I Didn’t Have a Rule for This

Yeah, that’s a hoppity-hop on the coffee table.  Sometimes it’s easier to simply accept I’m a bad parent and then run to get my camera. 

It’s okay, Kyla. You will probably grow up perfectly fine.

Did I Mention…

…that Wesley learned to crawl up stairs over Thanksgiving?  I was trying teach him to scoot downstairs safely, but he would have none of it.  Crawling in his sisters’ footsteps, Wesley wants to conquer up.

Oh, Christmas Tree

 

We went out to a local tree farm again this year and brought along friends of ours who are about to have their first Northwest Christmas.  It all starts with the right tree.

 

This was not the right tree.  I write this so I remember this next year.  Bypass the Norway Spruce, Denise!

Sure, it’s tall, beautiful, full, and it’s branches are strong enough to hold up anything.  But this spruce put the “needle” into “pine needle”.  Always test-touch the tree before starting to hack it!  I wore gloves to put the lights and decorations on.

But in spite of a little spruce remorse, we had a wonderful time.  Wesley and his friend Oliver shared the stroller.

 

Piper wore my coat as she was too busy eating her bagels to hear me say (three times) “Remember to bring a rain jacket, Piper!” 

Kyla can’t decide on the perfect tree.

 

The girls waited until we were on Skype with Grandma and Papa to start these shenanigans.  At least I had my camera….

Thankful It Hadn’t All Melted

The turkey was digesting

The whipping cream wasn’t yet ready

Time to go out

On the sleddy-sled-sleddy!

 

Mabel and Piper begin bundling.

 

Ready. Aim. Fire!  Or just sit there I will try to get this sled moving through this wet snow…

 

The snow wasn’t really any help at all going downhill.  Isn’t this something snow should be good at?

 

But snow this wet and heavy did make for a good snowman.  The girls were thrilled to make their first snowman with a mohawk! And Daddy had a great time pelting Mama with snowballs…until I recruited 3 snipers to my side.  Thanks, kids!

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Epilogue.

Three days later.

Much To Be Thankful For

My firstborn.

 

My loving imp.

 

My babe and baby.

Cosmetic Consulting

So, what do you think of this lipstick shade?  We hope you can see it well enough to give feedback.

Homebound

“We advise that drivers stay off the roads today.  If you need to go out, take the bus.”  With the news starting out that way, I decided we should stay home today.  Dwayne and his car, TI (stands for Tropical Island), didn’t even consider staying home, but he made it in safely.  Unfortunately, halfway through the day, Sears decided they couldn’t make it out to repair the dishwasher.  We had to reschedule for Saturday.  I’m glad Mom’s hosting Thanksgiving at her house….

All that blathering to say that it snowed, we stayed, we played.  After lunch, I decided that I could bundle up 3 kids and myself and go explore Wesley’s first snow. 

We started with our scooters, the #111th best snow toy ever.

 

Better than scootering in the snow is climbing trees in the snow!  (Who is this crazy family?)

 

Wesley contemplates tree climbing.  Since he can’t even crawl in this too-big snowsuit, he will have to content himself with contemplation for a long time. (Sus, I was so thankful to find this in the 9-12 months bin!)

 

Finally, Mama had the brainstorm that we should find the sled.  The sled I bought last year when still pregnant with Wes when the snow that was forecasted never materialized.  The sled that the kids will be able to all fit inside far longer than I will be able to pull them.  That sled.

Two thirds of my progeny thought it was a fabulous idea and we explored the entire neighborhood in it.  Thanks, Wesley, for being a good sport anyway.

A Easy Evening?

Something went terribly wrong this afternoon, because not only did I have a healthy & delicious (if not entirely homemade) dinner on the table at 7pm when Dwayne gets home, but we had already done a homeschool lesson, watercolor painting, and the girls were bathed and pajamaed and the house was picked up.  And, more is the miracle, we captured it on camera.

Now that I am reflecting on it, Wesley and I took a nap together this afternoon while the girls ransacked the upstairs.  Then I had a doctor’s appointment, so I told the babysitter that the kids could have a snack and watch a video after their rooms and the living room were tidy.  Then I left for an hour and a half.  That was probably the real reason the evening was so easy—I may  have had a white-knuckle drive, I may have had pages of paperwork about my entire health history to fill out, I may have had bits poked and prodded that generally just want to be left alone, but I had 90 minutes of kid-free time.  How’s that for perspective?

Kyla made a smiley face out of her fruits and veggies—which she ate all up at dinner time.  If this picture doesn’t momentarily make me feel like Mother Extraordinaire, nothing will.  Kyla played the “I love you this much” game with me tonight at bedtime.  Sigh.   

 

It took Piper both shots to capture Wesley and I.

 

My photographer, my darling, my imp. My sweet, sweet scoundrel.

Good thing I finally got around to replacing some of those child-proofing locks this month.  Can you see it?  This is a picture of my heart beating. It no longer resides in my chest, but in my baby.

Snow? Snow!

Do you remember  how November started?  Sunny days in the park, short sleeves, 70 degrees?  Well, we’re now getting snow before Thanksgiving. 

I wasn’t energetic enough to get us all bundled up and outside, but Kyla made snow angels on the front deck and Piper tried to catch snow.  It’s beautiful, and I really enjoy the coziness of this weather and the unnaturally bright night.

It got better.

Today seemed like it was going to be a continuation of yesterday.  The dishwasher is broken and can’t be fixed until Tuesday, leaving me with a  full dishwasher to unload and hand wash.  After a short night woken up twice by Wes and once by Kyla’s bad dream, we were struggling to get to MOPS without being too late.  Kyla and Wesley were in the car and Piper was standing right outside when she suddenly threw up. 

Now here all all the good things that happened because of that.

1) Foremost, Piper threw up on the garage floor, NOT in the car.

2) We unexpectedly had a relaxed morning at home with no plans to go out today.

3) I had time to wash all the dishes.

4) Wesley finally got to have a nice long morning nap on a Thursday.

5) The girls and I made banana bread and they were delightful. 

6) I had time to wash all the dishes again. (See #5)

7) Wesley has been a pure joy since waking up from his uninterrupted nap.

I made a blanket house for the girls this morning while I did Round One of the dishes.  But Wesley was the one who found his bliss in blankets.

He’s 10 months old today, and if we could move beyond this new 1am feeding, he’d be practically perfect!

When Mama Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry…

There’s an award-winning book called When Sophie Gets Angry…Really, Really Angry… that well fit my mood today. There were the usual annoyances and cute sayings and sweet moments.  And then it just got bad.  Highlights of this afternoon, in no particular order:

1)  After being reminded not to throw balls in the house, Kyla went into our bedroom, threw a plastic ball so hard upward that it broke through the glass covering our overhead light, breaking it and showering our room in glass shards.

2) Wesley waking up after a very brief nap because of the fall out of this.  He couldn’t get back to sleep.

3) Naked Piper, on her way to the bathtub, taking a detour to her bedroom to climb up onto her closet shelf and pee up there!

4) Reminding Kyla, again, that food stays in the kitchen. “Oh, yeah,” she says, running back to the kitchen with the cracker bag upside down over the carpet I had—moments before—just vacuumed.

5) Herding all the kids to McLendon’s with Kyla’s piggy bank in tow to buy a new overhead light.  I took the $5 bill out of her piggy bank and then have her give most of her coins to the cashier to make a dent in the cost of the replacement.

6) Reminding Kyla, again, not to walk on the back of the couch. Sending her to her room for a really long time after she jumped off the back of the couch, onto the side table, knocking it and all its small contents over all over the floor.  The child was unhurt.

7) After trying to get Piper to clean up some of the toys scattered everywhere for a good portion of the afternoon, and her continually running away and hiding under a blanket, I gave her a choice of cleaning up or letting Mama have all her toys.  Guess what she chose.  Our bedroom—the one with the br0ken light—is now housing ALL of Piper’s stuffed animals, dolls, doll paraphernalia, books, play kitchen, puzzles, and anything else that wasn’t a blanket, clothing, or bedding object.

8) When I offered to take them to the mall to play on the indoor toys and Kyla wailed that she didn’t want to go, and then two hours later wailed that she wanted to go, I simply stopped talking and walked from the room.

 

So when Mama gets angry, really, really angry, watch out.  ‘Cause you’re definitely not getting dessert. 

Maybe I Had Really Low Expectations…

..but I’ve really enjoyed two DVDs we rented recently.  Since I’ve only seen two DVDs recently, I’m really pleased that they were fun ones.

 

How To Train Your Dragon is probably a cheesy, predictable cartoon about Vikings and dragons, but Dwayne and I were too charmed to notice.   The animation impressed, as well.

 

Prince of Persia should be much, much worse than it is as it is based on a video game.  Sure, Jake G.’s chiseled chin and abs certainly helped me overlook basic plot indulgences, but this whole movie was just a fun romp. (She’s no slouch, either.)  And if you like to see people run up walls (known as free-running or parkour, to those in the know), then this is the movie to see.  Most impressive is that the sex was limited to a single (and forgotten) kiss, the language held to the “for the love!”-type exclamations, and the violence was plenty, but not bloody. 

The Kids Crack Me Up

 

Today, Piper and Kyla were playing something they call Bunk-bed-Piper-as-Mama-get-up-for-preschool-take-a-nap-need-medicine-because-I’m-sick-here-you-go-let’s-play-again.  Wesley kept crawling over to them and getting in their way.  So Piper emptied out a basket, picked up Wesley, and put him in basket-jail. 

I guess a body can get used to anything, even basket-jail.  The amenities aren’t bad.

 

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Wesley is almost 10 months old and loves Mama with all his heart, but those sisters fascinate him.  Lately, he’s been crawling out of the kitchen while I make dinner and heading to the bathroom to watch their tub antics.  Maybe it’s like the zoo—he could admire these monkeys for a long time!

 

*                            *                               *                               *

And Kyla’s happiness is my happiness.  Especially if that happiness is chocolate Halloween candy….