I can’t make these things up.

Yes, really. If you asked him what he wanted to be, his reply was that he wanted to be a fire truck. Not a firefighter. A fire truck. Shortly thereafter he picked the human profession of paleontologist. My brother is kind of weird unique. All the same, it has been a long running family joke for years. Even my cousin who wanted to be an elephant doesn’t get teased as much as my brother for his grown up wishes.

We received Fire Truck by Peter Sis as a gift before BigBrother was born. It’s a cute little board book that warms my heart for various reasons.

The book features a little boy named Matt (which just so happens to be my brother’s name). He loves fire trucks. He thinks of them first thing in the morning. They’re the last thing he thinks of on his way to dream land. He loves fire trucks. As you might guess from the story that lead into this review, he wakes up one morning and he is a fire truck.

The board book then launches into a double pull-out page of what Matt the Fire Truck has on him (1 ladder, 10 boots). It’s a great little counting lesson as well as a lesson as to what fire trucks have on them other than firefighters. The only bad thing about this particular pull-out page is that it is easy to tear off the one side. Even my children who are particularly great with everything from paper pages to pop-up books have managed to tear the page off (accidentally) twice. Glue on the “hinge” makes it workable again.

Matt the Fire Truck then zooms around his house putting out fires in book shelves and rescuing stuffed animals. Until he smells pancakes (which are BigBrother’s favorite, by the way). A review on Amazon claimed that the book ended too abruptly. I feel it speaks to the attention span of younger children. “I’m a fire truck, I’m a fire truck, I’m a… ooh, pancakes.”

I love reading this book with my boys. It is one board book that we have decided to keep despite the fact that they’re both into longer books with paper pages now. I can imagine reading this to my grandchildren someday and telling them about how Great Uncle Matt wanted to be a fire truck. I also can’t wait to buy the book for my brother and sister-in-law when they begin to add to their family.

I learned today that the book is also available in a hardcover. I may purchase it so that we can retire (and save) our much loved board book.

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[Disclosure: Links are through Amazon Associates.]

Book Review: Fire Truck is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

See Mom Run: Side-Splitting Essays from the World’s Most Harried Moms

I related really well to a story told by Meredith Jacobs of Modern Jewish Mom about how she locked her daughter in the car. She kept it a secret from her husband. I laughed so hard at this story that I nearly choked on my tears. Why?

I’ve locked my kid in the car. But I didn’t get to keep it a secret.

It was a warm June morning and I decided that I would take my lovely two year old son out to run some errands. We were home alone for a two week period as my husband was away with the Army attending a school for his recent promotion. I was twenty-some weeks pregnant with what we knew at that point to be our second son. Errands needed to be run in the early morning or I simply wasn’t going to get to them, what with the being alone, summer heat, pregnancy and a two year old.

So, off we went! I put my purse in the front seat. I put my son in his car seat and buckled him in tight, handing him a book to keep him happy on the drive. I shut the door. I walked around. I grabbed the handle and pulled only to find that the handle snapped right back, leaving the door shut.

And locked.

For a brief instant I thought that I simply had done it wrong because, in that moment before it all sunk in I figured that there are so many different ways to open a car door, right? I tried again. No dice. I walked as quickly as my pregnant behind would allow me to walk around the rear of the vehicle and tried the passenger side door. Double the no dice thing. I looked at the front seat and realized that my cell phone was sitting inside my purse. I glanced at the front of the house, knowing without checking that I had locked the front door.

Panic.

I ran to our neighbor’s house. Yes, I ran. Pregnant with complications, I still ran. She let me use her phone and I dialed the fire department.

Did I mention that my husband works for the fire department? Did I also mention that this would have been his shift day had he been working and not away with the Army? I didn’t? Well, all of that information is true. As such, I called the people that I was the absolute most familiar with at the fire department and sobbed into the phone, “I LOCKED HIM IN THE CAR!” They said they were coming.

I stood outside with my neighbor as we waited. My son was more patient then than he is now and, like Meredith’s daughter, he looked at me with a confused look on his face. “Why is Mommy outside the car? Get in Mommy, you goofball.” Things like that. He waved. He played with a book that I miraculously had given him before I locked him in the vehicle. At least I did something right.

Eventually, I heard the familiar sound of a fire truck start down our hill. I looked up. There came the bright, red fire engine… with its lights on. In it I saw my husband’s captain and another good firefighter friend. I was mortified as neighbors stuck their heads out of their front doors. My son craned his neck to see the fire truck. I wanted to hide under the car.

After a moment of discussion, it was decided that they would crawl in a window of my house and unlock the door so that I could retrieve the spare set of keys. This would ensure that nothing would break on the car in trying to unlock it. Sounds easy enough.

Great. People I know and that work with my husband, traipsing around in my house that I thought, “Oh, sure, we’ll run errands now and I’ll clean up this mess while my son is taking his afternoon nap.” I should have just said, “Sure, climb on in! Be sure to look at my dirty underwear in the bathroom when you walk through!” Mortified. Absolutely mortified.

The house was unlocked. I retrieved the spare keys. I opened the car door, unbuckled my son and pulled him into my arms. To which he yelled, “WOO WOO TRUCK!” He didn’t even know that he had been trapped in the car. I thanked my husband’s coworkers. They left. We got back in the car… without creating any lights and sirens drama… and went about our day.

Now here’s where my story differs from Meredith’s. While she was able to keep her story a secret, I couldn’t very well keep that a secret from my husband considering not only his fire department responded but his very shift. That said, I didn’t even get to keep it a secret from local friends and family. In the response call section of the newspaper the next day, the report stated that the fire department responded to a call at an address (which was ours) in which a child had been locked in the vehicle. It went on to say that the “boy looked unharmed and was happy to see the big red truck.”

What it neglected to say was that the mother looked pregnant, panicked and utterly mortified.

And that’s why I laughed so hard at the story and the others like it in See Mom Run. It’s so wonderful to learn that I’m not the only one flubbing my way through motherhood. I’m so glad to be able to laugh with these other moms at my foibles, flaws and sometimes fantastic moments.

(Some of you may remember this story from my original parenting blog. I rewrote it for this blog book tour because it needed to be on this blog, don’t you think?)

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[Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book with intent of writing about it in this blog tour. Links are through Amazon Associates.]

My Not-So-Secret Story is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

FireDad is off at the Fire Academy learning all there is to know about being a Fire Investigator. The Fire Investigator is the one who gets to poke around the scene of a fire after it has been safely extinguished and determine what caused the initial spark. Was it an electrical issue? Did someone fall asleep in bed with a cigarette? Did someone leave a candle lit when they left the house? Or was it something a bit more sinister? There are signs and clues to all of these, of course, and I know absolutely none of them. I do know that if i was to leave a candle burning when I left the house, my firefighter husband would not be pleased. That’s about all I know.

I’m thrilled that FireDad is off learning new things. I believe this is a great move for his career. But, man, I already miss him. Okay, well, maybe not quite yet. I’m used to being alone with the boys for 24 hours at a time. In fact, I can even handle 36 hours on my own. By tomorrow night, after the boys are in bed, it will likely hit me that I have no partner in parenting crime this week. During the holidays, no less, and leading right up to our anniversary. This proves my point, though, that it is better to do your holiday shopping early. Can you imagine me attempting to hit stores with two children all by my lonesome? No thanks.

The good news is that FireDad’s hotel offers free WiFi. I set him up with Skype last night so that we can have a video conference with the boys in the evening. He hasn’t left us for two weeks since BigBrother was not-quite-two (his last year in the Army). They don’t remember their daddy being gone for a long time. And I’ve never been alone with two children for such a long time either. We thought the ability to see each other and for the boys to see him would benefit the lot of us. I think we’ll probably do a conference tonight before bath and we’ll try after bath tomorrow for story time to see which works best. I love living in this technological age. It makes our time apart a little bit easier to handle. (I also wrote about video conferencing with family members over at BlogHer today. Go chime in!)

The next two weeks are rather busy. Take for example today when I tried to take BigBrother to preschool only to remember that he has today off. That’s my first fail of this experiment in solo parenting. Next on our agenda will be to visit the library and pay the fine(s). I’m also insane enough to be taking them to visit Santa tomorrow, complete in their Christmas outfits, for pictures. By myself. Add in actual school days (not fake ones), various conference calls this week and next, deadlines, job assignments, wrapping presents, a fun conference thing that involves driving, mailing things, addressing the Christmas cards and remembering to mail them as well, friends, cleaning, eating, and maybe even sleeping and I’m tired already. And that’s not the half of it. But, even still, I’m confident everything will be okay. It’s just ten days.

Thankfully I’ll get to see this face in between thanks to the wonders of the Interwebz.

I may tackle him when he comes in the door. Especially if he has coffee.

I should probably wrap his Christmas presents while he’s gone… no? Just in case this experience is so horrific that I want to return his Christmas presents by the end of the ten day time period. You know. Let me just add that to my lengthy list of things to do between now and then. Check!

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[/end NaBloPoMo. I WIN!]

Ten Days of Solo Parenting Thanks to the Fire Life is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

Over the years, we have collected a number of firefighter specific ornaments. When I say “a number,” I do mean “lots and lots,” of course. I started thinking about their coloring as I hopped from shop to shop after the Christmas decorations were put out in stores (which was before Halloween this year and while some may find that deplorable, it helped in my hunt). I fell in love with a mix of red, apple green and white ornaments at The Store That Has Everything from Ornaments to Soy Based Yogurt. It turns out that the mix was a popular one this year because I found accenting smaller ornaments at just about every store I went to over the few weeks it took me to make my decision. I purchased a huge bundle of them from the initial store (50 larger ornaments) and a bunch of teeny ornaments from various stores. The colors are gorgeous.

In fact, when I started to pull out our specialty ornaments, I realized that the new ones were perfectly complementary to the ornament that is always displayed front and center on our Christmas tree: Santa as a firefighter.

We have a few variations of snowmen as firefighters as well. The reds of their hats or whole bodies were also perfect for the new coloring of our Christmas tree.

Yes, that last one is actually a bell. And it does jingle. But don’t tell the boys. Please.

We have another Santa but I always put him off to the side now. He was a gift from the owners of Teach, Bank, Blog back in 2005, just a month after BigBrother was born. I love the ornament but I feel bad that it doesn’t have LittleBrother’s name on it. So he hangs off on the side that faces my computer now. I smile at him and he watches me to make sure I’m being nice, not naughty.

One ornament doesn’t really match the color theme but definitely fits the fire theme. A firefighter dalmatian, complete with axe. He may be in yellow and blue but he’s a welcome addition to our fire tree.

The funniest fire themed ornament on our tree is a firefighter… Pez dispenser ornament. It makes me laugh every time I see it.

We also have a special series of ornaments on our tree. Robert’s Fire Catalog releases an ornament every year with the date and a different fire truck. I have purchased one for FireDad every year since we have been married. While we were engaged on Christmas Eve 2003 and I’d like to have an ornament from that year as well, I can’t seem to get my hands on one from that year. Such is life. 2004 is my favorite. 2005 is kind of… pink. 2009 may or may not be opened on Christmas morning. Guess FireDad will just have to find out.

One of the gems of the tree is a Hallmark ornament that is a 1938 fire truck. Our batteries are dead so it doesn’t currently do anything except match our colors and look generally awesome. It sits close to FireDad’s recliner so that he can pretend he’s like Jay Leno and has an antique fire truck. Someday.

I hope to add another ornament or two, other than the one from Fire Catalog, this year. As such, if you’re ever stuck for a gift idea for our family or any firefighter, consider an ornament. They’re usually easy to find. Santa as a firefighter is a recurring theme year after year, likewise with the snowmen as a firefighter. Hallmark almost always has a fire truck ornament but I’m not always quick enough to get them before they’re sold out of our local Hallmark. (20 firefighters on our local department plus the surrounding volunteer departments mean that fire truck ornaments go pretty quickly around here. Ebay is always an option.)

In the end, I’m in love with our “new” Christmas tree. I even bought a new tree skirt. And, yes, that is a firefighter snowman sitting next to the tree. I am pleased that our new Christmas tree not only matches itself but reflects our family. Fire trucks, firefighters and the color green. I mean, it’s a win-win-win for us all!

Especially with a star on top.

Weekend Outtakes: Fire Tree is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

We visited FireDad at the station during one of his shift days (we normally do once a week; it’s good to be a fire family). The boys were moving far too quickly for me to capture them yesterday and, as such, no adorable pictures of them on, with or around fire trucks. I do, however, have some great red shots.

If you don’t know, this is Fire Prevention Week! You can visit the official site for lots of information or hit up my post regarding online resources for teaching your children about fire safety or another one about storybooks that contain tips for fire safety. Tomorrow we have a great book review (one that has saved lives!) and a giveaway (fire safety related). Be sure to tune in; your family’s safety could depend upon it!

As for You Capture, please visit Beth at I Should Be Folding Laundry. Not just for the lovely red photos that everyone took this week but to offer her some support. If I know anything, it’s about complicated pregnancies, the awful waiting period between visits and trying to hold onto your faith in the midst of it now. Say a prayer for her, for her family and for this baby. The loss they have already experienced is one that no parent should endure. The FireFamily will be praying.

(The You Capture theme for next week is Still Life. Hmm. Help?)

You Capture: Red (for Fire Prevention Week!) is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

I’m not a morning person. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have to wake up most mornings at 7:00, also known as seven-zero-zero in our household. You see, BigBrother is a morning person. I don’t know how and I don’t know why. Everyone says he’s the spitting image of me in looks and personality. For the most part, that’s the truth. He has my eyes and, boy, is he ever loud. But this morning stuff? That’s not from me. Nor is it from FireDad. Every morning, whether he goes to sleep at his normal bedtime (7:00pm) or later due to being out and about, he’s up and ready to go at seven-zero-zero. People told us, “Put him to bed later!” The result? He woke up at the same time only having had less sleep which made for a grumpier BigBrother. I’d rather he be happy than grumpy, wouldn’t you agree?

But when he has his normal amount of sleep, he wakes up with a smile on his face. I mean, who does that? I sure don’t though I sometimes fake it in the morning. Today was no different. He bebopped into my room after using the bathroom, ready for his oatmeal and his school day. I rolled myself out of bed, dragged myself into the kitchen and made his breakfast. And then, of course, my coffee.

Today, different than Wednesday, was our first no-FireDad school morning. He woke up and went to the fire station before any of us were awake this morning. He was a big help on Wednesday. As usual, the life of a fire family messes with our everyday life. We have two different kinds of normal in our home: days with daddy and days without. This morning I had to do it myself. So, as BigBrother ate and my coffee brewed, I got my hair pulled back and found my gym clothes. I heard LittleBrother wake up at this point, so I got him changed into his clothes and up. I made his breakfast at which point BigBrother asked for a bowl of regular cereal. I consumed some coffee during all of these exchanges, slowly beginning to wake up an hour after I had been wakened. Then I got BigBrother dressed for school, gathered my gym bag, the diaper bag and BigBrother’s backpack and got us out the door. On time. Win.

After dropping BigBrother off at school, LittleBrother and I headed to the YMCA. I worked out for about 40 minutes while the childcare worker apparently had no clue on how to calm down a child who hasn’t been in daycare ever. (It’s called redirection and/or interaction. It’s not called “talk on your phone while the kid cries and wonder why.” This is an aggravating post for another time.) We headed home, split a peach and then I took a shower and got dressed. We played for a bit, I drank another cup of coffee, picked up BigBrother and came back home. Lunch, stories and naptime. Here I sit, having retrieved the mail and had some lemonade on our new deck. (More on that later as well.)

I know not all mornings will flow as well. In fact, as LittleBrother nears the age of two, I’m sure he’ll throw some of his own wrenches in the works. Today he slowed us down by refusing to come down the rest of the stairs. He didn’t throw a fit. He just sat down, smiled and said, “Late.” He should prove to be interesting come, oh, January, I bet.

The point of all of this babble is this: I’m not a morning person. But I feel fabulous today. I’m still battling some weird headaches that I should probably have checked out but, really, I feel awesome. I have energy. I could probably use one more cup of coffee. Then again, I could always use one more cup of coffee. I enjoyed my alone time with LittleBrother in the car and at home over our peach. (He, however, was desperate for his brother by the time school was over. More on that, as well, next week.)

I think I might learn to like mornings.

(Also, if you know of a good sale on patio furniture this Labor Day weekend, please leave a comment. We’re looking for a square table and chairs to seat the four of us.)

Mornings & Me is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

We made jokes about being sick of each other by the time our thirteen days were up. We laughed and said we’d never make it through a seven day vacation and associated travel, let alone the full thirteen days. But, at the risk of sounding horribly sappy: it was flipping wonderful.

We took walks on the beach. We splashed water at one another. We went shopping without children (which is the benefit of vacationing with extended family). He bought me my first-ever fishing pole which is pink with lights. Then he took me surf-fishing, taught me how to properly cast in the ocean and even let me re-bait my own hook. (I’ve been fishing before but have never owned my own pole. With lights.) We sat on the deck in the evenings, silent and still. We teased and we poked. We laughed and we joked. We spent time with our boys together, taking them to the aquarium. We splashed with them in the ocean. We argued with one another over whether or not to go east or west at one point. (Perhaps I was wrong because I wanted to stay at the beach? Yes?) We learned dorky information about the route home (like the state line between Virginia and West Virginia is inside the East River Tunnel).

And, of course, I took lots of pictures of the two of us.

(Also: I wear a lot of green because it’s my favorite color. Obviously.)

We don’t have a ton of pictures of ourselves. In fact, the photographer we hired for our family portraits on the beach made sure to get some of the two of us by ourselves because we haven’t had any of that nonsense since we got married! I’m hopeful that they turn out well and that FireDad isn’t making his “I’m Purposefully Trying to Mess Up Your Photo” face. Like this one.

And so, yesterday came, bringing our vacation days to a final end. FireDad woke up to an alarm, something we didn’t do since we set out on vacation at 3:00 on August 15th. He showered, got ready and came in to give me a kiss. I felt sad as he left, knowing it will be a long time before we have another thirteen days together. I did roll over and snuggle into his pillow, catching a bit of sleep before the boys woke me up. We spent our day without FireDad running errands and doing the school orientation thing. But by dinner time, we simply missed him. So we stopped at the fire department and got some time in with our favorite firefighter.

He came home this morning and we’ve worked our way back into our normal routine. I’m sad that he has to leave us every third day but, really? The bed last night? All to myself? It was good.

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Having returned from vacation this past weekend and  not having done the grocery shopping until just this morning (we did a lot of pasta), I have absolutely no pictures of food to share with you for this week’s You Capture theme. We’re lucky we ate. (We also did pizza. And went out for Mexican yesterday. My diet? What diet?) But, as we’re back in our routine now, hopefully I’ll have some pictures for next week’s challenge: Old Signs. Ooh, fun.

Thirteen Days is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

The Secret Garden

Little Women

Anne of Green Gables

The No-Cry Potty Training Solution

Lifegivers

The Girls Who Went Away

I chose to re-read My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult last week for a number of reasons. It remains one of my favorite books (despite not being overly impressed with some of her other novels). I read it back when it was first released and I have loved the drama, the concepts presents and the twist at the end. I loved getting involved with the book. But I had forgotten some things over the years and so I decided to sit down with the book once again since the movie was released in theaters today.

I had forgotten that the husband in the book was a firefighter. To be fair, as I read this book before FireDad was hired on the department (remember, he got hired just after we were married), I wasn’t really indoctrinated into the fire life just yet. Reading it this time, I found myself nodding my head at some of the mentions of fire life. You know, except for the part where Brian, the father, has Anna, the daughter asking for medical emancipation from her parents, move into the fire department with him. Sorry. Not going to happen in real life.

I had forgotten the questions the book made me ask, back before I was parenting these two boys. I asked them aloud this time, involving FireDad in my internal back-and-forth, whether we would ever consider bringing another child into our lives to save one of the boys. (Not that I can carry another child.) Or, even without that, would we force one of our existing children to donate anything to another if the child in question had reservations or simply didn’t want to do it. We had some interesting discussions, the two of us, as I quickly devoured the pages in the book once more.

There were quotes in the book that struck me this time around, ones that maybe I thought of last time but I was in a different place. I dog-eared the pages of my book this time around (yes, I’m that reader) and have considered each of them deeply. One quote, a paragraph, spoke to me deeply.

It would have been better, of course, if Luisa, had been in her own room, as her mother expected. But kids don’t always stay where they’re supposed to. You turn around and find her not in the bedroom but hiding in a closet; you turn around and she’s not three but thirteen. Parenting is really just a matter of tracking, of hoping your kids to not get so far ahead you can no longer see their next moves.

I mean, isn’t that true? That, combined with a trio of sentence just down the page from the above set of truths really blew me away.

I became a firefighter because I wanted to save people. But I should have been more specific. I should have named names.

Ah, yes.

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I’ll be honest, I’m not thrilled about the book being turned into a movie. I rarely (and I do mean rarely) like the movie more than the book. In fact, more often than not, I hate the movie because it is so rarely a true representation of the written word. This movie, so far, is no different. As an example, the mother in the book is a brunette. Cameron Diaz, my least favorite actress on today’s scene, is not a brunette. Nor do I feel she will be able to do this part justice despite the rave reviews she is getting from critics. (I also rarely agree with the critics, mind you.)

When you combine my dislike of the actress portraying the mother with the fact that THEY CHANGED THE ENDING, well, I find little room for hope. The ending of this book makes the book. The ending of this story makes the story. Without this ending, the way that it is written, the book would still be well-written and intriguing. But it wouldn’t push you to that brink, to question everything you just read, to question life as it is. It wouldn’t make you catch your breath, shake your fist at God and generally dissolve into a puddle of tears. If you change the ending, you change the book. And while Picoult was very gracious in her USA Today interview about the change of ending, had it been me, I would have said something like, “I wash my hands of it.” And then I would have spat at the ground.

I’m nothing if not dramatic, no?

I will likely wait until the movie comes out on DVD before subjecting myself to what I imagine to be two hours of drinding my teeth every time Cameron Diaz opens her mouth. I will try to avoid spoilers of the changed ending but, knowing the internet, someone will offer one when I am least expecting it, hiding it behind a click of something else entirely. I will see the movie because I am a glutton for punishment, a book lover who will want to see if, in the end, they did one of her favorites justice on the Silver Screen. But I fear the results, of course.

Just as I sat in fear of the end of the book during my re-read. And I knew what was coming. I prefer it that way, really.

Why I Re-Read the Book My Sister’s Keeper is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

First and foremost, we always buy the annual ornament from Robert’s Fire Catalog. We have 2004 onwards. (Of note, you can buy some of the older ones on their site if you missed a year or two!) In fact, if you’re not familiar with Robert’s Fire Catalog, you should be. It’s a great one-stop-shop for all of your firefighter gifting needs and will be featured a few times throughout this week! (Another note: I am not showing you the picture of the 2008 Ornament so that FireDad doesn’t see it before Christmas morning!)

This ornament can be found on quite a few sites this year. The blown glass fire truck ornament is absolutely gorgeous. And, being glass, breakable. Keep that in mind when purchasing. We do have a few glass ornaments on our tree (such as a few of these blown ornaments and the above annual ornaments) but they are safely wire wrapped to the tree. Or so we hope! (All pictures can be found below.)

For the kid in you or living in your home go with a fire truck ride-on ornament. We have a ride-on in our house that is quite smilar to this ornament! This one is actually made by Hallmark and, as such, I should stop and say a few things about Hallmark. They have a fire truck ornament every year. We only have one as they are always sold out by the time I get to our local Hallmark to make my purchase. As Hallmark doesn’t have a main site that lets you order their offerings, I’m frequently just out of luck. They are, however, gorgeous ornaments. Get thee to a Hallmark, yesterday, and see if you can grab this year’s ornament. (It’s awesome looking!) (Of note: You can also google to find past Hallmark fire truck ornaments, like this ride-on from individual Hallmark stores. And always check ebay!) (One more note! They’re not glass! WOO!)

There are a billion and one firefighter snowmen ornaments on the market. We have three on our tree. This is a cute on that I just found. They can be found in all kinds of dress as well. As an example, one of ours is dressed in a yellow coat, one is dressed in a black coat and one is dressed in all red. You can, no doubt, find a snowman firefighter ornament that matches your firefighter’s turnout gear!

And, of course, there are an outrageous number of ornaments featuring Santa as a firefighter. I would like to point out, however, that Santa Claus, with his big belly, wouldn’t likely pass the physical agility test. Just saying. All the same, we have a blown glass Santa on our tree that looks similar to either of these except that he is dressed in red. You can find him with a hose, with a dog or climbing a ladder. In the non-glass variety, there are even more options like the Santa in this collection. All the same, these are actually some of my favorite firefighter ornaments. Something about the magic of Santa and the magic of firefighting really pulls it together for me!

Whether you’re purchasing a firefighter ornament for an adult firefighter or a child who just loves the noise and bright-shininess of a fire truck, there are many more options available to you this year. I suggest you browse the internet or actually get out and look at the stores around you. Don’t skip over those kiosks in the mall as I’ve found quite a few great firefighter related ornaments there and, to boot, they often have the option for personalization!

All this week Stop, Drop & Blog will be bringing you gift ideas for the firefighters or fire truck loving children in your lives! Tomorrow I’ll be hitting on fire truck ride-ons for your wanna-be firefighters! Be sure to tune in!

2008 Firefighter Related Gifts: Ornaments is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.

If you have a fire levy on your ballot, don’t balk at the idea. Okay, balk initially. And then do what every educated voter should do: find out why it is there, what it is funding and then make the decision to balk or vote for it.

I understand that people without children often balk at education levies. “I’m not getting any use out of it so I’m not voting for it,” is something I have heard from those in opposition to education levies. While I think that argument is weak at best, I want you to know that even if you don’t work for the fire department, fire levies affect your family. Beyond funding the way that those firefighters take home the bacon, levies often fund a wide range of things for the fire department and, as such, for your safety.

New trucks are an example. Perhaps you don’t think your department needs a new truck. Call and ask those firefighters about their current truck issues. Ask why they’re needing a new one. Will they be selling an old one or adding to their fleet and/or is the oldest one too old to even be sold to a volunteer department? Does your department do things like give free smoke detectors to underprivileged families and elderly people? That money comes from somewhere. Perhaps you don’t think that they should be giving them free smoke detectors. I ask you, why not? Isn’t life something worth protecting?

There are many things that fire departments need to run properly, efficiently and safely. You, the average citizen, don’t often take the time to think about it because we take our fire departments for granted. They’re fun to watch in parades but, to be honest, no one ever wants the fire department to arrive at their home. Heck, I don’t even want them to arrive. But they do. They leave their own homes during Christmas Eve dinner (always), throw themselves in a truck and put out the fire that your Husband/Father-in-law/etc. caused while deep frying the turkey. They regularly put their lives in danger even if it was your carelessness that caused a fire. (Read: Don’t leave candles out overnight, people!) They save the lives of your children, your pets and you. They may not save everything but they save what matters most: life.

We’re hopeful that all three of our local levies will be passed this election. We’re also realistic in the fact that with everything as it is right now, they might not. As you head to the polls, realize that you will not only be voting for your own safety but for the well-being of men and women like FireDad and for families like ours. Is this an emotional plea? Sure. But I figure if real politicians can get away with it, so can I. (That said, I’m not going to publicly berate you if you don’t vote for your local fire levies. Maybe in private but never in public. And with no name-calling either. Well, maybe a little name calling.)

Every Tuesday through November 4, 2008, we will be discussing something political here on Stop, Drop & Blog. Our weekly series is entitled “Is It November Yet” because, well, we’re excited for change, ready for the number of posts in our Google Reader to go down and overwhelmed with the wealth of information to search through. Next week I’m going to talk about something on the national level. Watch out for drama!

Is It November Yet: Fire Levy on Your Local Ballot? is a post from Stop, Drop and Blog. Want more of Stop, Drop and Blog? Like our page on Facebook! If you have questions, contact me or hit me up via twitter.