Last post of NaBloPoMo

Well, it's been another successful NaBloPoMo, I suppose. I'm fairly positive I wrote a post everyday but I probably won't go back to check that I did. This time of year is crazy busy! Why can't NaBloPoMo (or, more importantly, NaNoWriMo) be in a boring month like...like March? Or August?

Those months are typically pretty quiet (unless Easter is abnormally early...and unless...who am I kidding? What ever happens in August?).

But November is out of the way and I am slowly hacking away at my to-do list. Yesterday I finished crocheting that blanket. Today I finished the IVS newsletter (though it could still come back to me with some edits, I suppose). Just a million things left to do before the New Year!

I suppose it doesn't help that primary/church is inordinately busy this time of year as well. This week we have both the Relief Society Christmas Dinner and the Ward Christmas Party. The girls and I are playing our ukuleles for the ward party. In a couple of weeks I'll be singing in sacrament meeting with a friend (in Russian for the Relief Society President's son who is getting off his mission (he's in Novosibirsk, Russia) in just a couple of weeks). I'm pretty excited about that, but it's just another thing to coordinate.

In primary we're trying to get all the classes arranged for next year—with teachers and manuals and so forth. I feel like a lot of that is my responsibility...because I'm the secretary...so it is my responsibility. And that's fine. It's just a lot of work.

To top it off, we ordered Christmas decorations to give to the children and were under the impression that they'd come assembled but instead received a box of kits that we have to put together. They're not incredibly complicated but they're fiddly, and it's just another thing to do.

It seems like to-do lists are the theme of my blog lately, doesn't it?

I'm sure that things will settle down soon (or not) and we'll be able to hop in and enjoy the Christmas spirit.

In happy news, Benjamin's been hives-free since Tuesday or Wednesday and he slept through the night the night before last and only woke up once last night so I'm feeling more human again.

Multi-generational blanket

After Grandma Sharon died, the family found a baby blanket she'd been working on for Auntie Em's baby boy (who is expected to arrive in January). Since no one else in the family knows how to crochet, Andrew brought the unfinished blanket back to me when he came home from the funeral and after a few false starts I finally figured out the pattern and got to work.

I finished putting the border on it this evening while we watched Elf as a family.

Pictures

This afternoon we sneaked out to take some family pictures. I asked the girls to pick out a favourite outfit so that they'd be comfortable in whatever they were wearing and then I tweaked them a bit to make sure everything matched-ish. We're talking individual outfits matching, not entire families matching. I don't know how people even pull off those matchy-matchy photos. I mean, seriously! How do you get your kids to wear what you want them to wear and then to look happy about it?

We can't pull that pulled together look off so we just dressed as ourselves. This year we decided we'd do pictures at Stagville. They have a bunch of fun old buildings to pose by; I was actually thinking the rock wall by the family cemetery would be picturesque.

Unfortunately, Stagville was closed today...for Thanksgiving. Now, I have no problem with places closing for holidays or even for holiday weekends. I just wish they'd be a little more transparent about it on their websites so that we don't have to find out by coming up to a locked gate. I mean, how difficult would it be to say on their website that they're open from 10 AM to 4 PM Tuesday through Saturday, though they close on whatever holidays as well.

Apparently really hard. Because this isn't the first time we've run into this issue with historic sites in Durham.

Anyway, we decided we'd just do pictures at the Eno, even though golden hour was upon us and we were, literally, burning daylight. Stagville and West Point on the Eno are at least fifteen minutes away from each other. We were in a bit of a rush to set up once we'd arrived at the Eno.

Andrew and I still have to go through and decide which ones are our favourites and then doctor them up a bit, but in the meantime, here are some quickies we took on our point-and-shoot camera. A lot of them are bloopers but a few of them turned out alright.

Thanksgiving Festivities

After a rough night with Benjamin (again) I was trying to go back to sleep this morning when I remembered that I'd said we'd attend a Turkey Trot that the mother of a child in Rachel's class hosts every year. It's just an informal fun run for the kids as well as a diaper drive (and although we're mostly a cloth diaper family, I support babies everywhere having clean nappies to wear (unless you're into EC because that's awesome, too)). We brought a little package of diapers as our entrance fee.

The kids got to make racing numbers as well as signs for their parents to hold for them while they raced around the park. Here we are before the race, enjoying a little snack, and trying to keep warm (the girls didn't have their good coats because they were still in the wash from yesterday when they played in the mud).

Thanksgiving Eve

This morning the girls went out to play in the rain. They got soaking wet and impeccably dirty.

Thanksgiving Preparation

This year we didn't carve a jack-o-lantern. The girls painted pumpkins at school instead and then those pumpkins sat on our front porch with paint flaking off them for the last month. They weren't carved so there was no rush to cook them up. At least, there wasn't a rush until suddenly (and not so suddenly) it was the week of Thanksgiving!

Yesterday one of the only things I accomplished was pureeing our pumpkins. We washed the paint off, chopped them in half, scooped the seeds out, cooked them, and blended them, all in one afternoon.

End of the semester

• We're having company over for dinner on Tuesday night. 
• We're having the missionaries over for dinner on Wednesday night. 
• I have to put together the newsletter for the International Viola Society.
• I have to write our family's Christmas newsletter.
• I have to make our family's Christmas newsletter pretty.
• I have to edit a book about Metro Prystai.
• I have to decorate for Christmas.

And that's all on top of holding the baby 24/7. I actually just put him down—in his own bed—and I'm kinda hoping he'll stay there for a little while. If he does, it will be the first time I put him down (basically—though Andrew did take a turn at Literacy Night tonight and there were a couple of times he permitted himself to stand on a chair beside me while I worked in the kitchen) since 2:00 yesterday afternoon.

So I'm feeling a bit frazzled. I'm feeling a bit like I was either kicked or screamed at all night (and day) long. I'm feeling a bit like my husband texted me five minutes before he was supposed to be home to say that he was just leaving campus. I'm feeling a bit like we had pancakes for dinner tonight, and not just any pancakes, either—we had Bisquick pancakes for dinner.

It's just one of those days. One of those days when you give the baby Benadryl before putting him to bed because he still has hives. Still. Which might explain all the kicking and screaming.

Anyway, I wasn't exactly feeling like company so I asked Andrew what he had in mind for dinner on Tuesday. I figure if he invites the company over he can at least pitch in with the cooking. Unfortunately, Tuesday is also the last day of class.

"What should we make for dinner tomorrow," I asked him on the way home from Rachel's school this evening. "I was thinking lasagna, but..."

"I was thinking lasagna, too!" he said. "But...you don't really have time to make lasagna, do you?"

"I don't," I said, shaking my head gravely. "Not if Benjamin is as clingy as he was today."

"Yeah. You have to hold a baby and write a poem and lots of stuff like that," Andrew agreed.

"Are you making fun of me?" I asked, unamused. I might get a little defensive when I'm running low on sleep.

"No!" he said. "Benjamin's been awful. You can't get anything done with him around!"

He knows this because it was finally his turn to take Benjamin the last two hours of church (and I miscalculated the calendar somehow and Benjamin's first week in nursery isn't until December 8th—for some reason I was thinking (hoping?) December 3rd was a Sunday—but I talked to the head nursery leader and she said we could go ahead and call December 1st Benjamin's first day in nursery because she's awesome).

"This is what I'm thinking," Andrew continued. "I'll just go to the store after we get the kids in bed and grab a frozen lasagna. We'll be super lazy."

"Sounds good to me!" I readily agreed.

"Oh, by the way... Can you edit the paper I have due tomorrow?"

So that's how it is. Butter me up before popping the question.

The end of the semester is always rough.

Is it Christmas yet?

Christmas is just one month away but it's not even Thanksgiving yet. With Thanksgiving so late in the month even Andrew has been lax about Christmas creep. By November 29th last year we'd already drunk up a full week's worth of Christmas cheer. Next year's Christmas forecast looks to be about the same. This year, though? This year's been a little dry so far and we've been sneaking in little tastes of Christmas here and there.

The easiest way to get Christmas music in our house was forming a little ukulele choir. Our home teacher is mostly responsible for this. He purchased ukuleles and gifted them to several families in the ward (there are, I believe, 21 of us (though I'm not sure where all the ukuleles came from)) and asked us to get together and learn some songs. We'll be playing at the ward Christmas party in a couple of weeks but we started practicing for that in October. Andrew can't really say no to practicing Christmas music like he can to simply listening to Christmas music for enjoyment.

However, he also allowed Miriam to select Jingle Bells to be sung during family home evening this past week—before the prayer, a time we usually reserve for reverent songs.

"You're getting soft," I told him.

"I'm not getting soft," he insisted. "It's just not worth the tears."

In other words...he's getting soft.

This evening Rachel and I played the songs we've been working on for our parents/grandparents on Skype and Andrew pulled out Miriam's ukulele and joined in—and we were playing Christmas songs! (Miriam wasn't playing because she's been refusing to practice so she doesn't know when to play her part (we've just been focusing on the C chord with her) and I wanted the music to sound...like music (because I'm vain/mean/whatever). She can play for her grandparents later. After she actually sits down to practice).

We've been reading Christmas stories for a while now and the girls have not-so-secretly been designing Christmas ornaments (especially after reading A Christmas Spider's Miracle (a beautiful book based on this legend)) and I've even gotten away with whistling Christmas songs.

Andrew has let each of these activities slide without comment, except perhaps the whistling of Christmas tunes (but he's even been lax about enforcing that rule).

I guess you could say we're ready for Christmas at our house. We're ready for some magic. We're ready for lights and music and childhood traditions. We're ready for focusing on the Savior.

The only thing we're not ready for is the tree. Oh, boy! That puppy is going up on Christmas Eve if I get my wish this year (Benjamin is seriously into everything and I'm not sure I can handle it). Chances are I won't get my wish but I can say with confidence that the tree is not going up immediately after Thanksgiving dinner (which is when Andrew swears it should be done). No, the tree will be going up much later than that!

And now that I finally have the baby in bed (is it 11:30? Why, yes. Yes, it is!) I'm going to settle down with my fuzzy slippers on to write some more of our Christmas poem.

Fist Bumps and other things

Today I have a couple of videos. The first is our family "getting ready for bed." Sometimes bedtime takes a long time.



This second one is specifically for Auntie Josie, who used to do a similar thing at the dinner table. We called it "The Hulk."

A busy day

Miriam was invited to a birthday party for her little friend Matthew this week and has been looking forward to it ever since I told her about it, which was nine days ago when she was originally invited. I know several moms who try not to tell their kids about fun activities in advance so that they don't have to deal with the children's mounting excitement while they wait for the day to come. I'm not really like that, though. Unless I specifically plan a surprise, I usually just tell my kids what's up. We talk about special events during family calendar time. And we say, "No, it's not Friday yet," way too often. But I like it that way because research shows that merely anticipating fun things can boost happiness.

Sure, it's hard when plans change. But "plans change" is almost a mantra in our house. Learning to deal with disappointment is probably healthy for kids, right?

This time, fortunately, our plans didn't fall through (unlike yesterday's playgroup fiasco) and we made it out the door by 9:30 in the morning! Miriam picked out a special outfit to wear.

Hand-me-down dress with a stain on the shoulder from that one time Rachel biffed it? Check.

Hand-me-down tights with a hole in one toe because Rachel wore them all the time? Check.

Razzle-dazzle headband that doubles as a pirate eye patch? Check.