This morning Mary Beth came over to play. Tom and Shep took off for some boy time, while Neko, MB, Ellery and I hung out.
I managed to keep Ellery busy while Neko and Mary Beth got crafty. They're reading one of The Littles books at school, so the girls decided to paint gliders for Dinky and the rest of the Littles.
It's been weeks since all five members of our family have shared the same space. Between illness and snow days, it feels like we've been working split shifts.
We declared today a family day. Which is good, because it started at 5:30am when Ellery awoke, and it was clear it was going to take both of us from the get-go. Neko and Shep followed soon after, and we found ourselves at the doorstep of Bob Evans when they opened at 7am. Then off to the zoo, and back at home for quiet time by noon.
When I reviewed all these photos I realized all the kids look dark and brooding. I swear, there were a lot of smiles today, too. But, sheesh, when your day starts at 5:30am, we're all bound to look a bit ragged.
Barb (Tom's mom) put together an amazing survival kit for us, chock full of fun and activities. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It made this afternoon take a big 180 in the right direction.
The morning went swimmingly.
Shep is the perfect age for Christmas, greeting each gift with an exclamatory, "It's just what I've always wanted!"
Neko is a bit older, and was definitely taking stock of what Shep and Ellery received, wanting to make certain all was fair. But delighted with her gifts, nonetheless.
Ellery enjoyed the opening of packages, but I'm fairly sure she has no idea what's going on.
We puttered around that morning, eating chocolate donuts in lieu of real breakfast and playing with new toys. By late morning, we were off to my mom's house to celebrate with my side of the family.
Just as we were preparing plates for brunch, Ellery took a tumble off a bench, slamming her mouth and nose against either the bench or the floor. Either way, there was loads of blood and massive swelling of her nose and lip. Tom and I scooted off to the ER to make sure she was okay, as she seemed a bit woozy after the fall and looked pretty beaten up.
She checked out fine, and we managed to get back to my mom's house for a late celebration.
Blogging of favorite presents and war wounds to come in future posts when we've recovered from the day…
I've been wrapping like a crazy woman for the past week, determined to spend Christmas Eve doing stuff that actually felt Christmas-y. I do this each year, but I often still spend the day in a frenzy, prepping for the big day.
But this year? I think I'm starting to get it figured out.
We hadn't made it to the train exhibit yet this year, so we threw the kids in the car and headed to the Big City. We weren't the only ones who had that idea, as we ran into three other families we knew (Marlo, Jodi, and Libby) and an old classmate of Tom's. We were sure we'd be battling a crowd, but it surprisingly quiet.
After quiet time, we settled in to make our first cookies of the season. I was surprised to discover that this year, Neko knew how to decorate like a champ, and Shep was the one who embraced excess (there really is a cookie under all those decorations). Ellery looked at us all like we were nuts for this whole decorating business, and just kept eating toppings.
After dinner, with the promise of a drive-thru light display, the kids eagerly threw on pajamas, and off we went. The back home to hang stockings and off to bed, with surprisingly little protest.
By the time they go to college, I'll have this down to a science.
I have low expectations for the Christmas tree process. The first year we had children, I was all full of wonder and hoping it would be something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, but inevitably year after year, it’s not quite as I imagined. Someone throws a tantrum. Or takes the term “Christmas ball” too literally, and spends the whole evening lobbing them across the room. Or my favorite ornament gets broken.
This year we were going to get our tree after we picked up Neko from school and the kids got flu shots. It was a full moon and cold and overcast. So really, the cards were stacked against us.
But the universe must have known that I needed a peak that day instead of a valley. After the traumatic shot process, things started looking up.
We have a favorite Christmas tree farm. Run by a family, they’re always friendly, there are trees to cut as far as the eye can see. While they get your tree bundled and on your car, you can sip hot chocolate and check out the old tractors.
When we got there, Neko and Shep went running. Despite the cold, they hunted for the perfect tree. Shep almost picked out a Charlie Brown tree, which more resembled a poorly pruned shrub than anything else. “This is the PERFECT tree!” he declared. I love that kid.
We fed the kids in the car, and then Tom set up the tree and strung the lights while I gave everyone a bath. By the time 2 out of 3 were in pajamas, we started decorating.
And I’ll be darned, Norman Rockwell paid us a visit.
Neko set to work like a master decorator, and Shep followed her lead. Ellery happily admired the ornaments and even tried to hang a few. The fire roared, Christmas music played in the background and we all happily admired our work when we were done.
Thank you universe. I needed that.
I love that when my children get up from quiet time, they demand I start a fire in the fireplace. They eagerly strap on their boots and help me tote in logs and sticks, and delight in the toasty warmth. I can lay claim to this part of their gene pool.
(Bonus shot of Otto. The dogs don't make the blog enough, and I'm working to remedy that.)
We made it.
Between Neko's desire to be a pink mermaid (and the costume industry's less-than-pure concept of what a "youth mermaid" costume should look like) and Shep's desire to be WALL-E (as, apparently, did half of America…not a costume to be found), we were a bit challenged this year. I worked on finding and altering the most appropriate mermaid costume out there. Tom put his design degree to work, and fabricated Shep's whole costume. Ellery got to be a turtle, because, well, we had a turtle costume on hand.
As we don't live in much of a neighborhood, we had to find a place to trick-or-treat. We were looking for a short-ish street. Enough houses to make the kids feel fulfilled, but not enough to keep us out too late. Poor Akiko…we ended up in her neighborhood. As did many others. I promise we'll stalk someone else's neighborhood next year so your neighbors don't grumble. But I think it speaks highly of her neighborhood! I do get the occasional pang for suburban living, and Halloween often brings it on.
Anyway, a suddden blast of warm weather and sneaking in Halloween just days be daylight saving time ended, we had a perfect evening out.
I'll apologize to Tom in advance for that picture of he and Ellery, where he looks like he's air-kissing, but it's the only one I have with Ellery. And, as a third child, I fear that 12 years from now someone will give me hell because she's photographically missing in Halloween '08. Thanks for taking one for the team.
We didn't carve pumpkins last year. Life was really busy and things were hectic and then all of a sudden I realized the season had passed and we missed it.
I think it had to do with the fact that I had in my head that we'd take this glorious trip to a pumpkin patch and pick pumpkins and then go home to carve. But we're busy, and we just didn't have that block of time before Halloween arrived. But I noticed we had tonight open. Just an hour or so, but it was open. So I wrote it on the schedule.
After Tom got home from work, we scooped the kids up and drove them out to a nearby farm. Not a pick-your-own, but they were a place. With pumpkins. The kids giddily ran from one to the next, trying to pick the best one.
After dinner, we got to work. I was amazed to discover that, short of the actual carving, Neko can fully participate. She drew the face, and scraped out the guts. Then she carefully supervised as Tom carved.
Shep told Tom exactly what he wanted his to look like, and Tom helped him draw and carve. Ellery happily sat in a chair and passed around tools and experimented with how the top of her pumpkin could go on and off.
The evening was downright blissful. And we need to do more of this. Some nights we need to ignore bath and proper bedtime and do something as a family. And we might have to schedule it weeks in advance, but I will squeeze it in.
And you all would be so proud—my flash went crazy right as I got out my camera, so I took it off and just did the best I could. They're grainy and kind of weird colors, but hooray for me snapping a few bad photos, putting the camera down, and going back to the act of participating.
The pumpkins from left to right, Tom, Wendy, Ellery, Shep, and Neko.