Calico Critters family and house, Lego boom box (and the resulting endless dance party), and an American Girl doll.
Category: Ellery
-
Overcompensating
Ellery never lets me do anything with her hair. But today? She found the stash of barrettes and demanded I put every single one in her hair, all at the same time.
-
Pizza night
Tom attempts professional dough throwing. Neko insists on doing every bit of it herself. Ellery uses half a bag of cheese on her pizza alone.
And Shep? He crams as many black olives in his mouth as he possibly can before we cut him off.
-
Outside
I’m vowing to get the kids outside for at least ten minutes a day this winter. We all need the sunshine, vitamin D, and fresh air. I think I’m going to be the biggest obstacle in all this, as I’m a complete wimp about the cold.
But today? We made it out for quite a dance party on the hay wagon.
-
Capes! (And a long overdue thank you.)
When my uncle Keith blew into town for Farm Day, he brought with him some really wonderful gifts for the kids. Handmade capes for each of the children, crafted by my aunt Becky.
I should point out that my aunt Becky is a professional seamstress who sews costumes for a theatre company, so these weren’t just any capes. These have their initial sewed on the back with carefully detailed necks, even nicer than these ones I’ve admired online.
So Susie and I are finally getting around to saying a huge THANK YOU to Becky for all her hard work. They are gorgeous, and our superheroes are putting them to good use!
-
Decorated
It mostly went off without a hitch. There was the requisite arguing over ornaments. Ellery wanting “the one with the button!” Then when I finally con Neko into giving it to her, she threw herself to the floor wailing because it wasn’t a real button.
And why, oh, why can’t we ever find all three of the ornaments that are personalized?
But other than the few hiccups, it really felt very Christmas-y.
-
We got a tree!
December is our busiest time of year. The press is cranking non-stop, we’re shipping and printing and photographing and on and on. Needless to say, last year the days got away from us, and suddenly it was almost Christmas and we had no tree. We went one day after school on a cold and gloomy day. Hardly the holiday event I had hoped for.
This year, we were determined to get it done early. It was beautiful weather. The kids were in (mostly) good moods. We all agreed on a tree almost immediately. (We even picked one out for my parents to save them a trip.) There was even photographically documented skipping from Neko.
-
She’s the quiet one
I used to brag about Ellery.
She’s the quiet one. Easy as can be. Agreeable. Could take her anywhere.
And that’s still true. Compared to the other two, she’s downright docile. But those other two? I think late at night, when Tom and I are sleeping, they’re training her. We’re suddenly finding her jumping off the arm of the couch and giving us a furrowed brow as she stomps her foot. She’s in nearly a constant state of motion these days. For this reason, this is the best photo of her I’ve gotten in ages. Please. Stand. Still!
On a side note, happy birthday to my sister Susie!
-
Kids
Ellery currently refers to everyone as “kid”.
We’ll be watching an 84-year-old grandmother crossing the street and she’ll say, “I don’t know what that kid is doing.”
We walk through campus, and she refers to everyone in the same way, “Why are those kids walking over there? Where are those kids going?”
She’s clearly about 94-years-old somewhere deep inside.
-
Pots and pans band
It’s Election Day! Did you vote?
There was also no school and I was waiting on a phone call from the printer, so we were pretty bound to the house for the day.
So we cracked out the pots and pans. Much music was made.