Guess who is turning one....

At this time one year ago, we were about to be blessed with our sweet Jacob. It’s hard to believe that 12 months have passed since that night. We are extremely lucky to have our little boy in our lives. He is so full of joy, so inquisitive, and so loving. My heart is filled to overflowing. Happy Birthday, dear Jacob!

Merry Christmas!

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

~Luke 2:10-14~

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

*Anna reading Doug's childhood book "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"*

Santa  called this evening much to the girls' delight.  He told them he was getting ready to leave the North Pole and wanted to make sure they had some cookies and milk waiting.  Anna asked him if he would like cheese with his cookies, how old he was, and if he was fat.  Lauren had figured out how to access the Guitar Hero 2 tutorial and agreed to pause it only long enough to talk to Santa.  I think she felt she needed to get a good word in for herself since she told Anna the other day she was pretty sure she was on the naughty list.  She told Doug she was worried she might get a lump of "cold" (as Lauren calls it).  So, we rolled out our cookie dough and decorated just enough cookies for the jolly old elf.  We'll bake the rest tomorrow.  Speaking of tomorrow, I got most of my cooking for tomorrow done today.  Again, Jacob was super helpful.  This is what my floor looked like by the time I finished my baking. 

I kept foiling his cooking attempts so he moved on to the tree and decimated a few ornaments.

I finally incarcerated him just long enough to finish things up....much to his dismay. 

After all, he was just trying to help.  He couldn't believe the injustice of it all.

Mean old mommy.  If he could just get to the phone to call Santa, Mommy would be the one gettin' the lump of "cold" this Christmas.  Hmmpf.

Let's Talk Gingerbread

Remember this?

This was last year.  See how idyllic, serene, and full of Christmas spirit it all appears to be??  Well, apparently, it was a fluke.  I think I may be experiencing gingerbread rage, similar to road rage but with sugar, frosting, and gumdrops.

Last year after a failed attempt at making gingerbread house ornaments for my tree, I  finally gave up the notion of baking my own gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate and purchased a pre-made kit.  I really must have lucked out and bought the all-time best pre-baked kit for novices....ever.  It was so easy and fun...last year.

It was so much fun in fact I thought we would do it twice in 2009.  I picked up some Halloween gingerbread house kits for us to decorate back in October.  It was a disaster.  The frosting wouldn't stick and parts kept breaking off the gingerbread panels.  We chunked it all in the garbage and I vowed to not buy that brand again at Christmas time.  So, I did a special search and brought home what I thought was the same kit as last year's.  It turns out I bought the exact stupid kit I had purchased for Halloween but now it was dressed up for Christmas.  I decided I probably hadn't taken my time back in October and headed into this thinking, "If I just go step by step, I can do it....no problem."  That's what I thought.   Tyler and Doug headed to the mountains to snowboard today and the girls were bummed about staying here at the house.  I offered the gingerbread kit as a diversion and had them both sit down at the table to get ready to decorate.  It was then I realized that the geniuses at Wilton apparently believe we have countless hours to spare on gingerbread insanity.  They wanted me to frost one section and let it dry 1 hour....followed by the second section and another hour of drying....followed by the roof and 2-3 hours of drying.  I backed the girls off and started mixing the frosting.  At Halloween, it wouldn't stick and so the directions said to add a tbs. of powdered sugar if it was too thin.  After 6 tbs of sugar, it was better but still not thick enough (I later learned). 

I spent a ton of time standing there waiting for one wall and the front of the house to stick together.  They would not.  I finally gave up and decided to hot glue the SOB (Seriously Obtuse Baked product).  It worked wonders and in a matter of minutes, not hours, the girls were happily decorating, except for the fact that the #$@%^ frosting wouldn't get hard and all of the gumdrops and candies kept sliding down the house, and roof, and doors, and windows.

We finally finished and the girls had fun.  That's what really matters.  However, next year, I will not purchase a Wilton kit.  They're on my naughty list...perhaps I'll send a lump of coal their way.

Where, you may ask, was Jacob during this time?  Well, my friends, he was helping in his own special way.  He climbed under the Christmas tree, chewed on Grandma's present, and then ripped and ate part of the paper from Tyler's gift.  He then emptied the cabinet of all its pots and pans and attempted to do the same to the kitchen garbage can but was derailed when he shut his fingers in the cabinet door.  He decided he was having more luck at the tree and so motored back over to pull down a few ornaments prior to attempting to eat some fake snow from the gingerbread house yard.  Like I said, very helpful. :)

Having said all of this, I do make a mean gingerbread cookie....but apparently, that's about it. :)  Have a happy day.

Yahoooo!

It's official....the kids are on their Christmas break!! Now if we can just get Grandma home from the hospital and Tyler can catch a flight here (he's currently stuck in Denver), it will finally feel a bit more like Christmas.

Lauren had her Christmas show at her preschool this past Wednesday. Doug was unable to make it and Anna was in school. So, I was there by myself with our very squirmy little boy. Needless to say, my attempt at getting a decent video of the show wasn't so hot. For this particular song, I was actually nursing Jacob and holding him with my right arm and holding the video camera in my left hand. The only way for me to zoom in was to drop the camera into my lap, make the adjustments and then try again. So, when you see the scene go black for a moment...don't leave...there's more a-coming. Lauren is in the third row up from the bottom with a cream flower and headband.

SYTYCD

Are you guys "So You Think You Can Dance" fans?  I know some of you definitely are.  I must admit that my interest seemed to wane somewhat this season.  I felt pretty ambivalent about the whole thing and didn't care so much about who actually won.  There have always been one or two routines from the past seasons that I adored....the hummingbird routine with  Hok and Jaimie and the bleeding love routine with Chelsea and Mark.  Even though I wasn't as psyched about season 6, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED, Loooooooovvvveeeed the Wade Robson group routine.  I mean I seriously want to dress my kids and husband up and have us all dance this routine around the living room.  Am I insane?  I may be losing it...

Projects...

So many projects, so little time...  Here are a few of the items on my workshop table...ahem... (dining room table).

Grandma, the kids, the dog, and I are all sick.  Doug is the only one left standing at this point in the game.  Grandma Ruth actually went into the hospital on Monday as she was feeling so ill.  The doctor told us he felt it was just the flu and dehydration.  Yesterday they "quarantined" her because they received a positive H1N1 test result.  Doug had to wear a virtual space suit to see her last night.  As of today, apparently the prognosis has changed and they now say she does not have H1N1.  She is feeling very tired and I'm sure anxious to get home.  Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas around here without Grandma.

The Singing Christmas Tree

For the past few years, we've taken the kids to see "The Nutcracker". This year we thought we would try something a bit different. So, last night we drove to Sacramento to see "The Singing Christmas Tree". We really had a good time. The singing and the costumes were amazing. The girls particularly enjoyed the parts when the actors ran through the audience and the angels danced in the aisles. Jacob watched a little but he was much more interested in emptying the contents of the diaper bag. He pulled each toy out and flung it as far as he could causing the folks in front of us and behind us to gather our bits and pieces to return to us. Afterwards we headed to our favorite Turkish restaurant, The Anatolian Table. Their food is out of this world. We're always there at either lunchtime or for an early dinner. Last night we sat down around 7 pm and were surpised to see a belly dancer begin her act. She was fantastic and Anna decided she wanted to be her (she also wanted to be the angel at the top of the tree at the performance). Lauren stuck money in her belt. And Jacob? He was mezmerized by the jingling of her belt. It began with a stare, then he started to point, and by the end he was swaying in his high chair. It was a good evening!

Our Little Wallflower

Our sweet Anna is so shy. She doesn't make friends easily and she never has much to say. You put her on stage and she just shuts down...no charisma, no flair, no color. Yeah...right! Take a look for yourself.

Our Christmas card picture--the story

This card was totally inspired by the crazy talented Chea Lamb of Chea Lamb photography in Arizona. She did it first and she did it best. I saw the idea last year and fell in love with it. I had completely forgotten about it until I came across Jacob's outfit. The outfit and the idea just seemed to go together. It was then that the insanity started. I went on a search for the girls' outfits, a Model A, and a chicken.

The girls' outfits were easy. The Model A and a chicken were a different story. I started by looking on flickr and the web for abandoned cars in fields in the area. I found something in Bodie, CA but couldn't convince Doug to drive 4.5 hours to get there. I attempted to make contact with a few folks on craigslist that were selling old Model A's but received no response. I began to give up hope that I would find one and so I screwed up my courage to ask permission to photograph the kids in front of an old patchwork barn I had seen near our home. There were "No Trespassing" signs everywhere and a long winding road to the home where I would need to ask permission. I telephoned Doug to let him know where I would be as I kept envisioning scenes from Cujo and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It didn't make me feel any better that as I neared the home there were signs that read, "Beware of the Dog" and "If you can read this, you're in range." As it turned out, the family living there were super friendly and agreed to let us come out and take a photograph that weekend.

Of course, immediately after this I made contact with a friendly gentleman that had not only one 1929 Model A but two and he was willing to let me use them but he wasn't available until the following Monday. As I had just purchased a chicken from a farm in Loomis (off of Craigslist) that very day, I was concerned about what to do with said chicken in the interim. In the end, we just took the picture at the patchwork barn. I decided that I couldn't handle two occasions of photographing three kids and a chicken so we didn't drive out for the shot with the Model A. It also worked out that the owner of the patchwork barn already had a flock of chickens and was happy to welcome another one. The kids had already named our little hen "Cabby Woodstocka" and were sad to see her go but I was relieved to have found a good home for her. Sometimes I get so caught up in the idea of my photo, that I forget important things such as "what do you do with the chicken after the picture is done??". A funny side note is that I later found out Doug's mom thought we had purchased the chicken for Thanksgiving dinner. Later in the day when she realized the chicken was no longer in our garage, she assumed we started to feel sorry for her and gave her away.

There were a lot of funny moments during the afternoon photography insanity. Jacob wouldn't stop eating the apples. Everyone's hats kept falling off. The chicken wouldn't pose properly. All three children would never look at the camera at the same time and if they did, one would have a crazy look on their face. It was cold and Anna kept making a break for the truck. The owner's herd of cattle came over and stood in a line watching us. The kids were so busy looking and moo'ing at them, I couldn't get their attention back. In the end, it was a miracle I got anything at all.

So, without further ado, here is a look at a few of the 200+ pictures I took to try and get 1 decent shot of my three kids with a chicken and a basket of apples.

Times Are Hard...

Wishing you this holiday season an apple in every tree....

And a chicken in every pot!

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Come back tomorrow for our Christmas picture story and outtakes! 

Eyes on the heavens

We had the best time this past week watching the space shuttle and space station fly by.  Doug brought home the appropriate times for our area.  We packed the family up, drove up the hill, parked, climbed up a hill and then sat and watited.  The lights were super easy to find and were fun to watch as they made their way across the sky.  Each light became brighter and brighter as they rose until they finally descended into darkness again.  It all occurred within a two minute time period but it left me feeling like we had been a part of something bigger.  On Friday, we gathered around to watch the space shuttle land so the girls could see up close what had just recenlty been so far away.  They really enjoyed it and hopefully, we inspired a future astronaut...or two.  I just don't know if a ninja mask or tiara would fit inside the required space helmet.

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

I know it's been a while since I've posted one of these. I'm sorry I've been remiss about updating but we've been busy with daily life as well as attempting to purchase curtains for our first floor.
Anna was eating lima beans at dinner and said, "I like these green things." I said, "Honey, they're called lima beans." Anna responded, "I'd prefer to stick with green things."

I asked everyone at the Thanksgiving table what they were most thankful for. In a sweet voice, Anna said, "Native Americans and our veterans."

Lauren was watching a movie preview on TV and asked Anna, "Was that in a movie or here on Earth?"

Lauren has been giving Anna the dickens recently. I walked by their room and noticed Anna had posted a sign on the door to the room they share that read, "No Laurens Allowed!" It even had a small picture of Lauren with an "X" through it.

Anna has been having fun this week drawing with stencils. When I asked her how she drew so neatly, she replied, "I used these utensils."

Both of the girls were busy the other day drawing Thanksgiving turkeys using body parts. When I finally got to see the finished product,  Anna had traced her hand and added an eye, a beak, and a waddle.  At the bottom of the page, it said, "Happy Thanksgiving!  Goble Goble!"  Lauren had trouble tracing her hand so instead she traced both of her feet!  They were the funniest and cutest turkeys I think I've ever seen.

Lauren has been learning Christmas songs for her school's winter musical.  It's always a challenge to figure out the mystery words that she's unsure of in the song.  There are some words, however, that are pretty easy to catch.  My favorite "Laurenization" of a song has been about Mary and Joseph trying to find a place in "Bef-a-ham" to stay for the night.  As Lauren sings it, "Knock-knock, knock Jofes and his wife..."

I was trying to get a Christmas wish list together for the kids to share with the grandparents and asked each girl what they most wanted for Christmas.  Lauren gave me the standard reply: puppy, guns, swords, dinosaurs, and any and all toys $100 or more (she inherited her mommy's crazy gene that allows her to pick out THE most expensive item in the store).  Anna, however, thought for a moment and said, I really want to fly."  So there you go, grandparents.  Good luck.  I'm not sure how you'll wrap that one up.

Every day the kids take an afternoon nap.  Every day they complain about it.  Every day they make excuses and find reasons why they should not have to take said nap.  My all time favorite came this past week.  I said, "Nap time!"  Anna yelled, "NOOOOO!  I asked her why she was so opposed to the idea.  She told me in no uncertain terms, "If I take a nap, I'll grow.  If I grow, I'll get clumsy.  If I get clumsy, I'll fall and hurt myself.  If I get a scratch it will hurt when I take a bath.  So, I cannot take a nap."

I asked Anna what she thought the tooth fairy did with all of the teeth she collected.  Without missing a beat, she said, "I bet she has a collection of teeth big and small, short and tall.

Jacob is learning to say a few words.   He says "Bath" quite often and has started calling "Ann-na".  He loves to "throw things away" as in the telephone into the garbage, his socks into the tub, and his spoon out of his high chair.  He also has learned that the toilet paper will unroll on the floor...he really enjoys this one.  He is finally crawling on all fours, as opposed to his normal marine crawl.  He's crazy fast and loves climbing up the stairs.  Unfortunately, however, he also seems determined to throw himself down the stairs.  He's a sweetheart though and adores his sisters.  They keep him in stitches!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you're all having a wonderful day. Our entire family is pleasantly sated and napping except for me. I felt the need to take a moment to post how thankful I am for our many blessings, including our wonderful family and friends. Best wishes to you all! You all know I can't post without a picture or two, so here are a few shots from Tuesday afternoon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What is a Dad?

I recently came across this poem:
Everything Dad
A little girl needs her daddy
To love her with manly charm,
To soothe her when she’s hurt,
And keep her safe from harm.

A girl needs her dad
To show her a man who’s good,
To help her make right choices,
As only a father could.

A woman needs her father
Just to be aware,
He’ll always be there for her
To sustain her and to care.

You are all these things, Dad.
I hope that you can see
How much I treasure you;
You mean everything to me.
~By Joanna Fuchs

At the end, I realized they had forgotten one line.  It should read something like this:  A girl needs a father to help make her dreams come true even when Mother Nature refuses to cooperate with you.  The girls have been dying to have enough leaves fall from our tree to make a leaf pile big enough to jump in.  Jacob and I went to the antique fair in Sacramento this morning.  When I got home, this is what I found:

What lucky little girls to have a daddy who is willing to do whatever it takes to get them their leaf pile.  You can just see the joy on their faces.

Does anyone have a chicken I could borrow?

No, there is no punchline. I seriously need to borrow a chicken for a project I'm working on. Anybody know anyone with a few hens in the local area?

It's been a productive day...for Jacob. I put laundry away. He rearranged Daddy's sock drawer. Note the intense concentration. You've heard the lyrics "Whistle while you work", well, sticking your tongue out works just as well.

I straightened the girls' room. He ate a few crayons.

Lastly, Jacob has really been looking for ways to bond with Daddy. He thought maybe he could talk race cars with his Dad later this evening. For some hands-on experience he made a few laps around the upstairs in his laundry racer with the help of a big sister.

All in a day's work for a busy baby.

October recap

I'm trying to play catch-up and begin November with a clean blogging slate. :) I thought the easiest way to just get it all out there would be a collage or in this case, collages. So, here's a quick rundown of October in pictures. (To see the kids' costumes, scroll down to the next two posts.)

The kids had field trips and art shows.

We made many trips to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with family and friends.

We celebrated Halloween with huge pumpkin carvings, shrunken heads, monster meat, snakes' tongues, and dish of brains. We also managed to bring home LOTS of candy that I'm still trying to talk the girls out of eating. When I mentioned a "buy-back" program to Anna (where she picks out 5 pieces or so and we buy the rest from her), she shrieked, grabbed her candy, and ran upstairs yelling, "NO, NO, NO!"

Farewell to Chameleon Earhart

We had a lot of of fun this year picking out costumes. Originally Jacob was going to be a spider (I would be the web), Anna was going to be a bee girl (Doug would be the beekeeper) and Lauren was going to be Amelia Earhart (or according to her: Chameleon Earhart). She must have asked me 10,000 times, "What's her name again, Mommy?" It all fell apart though when Anna decided she did not want to wear a yellow turtleneck; Lauren decided she didn't like her goggles and leather jacket; and I saw the owl costume pattern for Jacob in a magazine. We switched gears and bought Lauren another pirate costume (Elizabeth Swan) but it turned out to be a tad tight. When Doug went back to the store to exchange it for a larger size, they were out. So, Daddy came home with a ninja costume and a sword that was as big as Lauren. Of course, she fell for it. Although it wasn't exactly a mother's dream costume for her little girl, it suited Lauren to a tee. We had to take it away though as she was going to wear it out before Halloween even arrived. Anna fell in love with the fortune teller costume. As soon as we pulled it out of the box, she started reading people's futures. She even set up shop with a crystal ball and charged 5 cents a palm reading. As for Jacob, he was definitely the cutest little owl baby that I've ever seen...although I may be a bit biased.

Happy Belated Hall"owl"een

Hi all,

Sorry we've been absent for most of the month. It's been a bit tumultuous around here as of late. Hopefully, things are back on track in our home and I'll be able to update more often. I'm working on a recap of October that I'll try to post tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a shot of our baby owl on his first Halloween. I was so excited about his costume. It's one of the few things I've attempted to make that actually turned out! Hope you had lots of treats and not too many tricks!

Dear Tooth Fairy...

A couple of months ago while making Anna's bed, I found a post-it that read:

Dear Tooth Fairy,
I don't have a loose tooth yet but
I hope you're finding lots of teeth.

Love,

Anna

Well, weeks down the road we discovered she did indeed have a loose tooth. It's taken 3 weeks for the tooth to actually come out but today it finally DID! It's taken so long because there wasn't a whole lot of wiggling going on once Daddy mentioned there might be blood. I think Anna's response was something like, "WHAT??!! BLOOD???? (moan)". She is our delicate flower, you know. :) Believe it or not though, she managed to get over the whole blood thing and pulled it herself while at school. She did say there was a TON of blood though. The school office gave her the cutest little treasure box to bring it home in.

At bedtime, we'll place it in her tooth fairy pillow that we made based on a tutorial from "mmmcrafts".... along with a note that reads:

In this pocket you will find

A teeny, tiny tooth of mine.

So while I sleep where dreams are made

In this pocket I will lay

The little tooth I lost today.

Please Dear Fairy, tonight as I sleep

Leave me a coin, my tooth

You can keep.

Her tooth will sit in a little pocket below the teeth of the fairy.

I just hope the tooth fairy doesn't fall asleep and forget to take the tooth and leave a little treat. Since this is our first tooth, I'm unsure what the going rate is in today's dollars. I know 32 years ago, a tooth was worth about a quarter. Can you guys clue me in on the current expectation? Anna has been asking for a new doll but I'm pretty sure it won't fit in the tooth fairy pillow pocket!

And while, we're on teeth...look who now has two! He would NOT be still so this picture is quite blurry but at least you get the idea.