I am Merida...

First born descendant, and I'll be shooting for my own hand!

Hess-o-copters

Two happy kids playing together with their choppers!

Merry Christmas Eve!

A quiet Christmas Eve morning, and I let the kids watch a little extra Netflix while I tried to recreate a cute idea I'd seen on Pinterest and see if I could give the kids a memorable breakfast. 

Maia was deeeelighted, and went on and on about how cute and exciting and snow-manny he was. She apparently decided it was too cool to eat, though... 

I'll also note that apparently, Maia does not like whipped cream, and it is intolerable in her hot chocolate.

Parer was super excited, and was jumping up and down in his seat.  Parker, we have learned, DOES like whipped cream, and did a good job at making sure all bits of whipped cream, banana and chocolate were removed from the plate and hidden quietly in his belly.  The actual pancakes? Not so much. 

The park... winter style

A cold but clear December day with two small children itching to play!

Maia was determined she needed to ride her bike, and Parker thought that the park might be fun.  I warned them of the cold, and that things might not be as fun now as they were in the summer... but we bundled up, and I threw the bikes in the trunk, and planned on returning to some hot chocolate.

When we first arrived, Parker learned an important lesson on what it's lie to walk on solid sheets of ice. He was surprised, but unhurt. Which is good, because he fell about 5 times because he was determined to try again, and wasn't so sure if he knew what was causing him to fall down.

Since we had our run of the place, it was right to the big big slide!

 We took a quick spin on the bikes as well, but we were rather done. 

For a  little pre-holiday fun that evening, the kids got in their jammies, loaded up in the car with some cuddly blankets and headed out to look at the Christmas Lights.  They really enjoyed it... especially when we found this over-the-top house with lots of chasing lights and animated inflatables.  

They liked it so much, we went again another night!

30 Days of Gratitude.

During the month of November, it's common, now, to see people posting 30 Days of Gratitude updates on their facebook pages.  Life always throws challenges our way, and some days seem darker than others. While I am in the midst of some darker days, I thought: What better way to shine some light into this darkness, than to thoughtfully and specifically name things for which I am thankful.   I hope I can keep up!

Day 1:  I am thankful to be a mom. My children challenge me to become a better human and forgive me a thousand times over for my daily slip ups.

Day 2: I am thankful for the ability to learn new things and apply my knowledge.

Day 3: I am thankful that my house is warm and sound, even if it might need a fresh coat of paint in a few places. Particularly as Sandy has claimed lives and left so many on the East Coast without a safe place to live, gas to drive there, food, clean water,heat, electricity.

My little people, though? They had other ideas about what made them thankful:

M: Knights, for saving us from dragons.
P: Pirates... they say Arrrrr!

Day 4: I am thankful for my parents and their unwavering love and support.
Day 5: I am thankful for my sister, who understands who I am on the deepest levels of Me; yet we still learn new stuff from and about each other all the time.
Day 6: I am thankful for the right to vote, and to live in a country where I have that right. I try to cast my votes thoughtfully with a mind toward what is best for not just me, but for all of us who share these communities, States and country.
Day 7: I am thankful that my kids have a daycare full of teachers who Know them and Care about them. Their teachers take such good care of these kids, little pieces of my heart.
Day 8: I am thankful for a cozy bed on which to curl up and sleep and put today behind me.
Day 9: I am thankful for humor and laughter. By this we can be recharged.
Day 10: I am thankful for days of long naps, extra cuddling and hearing my little dude laugh in his sleep instead of cry.
Day 11: I am thankful for social networks that share creative ideas. My kids are ecstatic about their "disco bath" in the dark with glow sticks.
Day 12: I thankful for excellent co-workers who are willing to cover me when I'm out with a sick kid... again!
Day 13: I am thankful for some special 1-on-1 time with Maia. She is such an incredible kid, and hearing her belly laugh while watching Brave (while we did laundry together) was fantastic.

Day 16: I am thankful to have opportunities to perform unique and fantastic works like Paulus' "To Be Certain of the Dawn" A work for healing and remembrance. 
" 'Why? Why did I survive?' The Rabbi said: 'God kept you on earth to write the story.' "

Day 18: I am thankful for this beautiful day, and my two knights who protect the back yard from bad guys.


Some days it is difficult to be thankful. Either because of how you feel, or what is going on around you, or because you fail to take time to breathe, and think, and Be.


Day 22: 
I am thankful for family and friends, for rough days that end,
My job, my home, for PW gnomes,
For general good health and adequate wealth, 
For kids I love to pieces and their tiny sneezes,
The good things I've got and trials I've not,
For country and pride and a short backyard slide,
For intelligent brains and small wooden trains,
For coffee and food and a pretty good mood. 
I am thankful for all of YOU.
And chocolate.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

And the little people at my house? What are they most thankful for on this day of gratitude?

M: God

P: Ghostes.

Day 23: I'm thankful for days off!
Day 24: I'm thankful for stuffing for breakfast.
Day 26: I'm thankful for sunrises and sunsets.

Day 28: I am thankful that, outside of the inconvenience of a random virus, we enjoy pretty good health in this house.

I didn't quite make it to 30... but, perhaps I can say: I'm thankful that I can chose to do this any and every day... and hopeful that I can do it again next November!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving always starts out with a little food prep, right?   My little helpers love to eat the "apple spaghetti" left by my apple peeler/slicer/corer gadget.  And sometimes we have to fight for the apples.

There. Sweet potatoes are looking pretty.

On to my sister's house for dinner and a little pre-dinner play time with the cousins.

It was unseasonably warm for Thanksgiving... so warm that the kids could play outside without coats... and, apparently, shoes, on.   So play they did. Maia was nicely covered with chalk by the time this "project" was done. Uncle Andrew's old grill looked like it could use some decoration and we are JUST the people to help!

While I was vacuuming...

Maia presented herself with a lovely rainbow face...

What on earth? Oh... it's chalk.

And look... you made up your brother too. 

Fantastic. You guys look great.

now go get a wash cloth... 

MoVember

We'd like to stay longer, but we really mustache....

Wax! Aren't they awesome?

Twenty Questions

I saw a cute idea on pinterest some time ago, about doing a video series of questions with your kids.  The idea was to do it every year on New Years Day, or on their birthday. But, hey, there's no time like the present. Even if we are still eating dessert (pumpkin ice cream, which is supposedly her favorite).

So here is Maia's video.


I actually found myself surprised by some of her answers.  For the last 2+ years, her best friend has always been Claire, or Claire plus another random friend. For the last few months, it's been Claire and Ben and Olivia.

I tried some questions with Parker, and didn't expect much success.  Maia had a hard time not helping. He certainly gave me a lot of unexpected answers!

So. It's clear that Parker liked Pirates that day. Eat them, drink them change our name and be them when we grow up!

Halloween

The kids always do a "Halloween Parade" with the rest of the daycare through the nursing home. I was pleased that they managed to stay dressed through the whole thing this year!

In the evening, we bundled up a little more, and Maia decided that It'd be better to bundle under her Merida dress than her fairy dress. Parker was fairly easy to bundle. So we headed over to my sister's.  Ade made his own Tron Legacy costume. It really glowed and had a disk mounted on his back.

And we're off like a herd of turtles.  Maia getting all the good tips from Lydia.

One lovely advantage of Parker's costume is that the yellow stripes really had reflective material in them; so he was very visible.  The kids did very well, but we didn't stay out all that long.

Having some candy. Sharing a hairline.

Painting Pumpkins

Maia's class had a field trip to a local greenhouse where she was able to pick out her own pumpkin. She was delighted with it, and wanted to carry it with her many places she went.  To that end, Parker needed to carry one around too. So we had to go get him a similar one.

I asked if they wanted to carve them, but as Maia did not enjoy the squishy pumpkin guts when they carved their class pumpkins, they opted for painting them.

They had a ball.

I used a little glitter glue to write their names, and learned that glitter glue will easily peel off a pumpkin. Parker's got fixed  few times before Halloween, but they made it to November!

Art Prize

Aunt Tara and Rachael came for a visit.  We always have such a great time with them!  

One evening we planned on going bowling, but found we wouldn't be able to get a lane until after certain little people's bed times.   So, quick change of plans. We headed to down to Art Prize.  Unfortunately, it was a bit colder than we'd planned for (since we weren't planning on walking around outside for an hour); so we had to limit our stroll to one venue.  But there was certainly plenty to see.

This was certainly a favorite, although we needed to make sure this dino wasn't real, and wasn't going to eat us. You're sure, mom... right?

This giant kaleidoscope was awesome.

It's not that we are unhappy. It's that we're not please about all this standing still and looking at the camera nonsense.

Frog Boy and Mermaid Girl. These were fun!

My. Goodness. When did he get so big?

Climbing this big hill was about as fun as anything we did. But I couldn't help but hear the Little House on the Prairie theme song in my head as I watched Maia run down for the 15th time.

Little Funnies

M: Momma. It tickles when you talk into my earball.

P: Daddy's home. I can mot buh-WEEVit!

M: Momma. I don't ever want to give you away, okay?

M: Why does Parker have such long eyelashes?
He's just lucky I guess.
M: We're gonna have to give them a trim soon!

Upon calming down from a midnight tumble off his bed, Parker asked sleepily, "Who pushed me??"

Freckles

In June, Maia got her first freckles.

Can you see them? On the side of her nose? She was so proud!

Commuters

Hard at work. Reading the emails.

Labor Day

It was a lovely day, so we packed a picnic and headed out to a local park with Grandma, Papa, Aunt Kathleen, Casey the dog, and all the kids. We had a great time...

These really beautiful trees were great for climbing.