk when he is bigger, I know it" I told him we could hope that happened and we would pray about it, but it wasn't our decision.
And then, as he walked to the trash can and then to the sink, I thought about how truly miraculous the conversation we had was, because the kid in the wheel chair, with the legs that "don't get the message" could have very well been Gabriel, in fact, it SHOULD have been Gabriel. People always tell us how lucky we are and while Geo and I DO know how lucky we are, it gets tiring to hear it sometimes. Maybe, though, we don't realize JUST how lucky we truly are when it comes to Gabe and his health and maybe Gabe and my conversation tonight was a gentle nudge reminding me to NOT take his walking/running/toileting for granted because it COULD have been and SHOULD have been him in the wheelchair. It could have been SarahAnne asking me why Gabe uses a chair to get around, it could have been my nieces or nephews asking why he's in a chair or wears a diaper still...but it's not and for that I am eternally grateful and thinking about just how lucky we all are that Gabe can do what he does. I hope that the next time I start to feel down about Gabe's spina bifida, I'll be able to look at this and think "hey you know what, you ARE lucky; so many people have it so much worse and God made it so YOU are not one of them" and maybe it'll give the dose of reality I so badly need at the time.
On that note, it's time for bed...it's been a very posty day for me over here so I'll consider this my Early Thankful Thursday post ;)
Happy Anniversary
A very happy wedding anniversary to the Greats :) Congrats on another year together...here's to many more happy years to come!! ♥♥♥
Excellent Read
Today I'm not blogging my own words; instead I'd like to share this blog entry from a blog I read regularly...
Gratitude
Enjoy!
Gratitude
Enjoy!
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