A Veritable Smorgasborg

Of topics, that is. And pictures. Here we go:

The Baller

First up (and I'm not sure yet if my list of things to cover is in exact chronological order) is a little thing Ethan looked forward to for several long weeks called "The Basketball Turkey Shoot." Sponsored by the local parks and rec department, Ethan teamed up with Scott for a chance to win a "Thanksgiving dinner." It sounds like it was a lot of fun, but unfortunately I had to stay home with the two little girls who desperately needed a nap. However, since Ethan desperately needed a cheerleader (or so he pleaded) I allowed Grace to accompany them to root for them on the side. According to Scott she misbehaved for the first half of the festivities and then settled in for the rest and became a model citizen of encouragement and excitement. Adding to the excitement had by all was the raffle win of ice cream and a pumpkin pie which has been sitting in our freezer ever since.








Report Cards

With Grace in a preschool that is part of our school district, I had the privilege of attending not one but TWO parent teacher conferences the week of Thanksgiving. Let's just say there were no surprises in their reports. Ethan needs encouragement in speaking up in class, and Grace just needs to speak. Apparently when Grace gets frustrated, embarrassed, upset, sad, or who knows, her response is to stare blankly at the teacher and not say a single word. What the teachers don't realize, perhaps, is that the alternative -- being privy to one of her melt-down fits of psychotic rage -- is far less desirable than the silence. Nonetheless, I'm extremely confident that we did the right thing in putting her in preschool this year. In the end, it's a good thing that she missed the cut-off for Kindergarten by a month.


A Pilgrim Boy

Ethan's class put on a little Story of the First Thanksgiving production for their families this year -- complete with song and dance. Okay, maybe not dancing, but a musical it most certainly was. Scott took off work a little early that day and after checking Grace out early from her school we all joined up for a little unintentional comedy at the sake of Ethan's 1st grade class and the various Pilgrims, Indians, and other key players they portrayed.

(Here is Grace waiting for Ethan's play to start. With this picture, imagine Grace asking "What?" in a voice that's a good octave lower than her normal speaking voice indicating that she has not quite emerged from the clouds of the fanciful wonderland that is her mind and entered the land of the living).

For weeks leading up to the play, Ethan practiced his part and hounded me to make his Pilgrim Boy "costume." And while I think he was expecting me to whip something up from scratch a la the girls' Halloween costumes, I more than managed to get the idea across with a few key pieces from Salvation Army, some white felt, and my needle and thread. And while we managed to videotape the whole performance before the battery finally died, there is no way I feel like hunting through it to get the one clip of Ethan saying his part. So, you'll just have to do your best to imagine Ethan saying the following: "I am a little pilgrim boy, I like to fish and play. I'll follow the little Indian boy on his hunt today."




Dress-up Time

Some more Fancy Nancy-ing was done. This time at a Borders nearby, and all I'll say is that it was a madhouse and not NEARLY as well organized as the one we attended this summer. Grace and Sophie still had fun, though, and yes Grace is wearing Sophie's Halloween costume. I just had to take the hem out and voila!

Grace wanted both of them to do a "pageant pose" for this one.

And I think she'd want me to point out how fancy she got her dog junk as well.

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving vacation this year at Scott's sister's house. Much fun was had by all as the kids LOVE playing with their cousins and didn't want to leave when it was finally time to come home. And equally fun for the grown-ups (and Jane) was a Thanksgiving evening viewing of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." I actually thought it was fabulous, and even though we didn't see it on opening weekend, and thus missed out on the hordes of screaming girls in the theaters when Jacob's shirt came off, it was still a memorable experience and I was impressed with the screenplay's adaptation from the book. Even Scott endured it with some entertainment.

Chillin' with the girlie bugs.

The Many Faces of Grace's
I'll let the pictures (and she REALLY likes to get her picture taken) do the talking.

Whoopsie! How did this one get in here?

Oh yeah, this is why.

My little schizo.

And channeling her inner Violet from "The Incredibles." And in theory these matching jammies are cute -- at least they looked really cute in the packages before they were opened. BUT, as my mom always says -- "you never know till you try it on." Hahahaha.

Sophie's haircut

Not to be upstaged on the picture-taking front is the super muppet. Here are some after pictures of the haircut she's been insisting on wanting for the past few weeks. Now that the Christmas card pictures are taken, I really don't care any more and finally just chopped a few inches off. To be honest I think it would be quite adorable if it weren't for the huge chunk of hair that Grace chopped off the side not so long ago. Unfortunately, the current shortness of her hair seems to accentuate it quite a bit. Oh well. Her hair grows fast, and ten bucks says that even though she and Grace now have very similar lengths, Sophie's will grow out far faster.







Christmas Time is Here

Once we got back from our Thanksgiving break the kids were chomping at the bit to haul out the holly and put up the tree, so put it up we did. On Monday, we picked it out at The Home Depot, brought it home, and decorated it for Family Home Evening. By the end of the day (it being the first day back to reality after our mini-vacation) I was exhaustified, had a blinding headache, and decided to let go of my perfectionist expectations of how the tree should look. The result is that hopefully people will look at it and realize at once that the decoration was executed by young children. With bunched up ornaments clustered together on mainly the lower branches and things placed not quite where I would place them and the tree tilting ever-so-slightly back to the corner, it is a testament to how much I no longer care that I have not even tried to tidy up the look.

Everything looks better all aglow in the dark and slightly out of focus, don't you think?

Wish Lists

It's always entertaining to me to see what the kids put on their lists for Santa. Especially since they put things on this figurative "list" all year long whenever they see stuff they want. And while we haven't written any official letters to Santa this year here is what the kids think they want for Christmas. Ethan wants Mario Kart for the Wii (along with a host of other video games which he is NOT going to get); Sophie has an ever-changing list which at one point or another has included a cat, a movie, a dog junk, a real dog, a pony, a baby doll, and the entire American Girls company catalog; Grace, in an unprecedented move, has decided she doesn't want to put in ANY requests to Santa and instead just wants him to SURPRISE her. So, there you go. In an effort to put a little more emphasis on giving than receiving, we've instituted a new tradition this year of doing a Secret Santa name pull amongst the children. And to their credit they are all super excited about picking out a gift for the sibling that they picked.


Jane is 3 months old!

And getting bigger and bigger. It's such an interesting contrast having Jane right after Sophie -- because size-wise they couldn't be more different. I mean, Jane at 3 months weighs about as much as Sophie did at 9 months and is probably about the same length as well! It's just bananas.
Unfortunately she's been plagued with a really stuffed up nose for the last few weeks and as a result she has not been sleeping nearly as well at night as she had been. :( Other than that she continues to be a delight and a joy.




I did manage to get her in to take a 3 month picture in a timely manner -- which is a good thing because her hair is finally starting to rub off. :( I'll be sad when it's all gone. The dark hair has been so cute especially paired up with her gray eyes. I'm assuming those will eventually change, too, but for now they are still star-gazing amazing. Hahaha. For comparison sake I took a shot of all the kids at their 3 month mark. It's funny to see how different they all look, yet still similar at the same time. While she does share certain features with the others -- Ethan's eyes, Sophie's nose, Grace's lips -- as a whole Jane just looks so different!





Picture Time

I figured that while I was taking Jane in to get HER picture taken, I might as well take Ethan in to finally get his 6-year-old Birthday picture taken. Better late than never, I guess. Hahaha. And even though we ended up having to stick around The Picture People for TWO and a HALF HOURS (I wasn't thinking about the fact that lots of people might be getting holiday pictures taken this time of year) and we didn't get home until 11 o'clock on a school night, Ethan was a super champ and even managed to give us a smile with his teeth showing. And while we're speaking of those teeth, there is just something about having those permanent ones in that makes him seem so grown-up all of a sudden. It kind of makes me sad.

(Dear mom, thank you for doing all the hard work for us. Love, Ethan)

And while we're on the subject of Ethan, I have to record a couple of notes he's given me recently. It's good to know I'm appreciated. Now if only he would remember all the "hard work" I do for him when he's in the midst of a fit. Or when he's worked up about not having any snacks in the house that he likes. Or when he's yelling at me that I NEVER make dinner. Or when he's accusing me of spending all our money on McDonald's and that's why we don't have any money left for the month (let's just say his rudimentary knowledge of "budgeting" leaves a few holes in his logic). It's a good thing I've always had a soft spot in my heart for spirited children. And at least they're never boring.


Christmas Cards

Happiness and cheer. I coerced the children into an impromptu photo shoot when everyone was home from school one day last week. In what has become standard procedure for our Christmas-card-picture-taking festivities, the shoot was not complete until at least one child (or two -- or three -- ) ended up in tears. I was having flashbacks galore from my childhood of taking family Christmas pictures. But at least no guinea pigs were harmed in the taking of these. Hahahahaha. Here are some outtakes of the fun and I'll let you decide who hated it the most. (I'll give you a hint -- it's a he). Hahahahahaha.






The Countdown

And finally, to end. We have started a figurative paper chain countdown until Uncle DoDo gets here on the 17th. When I ask the kids what they're most excited for this Christmas, they unanimously proclaim that they can't wait till the whole family is here! (We wish you could come, Emily and Jeremy!) Eleven more days until the REAL fun begins...