Letter to Santa

Isaac has very fond memories of writing letters to Santa and then sending them through the fireplace. We are excited that we get to start this same tradition with our children, since we now have a fireplace, too. I hope you can read these letters here, because they are pretty awesome.

 

 We wrote a letter for Sebastian too, but I'll spare you. They weren't his words anyway. However, you should check out his expression in this picture. This is pretty much what he thought of the whole experience. The rest of us had a good time, though.

Sebastian

I think it's time I posted some pictures on here, don't you? We had a nice, busy summer, and I neglected to post many pictures of the baby.

I know! He's not much of a baby anymore. It seems like it was only yesterday that he tasted his first pickle.

I guess that wasn't really that long ago. (It was back in May.) Since then he has really learned to like pickles, and he will go to the fridge and demand them. Above all, however, he like to eat what he can harvest himself. Whenever we go outside he looks for something to eat: strawberries, fallen apples, green tomatoes... he's not picky about ripeness, cleanliness, or whether there are worms/ rotten spots. (Some of the apples get really gross if we don't pick them up every day.)

Our garden is not the only thing that is no longer safe from him. a month or so ago, I caught him doing this:

 

That's the bathroom door, and he is quick to open it if you've forgotten to lock it behind you. Or if he knows I'm not looking and he wants to play in the toilet. He loves his siblings SO MUCH. He doesn't understand why he can't do everything they do. We went to the beach last week, and he thought burying Barak in the sand was genius. It put him right at eye-poking level and kept him from getting away.

 

 There are days this boy makes me feel completely crazy. He likes to play a game we call "Grab and Scatter" and he appears to have zero fear (unless you're a stranger or a vacuum cleaner). Mostly, though, I find him completely delightful. If he's not tired or hungry, he's smiling. He is curious, and social, and happy, and cuddly. He likes a good joke, his Goodnight Gorilla book, his giraffe blanket, and his mama. He is everything I could wish for in a one-year-old. Absolutely perfect.

A Preschooler's dream

Barak was the first one up this morning. As I snuggled him on the couch, he told me that he had seen Snowman Lake on his sleeping map. He said he had seen snowmen melting there. I asked him where Snowman Lake is, and after only a moment of thought he named a nearby major road. He then asked if we could look for the lake on my computer map (Google). He was very insistent that he wanted to see it on the computer. And so, an hour later we found ourselves sitting on the sidewalk with Lizzy and Sebastian, eating donuts as we looked at a small lake, surrounded by fancy houses. We didn't see any snowmen, but maybe we'll come back and build some in January.

Oh the things I could post!

How do I catch up on a summer's worth of activities? We had a road trip, a wedding, a family reunion, camping, two birthdays, and a birthday party. I think each of these is worth remembering, and they all come with their own set of pictures. Unfortunately, lunch is just about over, and my wild animals will tear this place apart if I don't get quiet time started immediately. Maybe I'll get to posting later.

Lunch suggestion

Lizzy would like everyone to know that a peanut butter, banana, chocolate chip sandwich is delicious. She thinks everyone should try it. She urged me to post a recipe for her creation, but I think it is rather self-explanatory.

*parental note: None of the children actually ate their sandwiches. They pulled them to pieces and ate the parts.

Let's all eat popsicles in the shade.

My life is very blessed. I know this. I know I live in a great deal of comfort, and I have everything I really want. I would not trade places with anyone.
Well- I was going to continue with the BUT, and then whine a bit about such and such, but actually, after re-reading my intro, I realize it's true. So there's really nothing more for me to say at the moment. I hope you are all having a blissful day today.

What we do with a little sunshine

Last Saturday was warm. We started out the afternoon something like this:

 We quickly progressed to this:

and ended up something like this:

It was a good day.

Ah, the smell of my own fresh-cut grass!
(And a great man to cut it for me.)

Have I mentioned that I love my house?

Girl Power

Lizzy is confident, smart, sassy, and charming. I find this a dangerous combination at times. While getting the boys ready to go somewhere, I noticed her performing an interesting dance the other day, so I thought I'd share, since it seems to be a little peek into the workings of her mind.

I sure hope she still feels this way when she's sixteen.

Changes

Am I the only one who is sick of things constantly changing? I can't turn on the computer without demands for upgrading this and getting the new format of that. I have had the same email address since high school, but every time I log in the site looks different. It's not that I don't appreciate advances in technology. I just would like things to calm down a little so I can catch up. Maybe if nobody tinkered with these things for a year or two I would be excited for a change.

House

The last month and a half have been full. We moved, we drove to Colorado and back, we celebrated Christmas a couple times, and we finally closed on the house.

We love our house. It is not a big house, but we have so much more space than we used to have. We have a little yard to romp around in and a garage to keep our clutter mostly out of the way. We can walk to church again, and we are actually in a neighborhood, instead of living surrounded by university students. There is room to walk all the way around our kitchen table. We are really happy here.

Finally taking down the "Sale Pending" sign. The car in the driveway? It's ours. Dirty dishes in the sink? Also ours. Because we live in our own home now!

Lots of boxes to unpack. We still have a bunch in the garage, but I might just wait until it's not freezing out there before I unpack them. Plenty of space to play in front of our cute fireplace.Fun on the deck. A panorama of our backyard. (The deck's not actually wonky. It's just the way things got spliced together.)

Thank you, Your Highness

I offered Lizzy two options for lunch today, and she didn't like either of them. She turned away with a toss of her sassy head and said, "I'm not coming. You are dismissed."
Maybe tomorrow I won't give her options.