Things That Keep us Warm

It is like one degree in Pittsburgh this week. Here's what's keeping us warm-

Getting exercise:

 Fuzzy slippers:

 Movie night in mom and dad's bed:

 Christmas tree glow:

"Our sweet little Grandma" (Jane's words) who flew across the country to come take care of us:

Lovely little old fashioned Christmas Eve flannel jammies made by the above-mentioned wonderful lady.
If she stays long enough I think my whole "to do" list will disappear:

 Little urchins who sneak into my picture taking session without notice:

 And finally, incubation! This is the most pregnant I have ever been, and boy, I'm plenty warm.

May I hereby pay homage to all you ladies who have been 39 weeks pregnant.
I never knew. . .

 Little baby, I know it's cold out here, but we promise to keep you cozy if you'll come out now.

Dear friends, hope you're staying toasty, wherever you are.

Turkey, Tree, and Tummy

We shared a lovely thanksgiving with our other disem-familied friends. . .

Then went the next day to hunt our christmas tree.

It was absolutely freezing, but we wouldn't have missed it.

 Caleb cut down a big fat fabulous fir for us with his own two hands. Doesn't that sound manly?! It was.

 Sleeping hard:

 And working hard: (My coat, I mean. I don't think I can get any bigger. . .are those my feet way down there?)

 We had to move some furniture to make room for our robust Christmas tree. I know just how it feels.

Thanks for reading. . .hope your holidays are shaping up nicely!

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.