The Annual Loss of Reason Leading to the Attempt to Take a Family Photo

Each year with the crisp smells of Autumn that I cherish so well comes another, subtler stench. It wafts up my nose and prickles its way into my brain as a single thought: "Why not take a family picture at this lovely time of year?"

Outfits are assembled, naps and feedings carefully arranged, bribes negotiated,
tripods erected (we are, by necessity, cheap), and dreams of a Christmas card sent by Thanksgiving are born.

And the results are in:

I know what you're thinking. "Will you LOOK at Kate! She is a picture taking MACHINE. She barely flinches from frame to frame despite the bedlam all around her!"
Yet if you look closely there, in my eyes, you'll see:
the dying of that feeble flame called hope.

I jest.
It's all worth it, because I'm so glad to have this:

Big thanks to sis-in-law Lisa for manning the tripod/camera and sis Wendy for her mad ps skilz.

And a few of my honeys:

If you're still with us, and since we did NOT send a Christmas card by Thanksgiving (does seem a bit redundant these days thanks to social media), here are a few bullet points on the Wilson clan:

•Emme loves olives and beans and is obsessed with boxes and sitting in them.
•Olivia likes pentagons and string cheese and wants to go to Dora's house.
•Jane is kicking arthritis in the joints (doing well) and gets love notes from classmates daily.
She enjoys meat and hearing stories from her parents' childhoods.
•Malan loves raspberries and her friends, likes to invite people to church,
and wants to meet a real fairy.
•Kate is getting the house ready to sell, would like more sleep,
and would also like to meet a real fairy.
•Caleb graduates in May with his M.D.
Re: residency- we'll find out where in mid-March and if all goes well, we will be moving in June to:
Dallas TX, Memphis TN, Philly PA, Shreveport LA, Chicago IL, or Danville PA,
Unless we match here in the 'burgh.

That's about it for the Wilson update.
Thanks for reading. And for not smoking.

Great Art

Jane has entered a phase with her art that in years to come I believe will be referred to as her "Flippin' Awesome Period." Here are a few of her most recent works:

"Portrait of the Artist's Mother, Otherwise Known as M♥M."

 

The number of fingers is stylistically exaggerated, likely to represent the mother's attempts to multi-task. The hairstyle, however, is not exaggerated.

From the artist's "Studies with Mice" series-

"Lonely Mouse on Sunny Day"

 And "Kissing Mice on Sunny Day"

 From her "Birds" series-

"Red Bird"

 And "Birds on a Walk"

 And finally, a rare self-portrait of the artist, entitled "If I had antlers, I would use them to bird feeder"

It would take some brave birds. . .

While we're on the subject of Jane and greatness, here are a few choice Jane moments I'll certainly hold dear-

A conversation between Jane and the elderly neighbors we stopped by to visit:

Jane: "Where are your kids?"
Nice old lady: "We don't have any kids."
Jane: "Are they dead?"
Me: (elbow Jane in ribs) "Jane."
Nice old lady: (chuckle) "No, they're not dead."
Jane: "Then, can I have their toys?"
Me: "Jane!!"
Jane: "If they're not dead, then where are they?"
Nice old man: "I'm shooting blanks, kid."
Jane: "What's that?"
Me: "Wellwebettergetoutofyourhair. Thanks for letting us stop by!"

(During our 20 minute visit, Jane also downed 2 bottles of their water and asked to use their bathroom three times.)


Finally, Jane on a car ride to our friends' house for dinner on Sunday:

Jane: "Mom, Malan is skeedooshing me." (Kung Fu Panda style) "Stop skeedooshing me, malan!"

Caleb and I then proceed to start laughing because it sounds like she is saying "seducing me" and then we just couldn't help sending a simultaneous double skeedoosh in her direction, which sent her over the edge:

Jane: "Stop it! I'm going to BUST you up! In REAL LIFE! I'm going to spit on ALL of you!
Plbbhhtt! Phhbbt! Plllbbtht!"

We really did feel bad at this point for goading her on, so we called a truce. Plus, Caleb could hardly see to drive he was laughing so hard.

Oh my, oh my, we love our spicy little Jane, her art, and her moments of comedic genius.

Play Time

My favorite mornings are the rare ones where the sun is shining through our back window and I have nowhere I have to be except on my living room floor in my jammies with my two homegirls.

"Don't jump, Piggie!"

 Olivia arrived in the nick of time to talk Piggie down, but then accidentally bumped him over the edge.

 

Poor pig.

 It looked like he was going to be ok. . .

 

. . .until, tragically, the building collapsed on him.

(fleeing the scene)

With such mayhem afoot, Emme was more than content to just watch from her new #1 top favorite place to be: in a box.

"You pushed the piggie."
"No, you did."

 Peekeboo Emme.

Too many mornings find us rushing off to this or that, usually more stress and less peace.
I hope to keep more of them looking like this one.

Emme Takes Off

*I've disabled comments. see here for details.*

Grandma W.'s entry made a good practice runway for little fancy feet Emme.

 At first maintaining mobility only through great feats of grit and gusto. . .

 . . .bouts of boisterous balancing. . .

 . . .and eager equilibriul efforts. . .

 . . .Emme bit her tongue resolutely, breathed out, went for it. . .and nailed it. Attagirl.

 Not to be outdone by one who still requires spoon feeding, Olivia and Jane were compelled to have a go.

Yes, very nice. Well done all.

No Comments

Hi readers and friends. So, I've decided I'm turning off comments for this blog. This wasn't easy for me to decide as I've loved the feedback from so many of you and all the kind thoughts and words have truly been such a boost.

I have a couple of reasons that led to this decision. Of course I always want to comment on your great posts and in order to do that sincerely I read every post in my reader and try to give feedback. Ultimately, I feel like I'm spending too much time away from what is most important right now, namely, my own little family. Maybe (certainly) you have more self-control than I do, but this is what I felt I needed to do.

My other reason is this: I continue to blog because I greatly value the record it is of our family and the motivation it gives me to remember the moments in our lives and capture them. I want it to be an honest record. I think I will write more freely and edit myself less with comments off.

That's it.

I certainly plan to continue to check in on your lives and hope you'll stop by here to see what we're up to, but as I read somewhere, "Friends don't let friends spend time leaving courtesy comments." Heh heh. Now you can come by and read when you feel like it and not just when you feel you need to comment. I hope you'll forgive my absence in your comments and know that you continue to motivate, inspire, and cheer me through your posts! This will be the last post with comments enabled (except for any major breaking news posts, cause that would just be mean, right?) So feel free to say hi or goodbye if you like, and you can always reach me at the email address listed under the "founders" link in the blog header. Thank you so much for your sweet words over the years, you have been so good to me.

Sarah

Many of you have heard about the passing of my friend Sarah Songer-Smith. I was so grateful to
be in Utah for her funeral, to be able to remember her life and to be with her sweet family. I feel like there were many tender mercies from the Lord surrounding her passing and I feel so blessed to have known her. Just wanted to share a few photos of this lovely friend here on my blog. You can visit this site for more from her sweet family.

In costume for our performance of "Fiddler on the Roof"

 Sarah and I looking triumphant in Paris:

 Stuffing pastry in our faces in Austria

Crossing the English Channel (we got so sick!)

Getting ready for a canoe ride.

Sarah, you were such a loving person and wonderful friend. I love you and miss you.

Coocoo for Tutus

I have a cousin named Ashley. She is blond and gorgeous and also one of the kindest and most positive people I know. She's been that way since I can remember (like since when I was 2.) She also has Lyme's Disease. She contracted this from a tick while serving as a missionary for our church in Boston. This disease is a complete bugger to treat and involves incredible amounts of pain. She is a wife and a mom, and has been so very sick for so many years. I admire her strength and perseverance more than I can say.

As both a means of physical therapy and fundraising for her extensive medical costs, she makes the most beautiful, perfect tutus. 

 They are sparkly and fluffy and soft and come with silky satin ribbon wrapped waists and are packaged so sweetly. We were lucky enough to get our hands on some for Christmas and my girls have loved them so much already.

If you're looking for something very special for a little lady in your life, please take a look at Ashley's site: coocoofortutus.com