Kicking off the season right

Since I had to make a trip to the mall anyway... I figured we might as well stop by Santa's place and snap a quick photo of the girls telling him what they'd like for Christmas. Why not, right? I mean, some people get really jazzed up about this particular picture every year (I've heard enough snippets of David Sedaris's Santaland Diaries on NPR to know). I'm not one to make a big deal about it, but my mall let's you take pictures with a personal camera for free if you don't want to buy a photo package (I can hardly believe anyone would - who are you sending out those pictures to?). And it's a cute set-up. This mall has a great Santa. It's been the same guy for the past four years at least, and he's very much how I envision the jolly old elf. I figure there's no harm in waiting in a little line to see how the girls react to the beard and the red velvet and all that.

I prepped Marianne at breakfast this morning. I talked her through what she might want to tell Santa to bring her for Christmas, and I told her over and over what a nice guy Santa is. But all for naught. Thankfully, when we arrived at the mall, Santa was just arriving and there was only one person waiting for a picture, so there was virtually no wait. If I had had to wait more than two minutes, the whole experience would have made me tear my hair out. Because, of course, Marianne refused to so much as glance at good ol' St. Nick. She was all giddiness and excitement till we came around the last tree and she spotted Santa face to face. Then, before I knew what had happened, she had glued herself to the backs of my knees so that he couldn't see her and she didn't have to acknowledge his existence. Ruth let me set her on the bench for about 1.5 seconds before she bailed. Marianne never came within two feet of Santa. Not even when he tried to give her a coloring book.

And to be honest, Santa didn't seem well pleased with her, either. I think our mall Santa's charm is starting to wear off, because within a few seconds I could tell he wasn't in the mood for the non-paying customer with the kids playing hard to get. He actually suggested that I should try coming back another day, perhaps. You think, Santa? Cause this is good fun. I definitely want to do it again.

With all that as explanation for the photo quality, here are the few shots I managed one-handed while trying to push one daughter or the other toward Santa with my second hand. Um, merry Christmas, I guess.

Ruth, in the split second before she realizes she's been dumped on a bench with a strange man:

Santa attempting to bribe smiles from the girls with coloring books:

My personal favorite, as it best shows the attitude I could hear in Santa's voice. Santa showing that he's reached his 30 second limit of cheerfulness, as Marianne bolts (that's her hair in the bottom corner - the camera wasn't quick enough to catch her):

Nesting

I know I'm not pregnant, but if I were, this would definitely be called "nesting". I have created a list that fills a legal sized sheet of paper (typed, Arial, 10 pt, if you're wondering) with stuff that needs to be done before we can put our house on the market in mid-January. What that means for me is that every time I'm tempted to stop and enjoy a few minutes of quiet time, I head to my list instead and pick a new project to undertake. What that means for Nathaniel is that every time he's tempted to stop and enjoy a few minutes of quiet time, I nag him into doing something more productive. What that means for the girls is that they get to enjoy a little more time playing independently or, perhaps, watching Dora while I am engrossed in a project. The house painting stuff is on the list. So is the search-for-a-minivan project that I've harassed Nathaniel with for a week or two now. Here's what we're most likely getting (I like the olive grey or velvet blue, but we don't know for sure what our options will be). That one has progressed as far as possible for the moment with more to come in a couple weeks.

There are also much smaller, less expensive projects on the list. Yesterday, I crossed off two items. The first was to pack up all of our board games and other random stuff (a casio keyboard that I got in the 4th grade, a bunch of paperwork, all of our college yearbooks) that have found a home on a metal shelving unit in our family room. The ultimate goal being to actually disassemble and remove the shelving unit from the family room and return the room to it's rightful size. Done. The room looks twice as big without the shelves, and in truth, I'm wondering if I shouldn't move a chair or something down there to fill all that space!

My second and somewhat more formidable goal yesterday was to go through all the kitchen cabinets to clean and organize. Done. I've removed the less-used casserole dishes, mixing bowls and appliances (I love homeade ice cream as much as the next girl, but for the next few months we can probably live without it). I've thrown out all the tupperware that was without lids, as well as the lids without bowls. I've even wiped down all the shelf-paper and reorganized the dishes so it appears you could reasonably fit all the pans, dishes and appliances needed by an average family into that kitchen. It seems as though, when we moved into the house, we could. I'm not sure how our pyrex collection exploded in the past four and a half years, but it did.

Now I have a guest room with moving boxes stacked neatly along one wall and I'm ready to make a first run to the house of a friend who's offered us the use of his basement for storage. I'm excited about this. Excited to have a house that feels organized and tidy, even if it's just a lie I'm telling myself because the mess is only hiding in wait in someone else's basement. We went through a milder form of this exercise a couple years ago, and we moved several things to a friend's house for storage. We picked up the next to last box that they still held for us over Thanksgiving this year, and I gave over half it's contents away immediately. If we'd lived without missing it for almost two years, we could live without it forever. Maybe this will be a good way for me to realize how much additional excess we still have, and to purge it as well.

I guess my only question now is, what should I try to cross off my list tonight? There are several inches of snow on the ground, so painting trim is out of the question. I'm sure I won't be idle, though. Not with my list calling to me.

That time of year again

"That time of year" could refer to a lot of things today - time for holiday music (in the stores, not yet in my house), time to do the Christmas shopping, time for cold weather and snow... But for me, today, "that time of year" means time for professional pictures of the girls to hand out to the family over the holidays. I checked back to last year, and I'm right on schedule. (Having a blog is better than any scrapbook I would ever manage to keep.)

We went back to Target this year, since they did a nice job for a very reasonable price previously. Once I got past the initial stress of choosing clothes and getting the girls ready this morning, with as little cereal in their hair as possible, it was a smooth ride. From the perspective of the girls not breaking down in tears, that is. If you're looking for natural smiles and great pictures, it was a pretty mediocre day. I think we got some good ones in the end, but I always spend the 10 days between ordering and picking up the pictures second guessing myself for having paid for shots I probably could have taken at home. Last year I felt the same way. But now, each time I look at the big picture of the girls on our wall, I can't help but smile. Hopefully these will turn out that well, too.

I avoided any specific theme for our pictures and went with a casual look for the girls - jeans and solid colored tops. I'm not really a fan of "Christmas photos" since we purchase professional photos so seldom. I want pictures that would look nice on the wall, or on top of the TV (in the case of both my grandparents' homes) all year, rather than being obviously out of date come spring. I didn't love the backdrop the photographer chose, but it did go nicely with the girls' shirts, and I'm too much of a coward to speak up and say that I had something else in mind. One of these days I'll get better about that.

Just passing through

I'm back. Returned, briefly, from the depths of home repair heck. (I'm such a goody-goody, I can't even type the bad word). Nathaniel and I were very productive on Wednesday and Friday, but every step forward on the project seemed to add an extra three steps to the length of the journey. We took Thursday off entirely to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, but both Saturday and Sunday were also as devoted to work on the house as possible given the presence of two small girls requiring supervision. Truly, we accomplished a LOT during the time we were working. But we are nowhere near to done. There are whole sections of the house we haven't even begun to touch. Isn't that always the way with home ownership? Ugh. Nathaniel did shoot some before pictures, so once we get closer to done, I'll post a few before and after shots. You can tell me if the new shade of blue I chose for the trim has resulted in a ridiculously bright eyesore of a house, or if you like it. I'd prefer you go with the second option, no matter your true opinion. Thanks.

This week's forecast is for highs in the teens and twenties. That doesn't seem likely to result in much work on the house even if we can get some time off during daylight hours. Given that we're trying to get the gutter guy to come replace our gutters as soon as possible, though, we may be out there in coats and gloves prying trim off the house... We're not above painting in ski masks.

Thanksgiving itself was wonderful! A huge thanks to Jenni for hosting our family for the afternoon. All the food was fabulous and the conversation was easy and fun. A very nice break from the rest of the weekend.

It's gonna be a good week!

This is one of those weeks when my part time schedule serves my purposes beautifully! My company (bless their crazy corporate hearts) has given us Wednesday through Friday off for the Thanksgiving weekend. Since I only work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, that means I have off Tuesday through Sunday. That's what I call a long weekend!

Lest you think I'll be using all six days to overeat and veg out on the sofa, let me disillusion you now. Since we've paid for daycare for the girls on Wednesday and Friday whether we use it or not, we intend to send the girls to daycare as usual next week (tiny hint of guiltiness here, at not taking advantage of the time to be with my children... but really, I think you'll find the cause is good). Nathaniel is taking Wednesday off in addition to the holiday time he's already been granted on Friday, and we'll spend those days working on the house like maniacs in an attempt to get most, if not all (total wishful thinking there), of the trim replacement/repainting project completed. It seems God is in favor of our plan, as the current forecast for the week is for highs in the 60s with sun and only limited wind. Excellent! Keep your fingers crossed for us, because if we could mostly wipe this project off our plate, my stress level would be cut easily in half.

We were intending to go minivan shopping this afternoon, in an effort at moving closer to crossing that item off the to-do list as well. It turns out, however, that Colorado is one of only a few remaining states with a blue law forbidding car dealerships from doing business on Sundays. I've heard of the liquor store one that still pops up in quite a few states, but car dealerships? At least we looked up the hours before leaving the house.

This post is, in a sense, a forewarning that I may be mostly absent from my blog this week. My stress level is high, and my need to be productive coincides with that stress level. Not that writing for you isn't "productive" in some sense... but not in the sense I need right now. I'm sure I'll keep you posted. Just not daily. Or who knows - maybe I'll write constantly in frustration when the unexpected rains comes and we can't get a thing done all week.

Progress

Despite Nathaniel leaving town for a short "work" trip (more play than work, but I can't really comment since my last work trip included a day at the spa), yesterday was one of those really great days at home. Marianne requested a trip to the park ("Mommy, hey, Mommy. I have a big idea!"), and it sounded like a great idea given the unseasonably warm weather. After a couple phone calls that ate up a lot of my morning while the girls played with playdoh and colored, though, it was too late for a morning walk to the park. Instead we headed to the backyard where I was able to write a nice long letter while sitting in the sun, and the girls played in their sandbox and on their swingset. As lunchtime approached, Marianne announced that she didn't want to go in, but instead wanted to have a picnic. Again, a great idea! I made some ham sandwiches, cut up a handful of carrots and grabbed a bowl of animal cookies and a blanket. Within minutes we were sitting on a blanket in the backyard enjoying the warm sunny day to the max. I have an excellent image in my memory of Ruth running down the slope of our lawn toward the blanket, all pigeon-toed and flushed from exercise, flopping down on the blanket with one hand reaching for the animal cookies and a huge grin on her face... I hope I never lose that one.

The picnic was followed by a good nap on the part of the girls that allowed me to get more painting accomplished. Hooray! Here's a little shot of the fruits of my labors over the past couple days.
You can't really tell in the picture, but over half of the wood that appears white is now actually painted the off-white color of our house's exterior, while several pieces of it are still just primer-white. Another good nap by the girls tomorrow, though, and I'll be done with this wood and able to move on to the narrower pieces that I have yet to touch.

After naptime, Marianne reminded me about the park trip, so we socked and shoed-up and headed out in the wagon. The day had turned blustery and cool, but was still sunny and lovely. We had one nasty incident when the wagon overturned as I attempted to pull it up the curb, then Ruth tumbled out when I sat her back into it, but everyone was alright, and we made it to the park with no visible scrapes. We didn't stay long, since the sun was rapidly setting and the wind took on a bit more of a bite than I like. The walk was refreshing (especially the giant uphill climb on the way home, pulling 50lbs of little girls in an already heavy wagon with arms sore from the previous day's work) and the girls enjoyed the playground time. Because, of course, someone else's swingset is always more thrilling than your own.

The girls took baths, and then we ate dinner and played games for the rest of the evening while watching Mary Poppins. All in all, it was a party day. Everyone needs a party day once in a while, right? Here's a shot of the girls getting ready for bed, in all their purple-fleecy glory:

That's the fake-happy version of getting ready for bed. Most of the time it was really much more like this:

All in a (very busy) day's work

No time to blog or respond to emails. I took a day off work today to paint trim for the house. I've never been so tired at the end of a "vacation" day! My back aches and my arm is showing signs of imminent soreness from shoulder to wrist. But I look around our garage at all the lumber laid out neatly, all primed and some painted a lovely new shade of blue, and it gives me a sense of satisfaction that I haven't had at my real job in ages, if ever. It was definitely a day well spent.

Now I'm off to take a nice hot bath.

Well try AGAIN!

Every night around 8:00pm, Nathaniel and I start the tedious process of getting the girls to bed. They're usually getting fussy around this time, so it's clear that they're tired. But inexplicably, they're also in rare play-form, often flying around the house at top speed with a shopping cart, stroller or vacuum in front of them. Step one is to capture these speeding objects long enough to transition out of play clothes and into jammies. Step two usually begins with the call, "pick a book!" which means it's time to brush teeth and bring the excitement level down a notch with the calm but still highly anticipated "story time" portion of the evening. From toothbrushing we move to Step three, "get them into bed and try to make them stay there". Historically this hasn't been a problem for us. Ruth is still in her crib, so even if she fusses about having to hit the sack, there's not much she can do about it. Marianne, up till a few weeks ago, was easy as well. She wants all her stuff with her - the blankie, the assortment of stuffed animals, and occasionally a book - but she was content to stay in bed once prayers were said and she was tucked under her blankets. Lately, though, the scene at our house around 8:20 looks like this:

That's Marianne on one of several interruptions to our post-bedtime-quiet-adult-time the other night. (She's not always quite so smiley at these times, but clearly she saw the camera and knew she had won). Sometimes it's "I need a drink of water; I'm still thirsty." Other times it's "I can't sleep. I tried, but I can't." Or, one of my personal favorites, "I lost baby bear! I looked everywhere, but he's lost!" (Baby bear is a three or four inch high teddy bear from a happy meal we bought a few months ago, and one of her favorite toys despite his tendency to become "lost" in her bedding.) Oddly enough, despite Marianne's obsession with monsters and dragons and other scary animals during the day, she never comes out claiming fear of those same creatures in her room at night. She actually boasts that she "won't mind if a monster comes in" because she's "not afraid of scary things."

We're trying to be good parents and maintain patience through the three or four (or twelve) times Marianne opens her door to stand waiting for someone to notice her each night, without encouraging her to continue it through compliance with her every request. But it's hard. Why not give her one more new book, if that will maybe be the trick that finally keeps her in bed tonight? Why not give her one last drink of water? (I, for one, get extremely thirsty at night and keep a glass of water on my nightstand to combat that problem. But the kid is never going to stop needing diapers at night if we let her drink half a gallon of water just before bed.) Why not help her find her wayward Baby Bear one more time?

Maybe if we left her standing in the doorway one night and refused to acknowledge her presence, she's eventually climb back in bed without her requested book/drink/animal. And maybe the next night she wouldn't bother getting out of bed at all, because she'd know that it was pointless. Maybe. Or maybe she'd totally have my number, and the next night would be, "I just need one more hug and a kiss, Mommy." She already knows that one works like a charm when I'm trying to leave for work.

My first blogiversary!

That's right! I've been posting for a full year. Here's a run down on my first twelve months in the blog world...

Total hits - over 11,000 (it's less than popular sites get in a day, but it looks like a darn big number to me!)

Average visits per day - about 40 (an impressive increase from the 1 visit from Nathaniel each day that I had a year ago)

Total number of posts - 235 (that's not a post a day, but it's enough to keep you coming back for more)

Totally random google search hits - more than I can count (Most revolve around "puppy surprise", "Disney face character audition", and "Journey to Ernie song". You know, the real focal points of the blog. Oh, and "hangers" gets a lot of hits as well. It apparently means different things to different people and may result in a blog name change at some point.)

I was inspired to start this blog when I realized how cool it was that, despite not having seen her since graduating from ND in '99, Nathaniel and I know so much about the life of his friend Kris that if I saw her today, I'd probably find it even easier to talk to her than I did in college. I love the idea that all of my friends and family who are far away from us can follow our lives and the lives of our children, and truly feel like they are a part of those lives. I hope you've enjoyed the opportunity to share in some of the nitty gritty details of our everyday existence (I know you'd all have been lost without the frequent potty training updates), as well as in the bigger things like birthdays and summer vacation. I know I've enjoyed sharing it. It's a great outlet for me to share some of life's absurdity as well as to get a little support from my friends when it's needed. Thanks for reading. I hope you keep coming back for more!

In celebration, here's a flashback to one of the first pictures of the girls I posted on this site:
They've done a lot of growing since then, and there's a lot more to come. Stay tuned.

(Note: I just checked some of my original posts and realized that Wednesday was actually my official blogiversary. So I'm a little late, but that's hardly unusual for me.)

Next time I'll know not to ask

The scene: I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor of the girls room this morning. Marianne is in my lap, leaning back against one arm so she's looking up at me.

Marianne (reaching up to touch my hair in what appears to be a loving way): Your hair is getting long, Mommy.

Me: I know it is. Do you like it?

Marianne: No. You need to get a haircut! It's getting really long.

Me: Well, I know, but I haven't really had time for a cut...

Marianne (looking at that same piece of hair in a way that I now realize is critical, like she's checking for split ends): We need to cut your hair, Mommy. Really.

I thought I was my own worst critic, but apparently someone else is vying for that position now.

Obligatory leaf fun

We don't have many leafy trees at our house; mostly we have evergreens. Have you ever tried jumping in a pile of raked up pine needles? I don't recommend it.

We do, however, have a third of an Aspen hanging over our backyard and it drops more than our fair share of its leaves onto our side of the fence. Since today is practically balmy for this time of year (seriously, it's in the low 70s and sunny!), I decided it was a lovely morning to spend in the backyard with the girls. They got to use the swingset and sandbox that have been missing them since the time change made it too dark to play in the backyard when they get home from daycare, and I got to rake up the leaves. I mean that - I GOT to do it. I was excited to do it. I cleaned a good percentage of them off the rocks that line the yard and then gathered what little had spread to the grass. The girls were thrilled with the new game this chore presented.


Once I got over my initial fit of "Don't lie down in them! They're dirty! Eww!" and remembered that kids don't care about that sort of thing and the clothes and hair is all washable, I enjoyed watching the fun, too.

(Credit for the slide idea goes to my mom, with whom I was on the phone while raking. Before she suggested it, they were just running through the pile in an unorganized manner.)

On being un-hip

The morning after I posted previously, I was thinking about my comments about 5280 Magazine and how I'm not hip enough for it. I was remembering how, at one point in my life, I went to the theater and to concerts and all that good stuff from time to time. I don't do that now, so my need to stay on top of what productions are coming to Denver are less than they once were. I did go, less than a year a go, to a Barenaked Ladies concert...

Pause the stream of consciousness right there, because that's when it hit me. I. am. OLD! Not in years, maybe, but in life. I distinctly remember getting frustrated as a kid when I'd ride in the car with my parents and they'd listen to their "oldies" station. They never listened to anything new. They wouldn't give Pearl Jam a fair shake, or the Cranberries, or whoever else I was into at the time. Now I am that parent. I just want to hear the music that I love. Nothing makes me happier than to hear the opening riff of some song that I loved in high school or college.

Thankfully, some of the artists I loved then are still putting out music, so in that sense I do listen to new music. But for the most part I only listen to it with open ears if it's someone I already know and respect like Dave Matthews or the Barenaked Ladies. Once in a while someone new sneaks in there. Jack Johnson is great, for instance (the Curious George soundtrack is totally on my wishlist for this Christmas). But I'm part of an aging fan base for Beach Boys style groups these days. By that I mean groups that keep putting out enough good music to manage big tours, but the people in the audiences at those shows are getting progressively older with the band. The last Barenaked Ladies concert I attended had a contingent of college age kids, but the vast majority of the crowd was well older than me. It's like if you went to a Beach Boys concert in their Kokomo era - the kind of show that teenagers would totally make fun of, but all the middle aged ladies in their mom-jeans would be grooving on. Well, now I can't make fun anymore. I just keep head-banging to my "greatest hits from the 80s, 90s and beyond" stations. At least I'm enjoying what I hear.

In my free time, or the lack thereof

Let me start by saying that when I use the phrase "let our girls gorge themselves" on candy, I mean that by their standards. They each licked on a tootsie roll pop for five minutes, then had a few nerds (individual nerds, not boxes of nerds), maybe a few skittles, and Ruth had a single kit-kat stick. Or something similar - I didn't really take inventory. But don't go thinking they were eating their way to the bottom of the bowl. Given how limited their candy intake is on a normal day, though, that was big time in their eyes.

*****

I've finally managed to peruse a little of the latest issue of Real Simple (nevermind the two older issues that are still only half read - I never knew it could be so hard to find time to page through a magazine), and I came across a short sample and ad for a new Real Simple cookbook/party planning book that I'm very excited about. It's called Celebrations and it looks very cool. Totally up my alley, as most of my friends could attest. I'll have to drop by the Barnes and Noble near my office one of these days and drool over it in more detail.

*****

Speaking of what I read in the free time I don't have, I have subscriptions currently to three magazines. One was a gift from the guy we used to refinance our house last fall. It's called 5280 and is all about Denver. I was totally excited to get it at first, because it tells about all the hippest restaurants in the city and what the cool kids are doing. But then I remembered that I'm neither cool nor hip and I don't eat out at restaurants with extensive martini lists, so I now have at least three issues that I haven't so much as cracked. I'm happy to say the subscription is ending in another month or so. I hate to be wasting all that paper.

The second, as mentioned above, is Real Simple. That was a gift from my sister-in-law, Renee. I love Real Simple, and truly look forward to any opportunity to read it. The sad thing is, I still can't find the time. I could take it on the bus with me instead of a book, but for some reason, reading magazines on the bus gives me a headache, while books do not. Strange, I know. Anyway, I think the Real Simple will be ending soon as well, and that makes me sad. I may have to renew. Or at least, I'd be tempted to do so if I ever finished reading the issues I have.

The third is a new parenting magazine that just came out in 2006 called Wondertime. It reminds me of the parenting version of Real Simple, to be honest. Beautiful, clean looking pages with great photography and good, everyday-interesting topics. My mom gave me a sample that she'd received, and I signed up for a subscription after reading it. The sad thing about Wondertime is that this year, since it's brand new, they're only putting out issues quarterly, so I've been waiting forever for a new one to come. It took me ages to get through the ones I had, but I loved every minute of it. My subscription continues through 2007, and I believe they're supposed to start putting out issues every other month next year, so that'll be an improvement, at least. If any of you mothers haven't seen Wondertime, you should find a bench at your own Barnes and Noble and flip through it. It's clearly owned or heavily sponsored by Disney, based on the prevalence of their ads. Personally, I don't mind that, but there's fair warning to you.

Now that I think about it, I do also receive Notre Dame Magazine, but that comes unsolicited to all grads so doesn't really count. It's a good read if I can find the time. At a bare minimum I flip to the back to see if I recognize anyone in the class of '99 updates. For the most part it seems that my group of friends doesn't bother to send in updates, so it's not very exciting for me. I suppose it's good that I already know which of my friends has gotten married or had babies without having to rely on a quarterly alumni magazine.

Do I hear "four hershey miniatures?"

I ran into our little neighbor girl from across the street when I was checking the mail this afternoon. She came running up to show me her new "necklace", which is actually some sort of giant music box that she can wear on a cord around her neck. "I got this for trading in my candy!" she explained proudly.

Just about then her dad walked over and I gave him a quizzical look. "It's her mom's latest idea" he said, shrugging. I know that these kids don't get much junk food at their house, so I'm not entirely surprised. They were the house that handed out boxes with tiny stickers and tattoos inside, instead of candy. Yeah, THAT house. They do, however, allow their kids to trick-or-treat. Apparently, in an effort to dissuade them from actually eating the candy they collected, they offered them a trade. The mom had purchased assorted small toys and gave each toy a "price" in candy. Some cost 10 pieces, some cost 20, and if the kids needed more convincing to hand over their sweets, the parents pitched the idea of how much longer a toy would last than candy.

It's an interesting thought. We let our girls gorge themselves on suckers and sugar candy and chocolate (for Ruth) the minute we got home from trick-or-treating, and they seem none the worse for it. But toys are cool, if you're not into the junk food scene, I guess.

I'd be curious to know where those kids' candy ended up, though. I have a feeling their dad has a bag stashed somewhere (perhaps right behind the half a keg left over from the pumpkin-carving party they threw on Sunday) that he visits secretly from time to time. Because it would be wasteful just to throw it away...