What's in a Little Girl's Treasure Box?

Here is M & J's little stash of treasures. I hadn't peeked for a while. Fun to see how the collection grows and what they consider their most special treasures. . .

1. piggy bank 2. birthday bookmark 3. glass heart pendant 4. golden marble 5. huge jewel 6. fan from mexico 7. stuffed strawberry 8. paper doll and stickers 9. wind up dragonfly 10. wind up butterfly 11. fairy pendant 12. body shimmer puff 13. tinkerbell cards 14. orange-scented hand sanitizer 15. pearl "j" 16. pearl "m" 17. plastic bracelet 18. blueberry bookmark 19. angel pendant 20. pop-apart markers

aren't they rich?

Other news you may find interesting:

Olivia's self-preservation instinct has kicked in. Now when she decides to throw a holy fit, instead of hurling herself to the floor in despair and banging her head vehemently into the hardwood, she hurls herself to the floor in despair, pauses, scoots herself to the nearest patch of carpeting, and then proceeds to bang her head, rather gently.

Jane's attention to detail instinct has, apparently, not yet kicked in. Yesterday she composed this note to our friend Mandee, for her birthday:
"Dear Mandee, I really like the stuff about you. Love, Jane."

Caleb is thoroughly enjoying his neurology rotation. Oh how I wish I had time to go into great detail about the guy who passed out in the casino after 3 days of no sleep and only coffee for sustenance and thought he must be narcoleptic. Or the guy whose girlfriend brought him in because she's worried that sometimes he falls asleep when he's lying down and she has to call his name 2 or 3 times before he wakes up. And sometimes when he's watching sports he seems to stare at the t.v. for long periods of time and she has to try multiple times to get his attention.

Psychiatry is up next. . .I can hardly contain my excitement.

Our Halloween in 3 Posts: The Main Event

Meaning, of course, the trick-or-treating.

Here are our cozy snow princesses ready to hit the porches:

Would you like to have hair like Olivia's? Well, now you can, in just 3 easy steps:
1-Refuse to wear your princess hood
2-Pull out the top-knot ponytail and bow you've been wearing all day
3-Be sure your style stays in place by dumping your plate of syrupy dinner waffles on your own head just before it's time to meet your friends for trick-or-treating.
See? Easy.

Getting all pumped to panhandle for candy...

 Malan hikes up for a treat, and Jane gets the wits scared out of her by vampire-friend Josh. . .

After some serious walking and sore little legs these girls got away with quite a haul. (How much do I love that Olivia is big enough for her own trick-or-treat bag this year? A lot.) Oh, we heart Halloween! Happy/excited/sugar hyper kids = happy/excited/sugar hyper me.

Three posts this week. Man. . .you may not hear from me again until January, I'm pooped. Or maybe I'm just crashing from my sugar high.

Here is one final spooky apparition to leave you with until next Halloween. . .

Oooooo. . .Ghost Jane!

Our Halloween, in 3 posts: The Party

October 29th ushered in the annual Wilson Halloween Party. Our number of good friends has grown this year.
Unfortunately, our house has not. 30 adults, 21 children and a main floor of about 600 square feet makes for a cozy evening.
But I tell you what, we partied it up.

The summary-
Oats with beans: How many jelly beans can you extract from your oatmeal in one minute...Ahblindfolded!
Nose dive: Move as many cotton balls as you can in one minute using your nose...and some Vaseline.
A visit from the notorious antoine dobson. If you have not Youtubed this fine fellow, do so.

The candy elevator: Be sure not to rope burn your ears as you attempt to snatch a treat.

Elephant walk: can you knock over 8 bottles with your softball/nylon trunk? It's harder than it looks.

The peeps: man, we have some good peeps here. Not a rotten one in the bunch.

 

 That about sums it up. Fantastic. Wish you all could have been here, and that we lived in a mansion.

Our Halloween, in 3 Posts: The House

I admit, I am turning into a crazy Halloween lady.
I am an Oct. 31 baby, I was born this way.
So here are the highlights of our Halloween festivities, in 3 posts.

Post 1: The house
Thrifted and/or hand-made by me and my 3 witches.
Who can name 11 or more literary allusions hidden below or here?
(the last picture's complete phrase is "beware...take care...")

Dinner for 4

This post is for me.

Because I want to remember these evenings: Caleb gone late, just my three and me at dinner.
Blankets draped on chairs, as usual. Malan in formal attire, as usual.
Olivia, eating demurely. Jane being Jane.

There would be quiet chatter about the happenings of the day.
Malan would remind Jane of our "No singing at the table" rule.
Five minutes later Jane would remind Malan.
This might lead to an argument (M & J) and some threats of an early bedtime from me.

Then things would settle back down and the girls would mention how we need to finish decorating for Halloween,
and could we please make sugar cookies tomorrow,
and how about an extra bedtime story tonight and some snuggling?

I don't want to forget these nights with just us girls-I think they're pretty special.
Soon enough we'll happily have Caleb home for dinner again, but until then, I'm in good company.

Dear Malan,

The year or two before you were born were pretty rough for me, to say the least. A lot of tough decisions, a lot of heartache.
But maybe you know that, because I'm pretty sure you were there. It felt like you were, through the hardest moments.
It felt like you were, when I met your dad again and things got back on track. You knew what our happy life was going to be like.
Thank you, for hanging in there with me when I couldn't see that.

Malan on her 1st birthday

When you were born my world revolved around you and your tiny hands and your tiny toes and your tiny needs.
I felt purely unselfish, for once. I haven't felt that enough in my life. It is a good feeling. Thanks, babe, for being born.

Thanks for being my little parenting guinea pig, and for handling my motherly missteps so gracefully.
I want most in the world to be a good mother, thank you for helping me work on that.

I hope you know how awesome I think you are.
You are courageous, you are resilient, you are compassionate,
you are responsible, you are loyal, you are older and wiser than your years.

You are so very loved.

Happy Birthday, sweet M.

Can't Make Any Promises

It's been too long, I know. Can't promise I'll be better. Just so very, very busy.
busy, but happy.

Here's what you want to see anyway, the good looking people:

More good looking people:
My neice Katie and her husband Jeff, who came out to visit while Jeff interviewed at Pitt Med. How much do I want them to move here? A lot.

These lovely peeps entertained our children for 3 days while I sat on the couch eating, sleeping, drooling, etc.
They also may have experienced what my family calls "Evil Sleep-Kate," a persona I take on when I fall asleep before everyone else and then get awakened suddenly. Involves loud voice, confusion, reprimanding, occasional throwing of pillows. I am so ashamed. . .

And in case you're interested, my recent thoughts:

Caleb is on week 5 of surgery right now. I see him for minutes a day. That is dumb. But those minutes are really nice. He provides me with his daily anecdotes just before heading to bed. Best yet: the crochety surgeon who stood up for him, mid-surgery, when the scrub tech called him "Kah-leeb," by shouting, "It's CALEB! Don't you read the damn bible?"

Malan going to school has been a real beating for me. Four weeks in and I think I'm almost handling it. It was rough on her, too. We're tight, people! But she's a superstar and wakes up most days now really excited to go, which means I can be good with it, too. Why didn't anyone tell me it would be so tough? I mean it, I want answers.

Jane has taken to getting herself nose to nose with every adult she comes in contact with- including teachers, parents, and my friends- taking their faces in her hands, and saying with awe-struck sincerity, "You're beautiful!" Never fails to get a positive response.

Olivia thinks we share a liver. She codes if she is detached from my lap or hip for more than a few minutes during waking hours. Good thing she's stinking adorable.

Well, there you go. Thanks for keeping us posted even when I fail to reciprocate, it means a lot.

Malan Starts School

I knew this week had to come, and though I am so excited for Malan and her new adventure, I won't pretend I'm being brave about it. My heart is breaking a little.

But we tried to make the most of our last few days of freedom:

We had one last "not a school night" sleepover in a blanket fort:

Then a special mommy date last night. We found a ceramic studio and Malan chose a butterfly to paint. Oh my, it was beautiful! Her creativity inspires me, and I'm happy about the fact that her little legs still don't reach the floor in a big person chair.

Today the morning came, though I woke up in the still-darkness and wished it wouldn't. Looks like she's ready to go, though, doesn't it?

Here comes the bus! Squeeze tight before you leave, sis!

Last wave, and she's off. Remind me why I'm not home-schooling?

I am so thrilled for you Malan. You can do anything. You are sweet and smart and tenderhearted and just perfect. I'm so happy to see you off to learn and grow and succeed. But all day is just a long time apart, don't you think? We miss you.

I must say I held things together pretty well and gave Malan dry eyes and a smile as she left.

Then I had an ugly cry over my bowl of frosted mini wheats when I got home.

Jane, Liv, and I had a sweet day together and, wow, time to go pick Malan up from the bus already. You bet I'm going to squeeze her so tight!