Blagh.

Portrait of Me & Mimi
by Mimi

I was going to gag if I had to look one more time at that last Christmas post, so here is a picture--ANY PICTURE!--for the interim until I can put together a new post.

"I find tinsel distracting."

Last week while waiting in my van, I quick-snapped this photo of Mimi; the way she was carrying her backpack just cracked me up. I knew instantly she's been watching how I carry my purse.

Also last week, my friend Michelle had a craft night and I was way too tired to do anything but sit on her famous chaise and make a list. My head is clattering with holiday miscellany: baking I want to do, baking projects with kids I want to do, my craft ideas, crafts with kids, ways to infuse this next month with a daily dose of spirituality, traditions I want to make sure to perpetuate, menus, scheduling...I did a Brain Drain and felt much more in control. And I do love a good list. This is just a dumping session; the real lists will be categorized and prioritized. I can't wait for holiday baking! Let the sprinkles fly!

Here are a few cozy corners I've been working on.
Above is the entry table.

Here is the balcony.
I need to acquire some photography skillz, obviously.

I've been adding Christmas touches here and there for a week and it's just about done, on the inside, that is (ahem, Mike...anytime...) I really want to get the outside lights up on my entry arch and turn them on, just to annoy Kate, who is bah-humbugging all over my bliss. Every time I open facebook, she has added a new snarky comment directed at us jolly pre-season folks in Who-ville. So.....

...Happy Festivus, Kate! xoxo

High on life. Or on sleeping pills. You decide.

Tonight as I write this post, I have a very small window to work with because I took my sleeping pill before sitting down at the computer. (oh, the delight of sleeping drugs; as my mother said not-so-long-ago, "I am in complete control of my sleeping patterns. As long as I have my sleeping pill.") I didn't realize how much I had to write about until I began loading photos; a lot happened, yet not much. The dichotomy that is my life. Lots going on, but nothing monumental. I suppose that is what composes our lives--many seemingly inconsequential tidbits combining to create a life of meaning. (Aristotle, anyone?)

So, a quick run-down of the weekend before I fall into a drug-induced coma onto my keyboard. We received this package on Friday from my mom, which was stuffed full of books for the kids. I was kind of expecting them to open it and say, "Awww, books," and fizzle away to play; instead, they said, "BOOKS!!!" and wanted to read them immediately. Max is very excited to read his, which is an adventure about a boy lost on a river, but can't tear himself away from Fablehaven quite yet. Thanks to the Grande Dame of Good Mail. We love you!


Also in the mail on Friday was a letter tres elegante from darling Claudia. These two morsels of mail cheered my otherwise blase day.


I have been living in between worlds this last week--half of my brain has been dwelling in this book while I go about my daily rigors:
I finally finished on Monday, feeling physically and mentally EXHAUSTED. I'd been reading late into the night, thinking about it all day but unable to read (busy toddler!), then reading again late into the night. A fun read.



Max has been taking Jack out for evening stroller rides, before Baby's bedtime, to calm him down. Unfortunately, that habit is coming to a close due to the sudden chilly weather.


The girls spent Friday afternoon setting up their school--and played far into the night with our cute neighbors, Emma & Lucy. They were so enthusiastic about it and playing so perfectly together, I didn't have the heart to put a stop to it. So basically school was in session in the girls' room from 4-9pm. And the next day Lucy was at the door, 10am sharp, ready for school, bright-eyed and ready to play. They played school ALL DAY, again, from 10am-6pm. I was kissing Isabelle & Mimi goodnight on Saturday, 2 yoga-breaths away from melting down because of their trashed bedroom, and stopped in my tracks and just had to smile. I realized that they hadn't watched one minute of tv or played one minute of video games all weekend. Totally worth the mess.

And then I remembered walking into the room earlier that day, baffled at the total chaos and asking them, "How do you girls make such a giant mess???" Mimi looked up at me from the floor where she was diligently doing her "schoolwork" and said, "But we like to PLAY!" Well. That pretty much sums it up. Totally worth the mess.

(I love these sweetie friends for my girls. They're all going to have such good memories of playing their guts out with each other! Remember Emma from the Cilantro Incident? And their mom Christine, of the famed Yellow Diet Coke Cup, is a lifeline for me. I don't know how I could have survived this last 18 months without her! She's the kind of neighbor who's got your back. The kind of neighbor who won't turn you into Child Protective Services. Thank goodness.)

Anyways. We somehow managed to watch General Conference on Saturday; actually, it was pretty manageable. The girls and friends and baby were in their room listening (mmm hmmm. sure.) on the radio, enabling Mike & Max to watch peacefully in the family room and me to watch on the internet downstairs while I assembled their conference packets for Sunday.

I loved Elder Scott's talk about spiritual promptings and also Elder Bednar's talk about 3 ways to become more "diligent & concerned" at home. These can be downloaded here. Hopefully I will remember to post later about these talks because they impacted me quite deeply.

After the Saturday Conference sessions, I beelined to Ali's house to help with her baby shower she was hosting at her house. Isn't her buffet table pretty? I take no credit for the table layout; I acted as dish-doer, food-replenisher, water-refiller, platter-hauler, punch-maker, brownie-bite-sneaker (did I say that aloud?), kitchen-tidier only. I can't even claim altruistic motives because I was there gathering reconnaissance for my own future gatherings: I wanted to snoop out the logistics of a successful event because I have hostess phobia.


Sunday I made our traditional Conference cinnamon rolls. Actually, it's not much of a tradition, more of a hit-and-miss kind of thing, but it WILL be a tradition. Starting....now. (quoting Kramer from "Seinfeld.")


Monday was chilly and we all thought Jack was so cute in his fall fleece. It was a day off from school (girls, of course, held school upstairs in their room), so we spent the day hanging around the house being cozy and then went to the park.


Here are the kids before school today. Immediately after taking this photo, I thought of this one photo of myself in 1st grade...I have Mimi's EXACT FACE in that photo! It's uncanny, really. And after I emailed this picture to my mom she responded, "This is the most Crystal-lookalike Mimi Rose I have ever seen yet!" (we've remarked through the years, at her different stages, how much she looks like me at said stage.) I really must get ahold of my 1st grade school photo and post the two faces together.


Here's a back view of her hair--what we call "Mouse Ears." I take a photo of Mimi's hair nearly every day because we have such fun doing it each morning. I will have quite the photo documentary of her kindergarten mornings!


This is the Favorite Walking Path this morning. Chilly and the leaves are turning.


Baby wasn't too keen on the 34 degree weather. I suppose I'd better bite the bullet and just start going at 6am again, instead of dragging him out at 9:30. Sigh. It is SO hard to drag out of a cozy warm bed and go running (wogging) in the cold dark!!!

The sky was crisp and blue this morning.

I really, really love this path.

In just 6 short days we went from weather suited to this:

to this...

...to this!

What happened to a nice, crisp Fall? It's frigid!

Jack & I play Run & Chase as part of our morning routine. He giggles uncontrollably and it tires him out for naptime.

These pictures are blurry because he's running.

And chasing.

We also snacked quite decadently on pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Look at that cute little bird mouth. This kid is my joy. I just love him to pieces.
And...the post that I started at 9:50pm has taken me two hours to write. TWO! Now I'm having a anxiety about my 6am wogging-wakeup-call. Drat.

Chillin' with my Bad Self at 2:30am

At the moment, I am trying to calm my frazzled nerves after watching "24" tonight. My theory is this: If I write about my normal, sedate, (non-special op's) & somewhat boring life, I will distract my brain from firing signals to my synapses at 250x the normal rate.

Saturday I mobilized the troops (slang for "lazy kids") and we scrambled around, spiffing up the house to show it once again. We left shortly after to watch the girls dance at the Poinsettia Festival. Mimi was soaking up the spotlight as usual, and Isabelle did a little hip hop number. She was so excited to perform her dance and practiced it frequently at home for a tiny audience of one, seated in a carseat on the floor. Later that night, I went to dinner & to see "Twilight" with the girls. Because I'd heard mixed reviews, I had low expectations and ended up really liking it. Contrary to most people I've talked to, Edward was just exactly as I'd pictured him. I couldn't get settled down after coming home--perhaps due to the fact that I'd consumed approximately 137 Diet Cokes--and held Food Storage Friday by my little ol' self at 2:30am.


I decided I needed something more specific than calendaring my meals, so I followed the how-to at "Safely Gathered In" and planned my 3 month supply. I feel much better about the organization. My first attempt at organizing pantry meals wasn't sitting well with me. I needed more structure. I followed the directions exactly and now feel like I've made a good start. The next step will be to do the math and write out a big master grocery list to work from and start collecting the ingredients. This process had always been very daunting to me, but I figure it is well past time to just start, and I have gained peace already just by making babysteps. It seems everyone I know has ALL their wheat and ALL their grains and ALL their water and honestly, I feel like a big doofus. Yes. I am just starting my measly 3 month supply.***

Anyway, my current plan is to accumulate all the ingredients for my meals on the above list and then work on gathering the long-term supply of food like bulk amounts of wheat, rice, etc. I have found safelygatheredin.blogspot.com to be invaluable! It's a very informative blog, and also very helpful in that they break the process down into just that....a process.

Today was church--without the two Littles. Baby and Mimi stayed home, because baby is sick and Mimi is just tired and grouchy. Little Jack napped from 11:30pm until 4:30pm! Poor little sick guy. I think his power nap was restorative, though, because he woke up playful and happy.

In Relief Society, we discussed Elder Uchdorf's talk, "Lift Where You Stand," which I've actually read a few times in the past week. We talked about how talents of body, spirit & personality are given to us from the Lord to be used in service, to give to others using our unique capabilities. It's a great talk.

Tomorrow I plan to knock out a plethora of errands, then come home and read books to the Littles and make cards for my card exchange. Life is good.


***And thanks, Mom, for my boxes & boxes of food storage you gave me! That's what got me started.

Storytime

The Two Littles

Our Last Few Days

Here are the girls, all ready for the ward Christmas party last week. There was a entertainment group there--all singy and dancey--and Mimi was RIVETED to the stage. There were probably 25 or 30 teens doing a modern version of Lawrence Welk...singing and dancing and acting. Mimi finally ditched us; she found herself a front-row seat and plopped right down and didn't move the entire next hour. Afterwards, the adults were talking and enjoying dessert while all the kids were out causing a ruckus in the halls. When it was time to round up our kids, we found everyone but Mimi, whom we finally tracked down in the Relief Society room with the dancers! They all went there to rest and eat their dinner and socialize after their performance and Mimi zoned in on them and started giving them the rundown: "I like your hair," "Do you wear that makeup all the time?" "Does your mom only let you wear it to dance?" "Do you want to see MY moves?" "Do you go to dance class?" "There aren't any boys in my dance class," "Are those tights just for big girls?" "Where did you get your sparkle dress?" And on & on. The dancers got a huge kick out of her and made a big fuss over saying goodbye to her. What a girly-girl!

So that was last weekend. This weekend was Mimi's Christmas dance recital, which is always a treat. She has been looking forward to it so much and has almost as much fun getting ready for the recital as she does at the recital itself--especially because she is allowed to wear mascara. Here she is before the recital, striking an impromptu pose.

This is a girl who loves to feel glamorous! Which is so funny because Isabelle could care less. Oh, she'll usually cooperate when I get her trussed up for church every week, but really is not into bows and frills. She'd rather "rough you up" (her words) or play Star Wars with her light saber.

Here is Mimi's little Grinch dance. She's the one in the middle with the white bow.


Later that night Mike & I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert, which was fabulous! I was too far away to capture the coziness of the stage; on either side of the orchestra is a Christmas village, all aglow with lanterns and lights. This is my favorite Christmastime event and I was so happy I was able to go!

The next day, Sunday, Mimi took a very late nap and so was allowed to stay up much later than usual. I had been waiting to show her The Nutcracker, which I have tivo'd, and she loved it even MORE than I had expected! This picture is of her floating and flitting her arms around, ballerina-style. She did this all through the show--she couldn't help herself.

At the very end, she popped up out of her couch nest and began to dance along with Clara. I can't wait to watch her get bigger and see how this part of her personality develops.

Wordless Wednesday

Mimi's New Haircut

Little Mimi's twirlies were getting out of control, so I "evened out her ends." More liked whacked off all her hair, but let's not get technical. So far, she hasn't noticed that her hair is not long enough to do her beloved "fancy pigtails." I'll rue the day when she realizes! I took her to Annette, who does my hair, and whom Mimi calls "the nette." Annette joked and said, "I'm not just a nette, I'm THE nette."

Girlie Girl

I snapped this picture really quickly with my phone while I was in the checkout line at Target. Mimi zoned right in on this "Weddings" magazine and proceeded to study the gown for 5 minutes, as if hypnotized. It cracks me up how girlie she is, without fail, wherever we go!

The Dancing Diva

Here is this week's installment of Mimi's dance class at Miss Wendi's. Mimi is the one in the blue tutu; no boring practice leotard for The Diva of Dress-up!

Mimi Writes Her Name!

Each morning after I drop Max & Sis off at school, Mimi & I do some schoolwork. Yesterday it finally clicked and she wrote her own name! It's so cute and I know the babyish letters won't last long as she learns how to form her letters, so I had to get a picture.

Here she is, with the typical Hanson Concentration Mouth.

And this is her portrait of me (left) & her (right). She proudly showed me how she meticulously drew my eyelashes (how flattering!) and her little freckles.