We had a very Merry Christmas with the three little elves above – but, as you can imagine with those three, it was very busy.  They’re all at a fun age where they are active and interested in the world, but pretty much require constant supervision.  They’re also all going in three different directions at the same time.  Like the picture above, despite my many, many attempts it was the only time I got a picture with all three kiddos.  And that was only because Clare literally held onto Sam.  The next picture in the series has a blurry Sam escaping his sister’s grip.

JP and Debbie made Christmas brunch for us, complete with homemade cinnamon rolls, and Mom and Dad made prime rib for Christmas dinner.  It was delish.

One of under-the-tree gift highlights included Clare’s new dollhouse!  This is the dollhouse that my grandfather made for me as a girl, and that my grandmother decorated.  Mom and Dad fixed it up for Clare and we gave it to her… out in the garage so that the little kids didn’t bother it.  Then we let her play with it for a little while out there by herself.  She LOVED it and can’t wait until its set up in her bedroom.

Yep, the kids are in bed and it’s time to relax.



Well, Sam explored his toys for a while… and then found the Tupperware drawer and played in that for 20 minutes.

Phew… and Christmas is over!  It was wonderful, but the kids slept in until 9 am on December 26.  I think we all needed a little post-Christmas relaxation.  Until next year Mr. Claus! 

Starting a new tradition this year was Christmas crafts.  We made a gingerbread house from a kit, decorated construction paper Christmas trees, and made homemade ornaments from salt dough. 

The end results were awfully cute.  Check out the difference between Clare and Sam’s handprints.  They are shockingly similar in size! 

 

It’s time for another installment of Our Favorite Books.  I don’t think I can fully explain just how important books are in our house and in our kids’ lives.  We have books everywhere – in each kids’ room, in the play room, in the living room, in our bedroom, and, often, in the bathroom and kitchen.  They are truly Clare’s favorite activity and we read to her every single day, often multiple times a day.  When we’re not reading to her, she’s often “reading” to herself or to her babies.  We’ll be sitting in the car and she’ll start reciting passages out of her favorite books.  She’s is a total bookworm and J and I couldn’t be happier.  It’s become such a wonderful thing to introduce her to and to share with her.

Sammy didn’t have as much interest and attention in books that Clare did at such an early age.  When he was about eight or nine months old I realized that we really weren’t reading to him.  I immediately felt very guilty and started reading to him that very day.  At first it was a fairly short exercise.  We would read to him for as long as he would let us, though sometimes he would try to eat the book, sometimes he would crawl or scoot away, and sometimes he would take the book and throw it.  Eventually we started finding books that he liked, and he started sitting for longer and longer periods as we read.  Now he brings us books to read to him, looks at books on his own, and really seems to enjoy story time.  He’s now read to before nap, before bed, and often two or three times in between.  We have another bibliophile in the making.

So here are some of the books that are in popular circulation these days.

Like most of the country J and I have spent the weekend trying to make sense of the events in Connecticut.  We both heard about it at work, and both of us spent the day trying not to cry while doing our jobs.  These aren’t bad things that happen to other people, they are horrifying events that could happen to my babies.  Tragic events strike deeper levels of horror in me now that I’m a mother. 

Since having Clare, and now Sam, I walk around with a well of hell inside of me.  It’s the hell that would unleash, consume, dissolve and destroy if something were to happen to one of my babies.  It’s the worst kind of hell I can imagine, so I try hard to keep the lid on it.  For the most part I do a pretty good job – y’know, I watch them fall down and get back up again, they skin their knees, they go to school, they will drive and eventually move away.  I accept this and keep the lid tight on the well so that the worry doesn’t consume me. 

But it’s there, it’s always there, and sometimes the lid lifts when I hear of tragedies like the one in Connecticut.  I spent all day Friday imagining the parents, the horrible fear that their worst hell was about to come true.  I’ve thought about those children and how scared they were.  I imagine my own babies scared, crying, needing me and not being there.  But mostly I’ve been feeling for those parents, the ones who were so scared and now so grateful.  Also for the ones who are suffering beyond the fear, suffering beyond the imaginable, to that hell.  I’ve spent most of the weekend keeping a brave face for my kids, trying not to go there, not to lift the lid, fall into the well – the well that wouldn’t let me go if I went all the way in. 

So I held on.  I held onto soft fingers, pudgy thighs, silky hair, and wiggly little bodies.  I held onto made-up songs, babbling “Momomom,” giggles, shrieks of laughter, and “I love you.”  Mostly I held onto the present, the now, the tangible, the life… that is, them.  I held them because I could. 

While JP was doing the heavy lifting of the drive, Deb and Maddy flew ahead for a weekend of cousin fun.  While I’m excited to see JP and Deb and Maddy more often, I think the highlight of it will be watching the cousins grow up together.   They already have a nice bond and really like each other.  Precious Maddy was saying Sam and following him around.  She and Clare were giggling and telling secrets.  These three have a childhood full of adventures ahead of them and I can’t wait to watch it.

Well, maybe the best time was had by Grandma. 

Here’s some slice ‘o’ life photos from November in the land of McPherson.  

This boy loves to be barefoot.  Even now that the weather has turned cold and the floors are a little chilly he will not keep socks on.  I find single socks all over the house, my car and, more often then I’d like, on the neighborhood streets where he’s pulled them off during walks.  When we’re home I’ve given up putting socks on him and I let him run around barefoot.

On the way to Bend we stopped at our usual restaurant in Madras.  J and I like the smoothies, Clare likes this little frog.

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving -including how Sammy spent a fair amount of time during the holiday.  Yep, I saw this face looking up at me more often then I would have preferred.  Poor little guy was teething and was in quite a bit of pain.

Sam likes to sit with his toes up hooked under his high chair.  I have no idea why, but it’s awfully cute.

Last week the kids and I saw patches of blue sky through the endless days of clouds.  We bundled up and headed to the zoo.  OK, so it may have been blue sky but it was only about 38 degrees and we were chilly.  Fortunately the kids were troops and we ended up having a great time. The zoo was amazingly empty (imagine that!) and we spent lots of time watching the sea otters play, the orangutans eat spinach, and the wild pigs snort in the dirt.  Cold aside, it was really fun to feel like we had the zoo to ourselves.

Lastly, this is what greets me when I get home from work.  It never fails to put a smile on my face.