Saturday, December 31, 2016

NY Christmas and birthdays

Monday morning early we headed out to NY to visit Steve's family. Sue's 65th birthday was on Tuesday (Happy Birthday, again!!!) and we wanted to have the whole family together. The cousins hadn't seen each other since July and they had an awesome time. I didn't hear a single squabble, just the occasional call from Henri and Ella to Ava to "come do something with Hudson", haha. And she did! Ava totally entertained Hudson for the entire visit, Hen and Ella played together, it was really nice. We cooked a nice dinner on Tuesday, played lots of Ticket to Ride, vacuumed a zillion times (they're in the midst of a major renovation/addition project), sat and chatted....it was good. The weather forecast meant we stayed an extra day, so we traveled back on Friday which was my birthday, so I didn't get my long-awaited and dreamt-of day off. Maybe next year. Instead there were pastry treats from a good friend waiting for us on the doorstep, and after I grocery shopped Steve made me some scalloped potatoes. I heard from my whole family, Mom retold me the story of my birth, it was a nice day with family.
Many, many games of this. 

The trampoline is a huge hit. 

Lots and lots of play


Continuing in my tradition of making the most repulsive looking cakes ever. In my defense, there was a lot stacked against me for this one (dietary restrictions, unfamiliar kitchen, not the right equipment, not the right ingredients) but Henri declared it the best she'd ever had, and all the kids asked for seconds and then the leftovers the next day. So, not a total flop?

Childless uncles are the best

Ava read me the whole book!

Aunt Melanie showing Henri how to make potholders using the loom

Gram helping Ava sew a sock zebra

One of the walls coming down (like I said, major construction the whole time we were there)

Steve broke the trampoline. There was much mourning. The frame is completely rusted through, and it's been outside for 15 years, but still.....fortunately I got a text today that Paul was able to fix it. 

Speaking of destruction, we hadn't been there 2 hours when Hudson accidentally head-butted Ella in the mouth and split her lip. Sigh. I bet they were pretty happy to see us go. 

They're like a flock of birds; suddenly and without warning they change direction and go charging off to something new. Like I said, they kept themselves very entertained. 

Wednesday afternoon was pretty bad, noise-wise. We all piled into a tiny room where we could shut the door and try to block some of it out.

Even then, in tight spaces, the kids got along great.

At least all the toys were there! Made both Melanie and I rethink our desire to live in a tiny house though ;)

Ava reading to the rest

Isn't her handwriting gorgeous???? It's a collection of letters Steve's great-great-great grandma wrote to her son who was fighting in the Civil War that he saved and bound. And loose are a bunch he wrote to family. I'm going to try to match up the replies and get them all chronological. The way he writes when he hears about Lincoln's assassination; you feel gut-punched. It's so raw, disbelieving, disillusioned, shocked, angry. Brought on tears the first time I read it. The mom is just desperate to get him home, and throws in lots of information about home life that's straightforward and amusing (her views on a certain visiting child are hilarious). Anyway, a really fun primary document. I'm not into genealogies much, but I really want to know this guys story. Obviously he survived and made it home, and I know his family had a farm. Will have to do some snooping to get more backstory.


The kids made me a necklace and a bracelet and cards

Ava inspired Henri; she practiced long and hard last night so that this morning she was able to read me 2 chapters of The Golly Sisters Go West. She's made huge strides in her reading this vacation, I think having the pressure of school off has made it more enjoyable and thus she's done it. 

Put Christmas away today. Ahhhhh, so much better. I loved how it looked, but the crowding was stressing me out. Def going with a Charlie Brown tree next year, the big ones take up too much space. 

I got this for Steve for Christmas and we played a rousing two games of it this evening while he watched the Clemson game.
For the first time in years, I have made it (almost) to midnight and will be awake to greet 2017 as it arrives. Wishing you all a blessed and peaceful year! Thank you for reading my intermittent ramblings :)

Christmas

Just a heads-up, there aren't really any pictures for this, because I didn't take any. Just enjoyed the day, moved at a slow pace, kept the phone down. As usual, I didn't sleep more than a few minutes Christmas Eve and was awake for the day at 2. Fortunately Steve didn't get too annoyed with me poking him every 10 minutes to ask if it was time to get up yet. No idea why this happens every year, guess it's just hardwired in at this point. The kids were happy with everything they got, and Steve especially liked the kids' gift to him; an ax.
Decorating cookies. We used a different recipe and they were gross


Henri got this as a gift and it was impossible. Steve and I spent hours of frustration on it and only got this far. Fortunately someone spilled water on a lot of it the next morning so we were able to throw it out.

Tooth #4 came out! (After Hudson slammed her head into a chair....)


Found this at the thrift store, shamelessly begged a woman who had it in her cart to let me buy it instead. Brand new, and it's a hospital puzzle!!! I had to have it I knew the kids would love it. Also, it's an "I-spy" type (as in, can you spot the blood transfusion bag in the picture?)

I asked him to clean up the paper scraps he'd left all over the floor. He interpreted that as "get out all your trucks and use ear protection"

And then Saturday morning tooth #5 came out. Poor girl has quite the lisp now but it's getting better.

Weird exposure, headed to the mall on Christmas Eve for dinner before service. It was as crowded as I'd been told it would be and super stressful. 

But we found a seat and got our chicken and I didn't have to cook

Then on to David's church, Genesis, for their service

Hudson was pretty excited to participate in the candlelit part

David is part of their worship team and did an awesome job, solo included. 

Once home I made cinnamon rolls for the next morning (yum) and gingerbread doughnut muffins for children's church (double yum)

The knight costume has been a hit, he's worn it daily. 

Steve's old Life. Henri fell in love with this game at my folks and was soooooo excited to get it. 

She also got a sewing kit (real needles and pins, yikes!) with a Sewing School book. She made this bag, all hand stitched, during quiet time. Now she's on to making fancy dresses for her dolls. 

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Spiraling the sun

Just wanted to record our solstice celebrations here so I'll remember next year. As much as I'd love Christmas to be either something celebrated with all our extended family or just our core, there's no way to make that happen so it feels a bit...stressful? Never quite right as least. So we're adopting solstice as the family celebration. OK, I'm adopting it. And dragging everyone along on the ride. Steve humored me this year, Henri was enthusiastic, Hudson was.....a typical 3 year old. I'll give the rosy view I want to remember first:
Solstice gifts. Each kid got a sketch book and a pocket gnome

After a leisurely breakfast we headed to an Audubon center (where I signed Hud up for a preschool program; I'll talk about it more once he's attended a few times and we see how it works out).

Off trail to check out this huge old tree that had toppled

It was a sunny 35, so plenty warm for a long expedition



One of the small loops has these adorable houses set out for kids to place found treasures in. Some have directions (like, put only round objects in)

Stopped for snack and journalling. We read a book about how to bird watch and they explained how to keep a birding journal (hence the morning gift). Henri was really in to it. Hudson carefully scribbled one "H" and then a random line he called a bird. 

Ready to be off again

Henri did this completely on her own, and the bird is a chickadee. (It says "I heard a bird it was at 10am I think it was talking to its friend" and her spelling is a lot better than some of the articles I've been seeing on major news sites lately).


Huge hornets nest down by the pond.

We stopped by the hardware store for birdseed so we could make our own feeders out of tp rolls and peanut butter rolled in seeds


There was an intermission for naps and a birthday party for our neighbor. Then supper of tacos (everyone likes them so a fuss-free meal) lit only by candles handmade by Siena (picture taken before lights were turned out). 

After dinner we wrote our intentions for the coming year on birch bark we'd collected on our walk today. 

Dessert by Allie. Everyone politely nibbled, I loved it. 

And then a fire!!! Kept it small because I didn't really want to hang out outside for long. Perfect for the kids to "help" build up, and to burn our intentions in. Next year, remember to make a smudge.

More candles, and a neighbor stopped by with a huge box of chocolate covered cookies

Steve and Hudson writing their intentions

Fire is magical. I also read a few short poems about the longest night and the coming light.
So, pretty much a peaceful, intentional day with ample time for reflection in nature.


OK, here's what actually happened:
-Hudson was up at 6 and laid in bed yelling Henri's name to wake her up. He then slept fitfully on and off until 7:15 at which point he got up grumpy and stayed that way for the day.
-I signed Hud up for a program, but there was a pet tarantula in the room that both kids were very enthused over and wanted me to check out. *shudder*
-3 feet down the trail Hudson refused to move one more step because there was ice. This antipathy towards self propulsion did not abate the entire trip.
-Snack time occurred 7 minutes after we arrived at the trail. Yes, Henri did sketch but Hudson was more interested in the little kid pitching an epic fit a few feet away. And then he wanted to hike but Henri wanted to draw so he tormented her until she gave up.
-We drove for seeds and there was non-stop whining. In the store, well, they were actually good although they were adamant the only gift they were willing to give Steve was something I think ridiculous but I bought it, and he'll know it was definitely from them.
-Whine, whine, WHINE whine. Tear your hair out, nails on chalkboard.
-Home. They want to make the birdfeeders asap. But not willing to wait for directions/do it the right way/let me get the supplies out. I ended up doing most of the work because they wanted to lick peanut butter off their hands.
-Hang out the feeders. No birds. Tears over no birds. During "nap" time 3 humongous squirrels got two of the feeders down and ate every speck of peanut butter and seeds. Still no birds.
-No sleep during nap time, just very enthusiastic and loud singing. Hudson beheads his pocket gnome so it's thrown away.
And then the rest of the afternoon was an anomaly because we had a birthday party to attend and then someone to pick up from an appointment. Once home Steve arrived and took the kids out to set up for the fire, so I was able to get dinner made, light the candles, get the music going, reset the mood.

And the rest of the night was really lovely. Henri had been thinking hard about her intentions all day, she spend nap time working on a gorgeous drawing of the birds we saw, she was really in to all the symbolism and reasoning behind what we were doing. I know the above list is more a reflection of having a three-year old and not the prevailing attitude towards the holiday. So, I'm going to go blow out the candles so they'll be available for next year and head to bed. When we wake, the sun will be our companion a whole minute longer! We're already spinning towards spring :)