Long Nights

December has indeed been a month of long, dark nights. I am happy, for so many reasons, to be adding daylight back to our lives in tiny increments. I gave up on posting for a while because I just could not put into words all the things I needed to say. 

William's brother, Jim, passed away unexpectedly last week.  In the midst of our personal mourning, the tragedy in Newtown, CT. 

I felt like I was unable to come here and share cute pictures and anecdotes until I figured out how to air my feelings about these tragedies. But, no.  I have decided that these are not necessarily things I need to delve into in the public realm of the blogosphere.  Just know that we have been hugging these girls a lot and that helps. So, we will get back to posting pictures and stories for your dose of virtual hugs.

 

 It's a Christmas Miracle!  After several encounters with different Santas, this guy was apparently the real deal.  Previously, the closest we'd gotten was for Lillian to high-five the jolly old elf while Naomi huddled in our arms.  But this one?  They just walked up to him.  He asked if they wanted to sit on his lap and up they scrambled, all smiling like they'd done this a million times before.

We were at the Botanical Gardens to take this year's Christmas photos.  Which also went remarkably well, as you may have seen on our cards. Tiffany's great at very efficient shots, getting it done before everyone loses it.  Below are some of the configurations that didn't make it to the card.



Our happy little polygamist family. Thinking about doing a reality show.

  Christmas itself proved to be the shining light in the darkest part of the season, just as it should be.

Nana, Papa and Grandma came out to spend the day and help the girls contribute to what might be next year's wrapping paper shortage. Here is the first part of the carnage:

 Among the favorite gifts? A camera.  As soon as Lillian figures out how to stop taking pictures of her own eyeball, I'm hiring her as the full time photographer for the blog.

Never a Dull Moment

This might have been my longest absence ever from the blogosphere.  Fear not, dear readers, we have been packing in as much fun and fraught times as I think I can handle in that time.  Where to begin?

The girls had a positively delightful birthday party the weekend after you last heard from me.  We had to postpone it due to our week without power, but waiting made it even lovelier.  Nana schlepped in all the supplies--streamers, goody bags for the guests, soup, games, balloons, plates, forks, ribbon sticks, the dollhouse we gave to the girls.  I bought a veggie tray. 

I left said veggie tray in the refrigerator and did not remember it until I tried to put away the leftovers from the soup Nana made.

Here is a teeming hoard of children who were way excited about the fishing for letters game that Nana made from scratch and brought for everyone to play.

 Here is Naomi, victoriously claiming a letter.

We opened wonderful gifts from guests and family.  Naomi was extraordinarily happy about this dog guitar.

Lillian would like you to check out her boots.

Everyone was excited about cake.

So that all went well.  Really.  And then the girls went back to school and Naomi was walking across the room and she stumbled and fell.  No big deal.  Except she refused to put any weight on it.  At all. Remember, this is the girl who literally laughed in the face of pain as her lip swelled up when she fell in the driveway. So I left work in a frenzy, took her to the pediatrician, then to the med center to get xrays.  Those came back clear but we had an appointment with an orthopedic specialist for the following Monday if she didn't improve. After a weekend of beautiful weather, she couldn't even be enticed to walk at the zoo. Instead, she rolled wherever she wanted to go.  Needless to say, we kept our appointment.

Naomi ended up in a hot pink cast, but only for 10 days.  She handled it like a trooper, only asking to take it off once. In fact, once she got used to it, she refused even the discussion of having it taken off.  Lots of folks signed the cast, which made it even better.  So good that she cried when it was being cut off, yelling, "My people!  My people names!" Thankfully, we were able to bring it home and William epoxied it back together and she's bringing it to school for Show and Tell tomorrow.

In that 10 days, we had Thanksgiving and that was lovely and peaceful and everything that it should be.The girls helped Granny make the stuffing.  Lillian discovered that French Chocolate Silk cream pie really is the best thing ever and tried to steal it from Brad. Both girls were markedly disappointed that Brad did not sing before dinner on Saturday as he had on Thursday.

These are stories that I intend to come back to, but it's after 10 pm and my brain is made of mush.  Oh, and William had a kidney stone inside those 10 days, too, and he was in miserable awful pain for, like, 72 hours and we were in the emergency room and percoset is great and that's all better now.

I'm really glad our power is on.

Mush.

20 Questions

I saw this idea on another website and I've decided to steal it.  There's a list of 20 simple questions to ask a child on their birthday.  You record the answers and the  ask the same questions each year to see how the answers change.  I figured it would be a fun thing to try, but didn't expect it to make much sense.  With my printed questionnaire in hand, I sat down with the girls at lunch to interview them, Barbara Walters, style.  Well, aside from not knowing what cereal is, they blew this one out of the water.

Below are the answers of these amazing 3 year olds who live in my house.


                                                                                       Naomi                                                      Lillian

1. What is your favorite color?                            
Pink                                                            Blue


2. What is your favorite toy                                 
Caterpillar                                                  Basketball

3. What is your favorite fruit?                             
Banana Orange                                         Banana Orange

4. What is your favorite tv show?                      
Chica                                                          Super Why

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  
 Hot dogs                                                   Pancakes

6. What is your favorite outfit?                          
 Pink                                                            Blue

7. What is your favorite game?                            Matching                                                   My friends

8. What is your favorite snack?                               
Cheddar Bunnies                                     Bread

9. What is your favorite animal?                             
 Giraffe (balloon)                                       Giraffe

10. What is your favorite song?                            
"You are My Sunshine"                        "Hello, Bye"

11. What is your favorite book?                          Olivia                                                           "Pinkalicous"

12. Who is your best friend?                                  Lillian                                                          Joey

13. What is your favorite cereal?                         
Black                                                          Orange

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?      
Toys, like a puppy                                   My friends

15. What is your favorite drink?                          
Chocolate Milk                                          Milk

16. What is your favorite holiday?                      
Candy                                                         Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? 
Puppy                                          Puppy and Blankie

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  
Sausage                                          Hot dogs

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? 
Cake                                                  Cake

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? 
A big boy                                             At Nana's House

Happy Veteran's Day!

Recovering

Mere hours after the harmonica video was posted, the remnants of Hurricane Sandy blew into town and knocked out our power.  We slept peacefully in a quiet, dark house, happy to get the phone call that school was cancelled the next day.  In the morning, I dug the coffee percolator out of the camping gear and set about making coffee by lantern light.  It was setting up to be kind of an adventure.  We had no damage to the house or the tree and I expected the lights to come back on soon.  But, it got colder inside.  By noon, it was down to 62 and we made the decision to head off to Nana and Papa's for the day.  We packed up enough gear and clothes for the night.  Weren't we optomistic? 

We stayed for a week.

Aside from the unease of not knowing and the long commute to work, it couldn't have been better.  The girls were thrilled to have all sorts of time with Nana and Papa.  Nana stayed with them Wednesday and Papa had all day Thursday and Friday morning.  There were many rounds of , "Noooo, Paaapaaa!" and much approval for the wagon ride from the shed.  Upon arrival at the woodpile, both girls declared, "That was awesome!"

Everyone painted and drew and discovered Thomas the Train videos on YouTube.

My parents are saints. 

Seriously. 

All told, I have very little to complain about.  So I won't.  Here are pictures instead.

Before the freak weather, we had a week of gorgeous sunshine and warmth.

Would you like this leaf?

Here is Naomi, exclaiming over her 'tiny baby leaf'.  Mama Leaf and Daddy Leaf were discovered in the driveway soon after.

Now, both girls have a tiny baby leaf.  And they are quite pleased about it.

After the week of gorgeous sunshine, there was a weekend of blah.  But, in that there was Boo at the Zoo again.  Where, again, I failed to take any pictures suitable for publication.  The ladies really seem to be getting into it, though, pointing out the decorations and costumes. Naomi was totally enchanted by a woman on stilts with a bubblewrap skirt.  Both girls were quite terrified of Papa in a turkey suit.  Seriously. He had to go change in the car.

Because of the disgusting weather and total lck of electrical illumination, Trick or Treat was postponed until Sunday night.  We were home with a few hours to spare.  (The big 3 birthday party was supposed to be that day!)

Aunt Pat made amazing fairy costumes this year.  Complete with hats and tops and skirts and wands and masks and matching sparkly tights and butterfly doo-dads for their shoes.  I would like to have it down for the record how hard I negotiated to get them to wear all the pieces at once.  And how hard I failed that negotiation.

Apparently, sometimes, fairies are terrifying.

 

Trick or Treating itself was kind of a bust.  With power so newly on, few familes were home and fewer kids were out.  We went to the three houses on the street that actually had lights on.  I think two of those were false alarms; folks had left their porch light on the previous Monday and weren't home to turn them off yet.  But they still loved it.  Running down the darkened sidewalk, tutus fluttering behind them, cackling and practicing the recitations and clutching the treat bags they'd made with Nana earlier in the week, it was still a thrill. 

Most importantly, we got a 'kip kap' bar. Apparently that was what it took to get Lillian into the hat.  Naomi's price is a little higher yet.

And lastly, this:

Look Out, Bob Dylan!

 Lord help us.  The three year olds have figured out how to play harmonicas.

What's in a Name?

Look what Naomi can do!  They practice tracing their names at school a lot, and now they are encouraging her to write the letters on her own.  I think she's doing a great job, don't you?

Fall Photo Attack

What is it about autumn? Is it just the colors?  Is there something about the sunshine?  Is it knowing that we are dangerously close to being trapped under an oppressive grey dome for the next six months?  We've been basking in a gorgeous 3-day fall weekend and we have lots of pictures to show for it.

We hustled out Friday night to Horseshoe Lake park, chilly as it was, to feed the ducks again. This time, we took advantage of the beautiful firepit.  We warmed our hands and roasted stale marshmallows.  (PSA: If you have hung onto last season's marshmallows, don't use them.  They're stale.)

 

And the, another perennial fall favorite: Apple Day!! The sun always shines on apple day.  We've been heading out to this same local fruit farm with Nat and Amada since Jack was tiny.  It's a beautiful way to measure the growth of our familes, from babes in carriers to leaping, running children in the gorgeous colors of Ohio in the autmun.  This year's apple crop was nothing short of meager, but, to be honest, that's not why we're really there.  We are there to sample fruit straight from the tree, walk the rows of the orchard and take hundred of photos (Some of which are credited to Nat.  If some of you also read Amanda's blog, you might notice that this weekend's entries are remarkably similar.  We spent a lot of time together.)

   

Ballerinas

 All of the ballet or dance classes I've seen don't start until the little dancers are at least three and fully potty trained.  We're a month away from one of those things.  And lord knows how long from the other.  I'l pay any of you a million dollars if you can potty train these children before their brthday.  A million.  Any takers?

Never!

For the past few days, whenever a disagreement has popped up between the girls, this conversation has ensued:

Lillian: You'll never get that job!

Naomi:  I'll get that job.

Lillian:  YOU'LL NEVER GET THAT JOB.  ANY WHERE!!

Naomi:  I'll get that job.  EVERY DAY!

Lillian:  NEVER.  GET.  THAT. JOB.

And so on.

I can't figure it out, but it cracks me up every time.  I've asked at daycare, trying to find out if it's rooted in the morning helper assignments, but they can't seem to place it, and the conversation doesn't seem to happen there. For the most part, the girls get along famously, unless they are trying to hurt each other or maintain possession of a toy.  Or if the sun is in Naomi's eyes, at which point, she requests that the sun be moved so it's in Lillian's face intstead.  Under the bus, man. But they are willing to ethusiastically share potty stickers and Naomi tucks Lillian into bed, covering her with puppies and blankies.

Here is virtually the same story in photographs:

Here are some otherwise unrelated pictures:

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

Photo credit to Nat

We got caught in a rainstorm last weekend at Legacy Village.  Amanda wrote a delightful post about it over on her blog, but I wanted to share some of the pictures.  (Upon review, it's only two photos that are in focus and both are of Lillian.)  It was grand fun, all the kiddos reveling in the new sensation of being drenched by a warm summer rain.  It reminded all of us adults to lower our shoulders, relax a minute and enjoy it.  Laugh.  Get wet and realize it's not a tragedy.  Until Naomi stars shivering and her lips turn blue.  Then, hustle up and get home.  Bundle up in warm pajamas and have some warm milk.  Watching the world through their eyes for a few minutes is a great reminder of the joy and magic in the small things.

Back in the Saddle

School is back in session.  For everyone.  We've even survived our first five day week.  Thankfully we are being rewarded with a three day weekend.  I'd have to say that i's all gone relatively smoothly. The girls are happy to be back at school an are learning more; they've both made leaps and bounds in tracing the letters in their name.  Naomi is doing well with potty visits and both girls are getting into the idea of show and tell each week.

Just a quick update this morning.  Hopefully I'll have another chance this weekend.

Last Hurrah

We took the girls to Memphis Kiddie Park on Sunday, as a final kiss goodbye to summer. It was a riot of fun and laughter and running and leaping. Nat has accurately described this place as "the most magical parking lot ever".  An apt moniker.  It's a fenced in asphalt lot over by the airport and if you stripped away the shimmer of children's joy, it would be a creepy set for a Scooby Doo episode.  Chock full of pint-sized carnival rides and sullen teenage operators, smelling of oil from the rides and corn dogs, it's been here since the 50's. (Papa went as a boy!)

The girls were absolutely overcome with pleasure.  No fear, no hesitation. They ran from ride to ride, eagerly gathering their tickets from Papa's pocket and giving them to the ticket takers.  They rode just about everything that moved, skipping out only when we ran out of tickets.  They rode the roller coaster twice. I can't even describe all their excitement, so I'll just show you the pictures.