Tomorrow is Another Day. Channelling my inner Scarlett O'Hara.

I really shouldn't post at night, when I'm prone to discouragement. (I have felt down in the dumps lately, not my usual self.) I really wish my days were going as planned. But they are not, and I'm frustrated.

But Monday & Tuesday this week were good days. We did our Gingerpeeps on Monday night. And Tuesday night we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" and assembled the little nativities from Tuesday's post. Well, Isabelle did hers with my help. She loves to do crafts. Mimi was too tired and Max was engrossed in the movie. They all really loved the movie, which surprised me a little, since it is so different from what they usually watch. But they were glued to it the entire time.

Isabelle's nativity, on her nightstand.

On Monday, Jack got out of bed with the cutest little bedhead ever. All morning, I kept walking by his high chair and burying my nose in those ruffled feathers.

Isabelle, home sick, wanted him to play near her while she lay on the couch. She entertained him off and on throughout the day.
He thought it was pretty funny to have his favorite blankie as a cape and walked around like this for almost an hour.

I'm still taking pictures, nearly every day, of Mimi's school hairdos.

Yesterday Jack helped me put away the dishes, piling everything in the silverware drawer. I love this stage; I have vivid memories of Mimi doing this same thing, 5 years ago. Sniffle.


Yesterday Mimi & I went to get new dance shoes; she sneaked & tried these toe shoes on. She was in HEAVEN.

Tonight Jack had a hard time going to sleep. Again. When will it end??? Ever since Thanksgiving, when he got so sick, he's been really hard to get down at night. He went right down at 6pm on Tuesday, lulling me into thinking he was back to his old self. But no. Wednesday night and tonight were terrible. Tonight, after he finally fell asleep, I peeked in on him and found this:
His pillow and all his blankies, tossed out of his crib.

And there he was, with only his favorite blankie. I guess he'd been searching through everything, gotten grouchy and thrown them out one by one until he found the right blanket. I wonder if that is all he wanted, all along?

A closeup of his round, delicious cheeks.

Isabelle made the cutest Baby Jesus & manger in Activity Days yesterday! It's my new favorite Christmas decoration.

And the best Good Mail I've ever gotten was left at my door today.
I really can't believe it. I started to cry when I opened the little envelope. To think that someone would be so generous to my family at this time of year, when everyone is feeling an economic pinch, is beyond belief. It's humbling.

Thank you, whomever you are, little Christmas Elf.
I love you.

"Shelves in the closet, happy thought indeed."

At LAST.

One year ago, the girls moved in to the playroom, which did not have closets--it was just a big room over the garage. A few months ago, Mike started to build the closets. Then stopped {ran out of funds}. Then started. Then stopped {no funds again}. Then started. Then stopped {you get the picture}.

This week, the closets are finished.

And I am a little more sane.
{only a little}

***The first person to correctly guess which movie I'm quoting in my post title--without google's help--will receive a Good Mail surprise from me.***

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.

The Goodest Good Mail Ever

A week or so ago, I received a big juicy envelope from Mique. I knew I had a goodie coming because of this post on her blog (definitely my hottest picture ever...scroll down on her post & see). So here is what spilled out of the big envelope! It was such a fun little pile of parcels that I kept it all on the counter and gazed at it intermittently throughout the day.


Hmmm. Addict? Me? I admit nothing.


Here is what spilled out of my burgeoning package. Please note the giant-sized sprinkles. I cannot WAIT to get those on some spring-themed cupcakes. In a non-addictive way, of course. And that is a hand-embellished dishtowel that, incidentally, which matches my kitchen perfectly.
And then this. My eyeballs literally popped a little bit when I unwrapped this goodie. A happy, funky apron made by the Apron Queen herself! And would you please just LOOK at how my pregnant tummy boofs it out. Beauty.
Thank you so much, Mique, for sending some cheer my way.

The Grande Dame of Good Mail

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a certain girl in blogland is the Queen of Good Mail. (how'd you like my butchering of Jane Austen?) If that is so, my mom is the Grande Dame. For years, I have received letters and cards with thoughtful pieces of this-&-that enclosed. She has randomly sent packages, which never fail to pop out of my mailbox as a complete surprise, to me and--even better--to my kids.

Thanks, mom, for that unfailingly consistent demonstration of love throughout the years; beginning, I remember quite clearly, with a box of cookies my freshman year of college as a tangible reminder that I was loved. I'm not sure you realize how appreciated each mailbox surprise is when I greedily snatch it out.

Here are my latest packets: A cute valentine with photos of moments from 2007.


And a Valentine package for my kids containing BOOKS! They ripped open the box and grabbed their books with gusto. Each of the kids loved your choices. And look! The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E.! Max will love it. ("Night At the Museum" was a rip-off of this book, I swear.)

Jammies for Lima Bean. Fuzzy jammies. Delightful!
And then today I was surprised by a cute little bundle of goodies for Lima Bean; superhotmama (private blogger, dangit!) sent (gasp!) handmade goodies: a one-of-a-kind little beanie elephant and a Taggy Blankie. And. Do you SEE the ward cookbook??? Do you see it? This is the best ward cookbook I've ever laid eyes upon--no kidding. Thank you so much, Janie. I can't wait to see Little Lima Bean with Taggy. My kids are all very tactile and love to twirl their hair, slink their blankie corners under their fingernail (a certain fingernail, at that), and snuggle up to fuzzy animals. It is a foregone conclusion that Lima Bean will have his own little tactile trait, and he is certain to love this colorful Taggy and elephant.
Earlier last week, a valentine arrived from Carlo--a.k.a. Carolynn--and it made my day.

Going even further back, in early February I got a thoughtful little note and welcome dose of DARK chocolate (my fav) from Laurie. This was for no reason in particular--just to say Get Well. I think dark chocolate is the only flavor that is strong enough to penetrate Flu Tastebuds. Thank you, Laurie! You're a sweet friend.

Here is a little packet that I tore into. Literally. I saw that it was from Anne and clawed my way into it in order to get to those cd's. FOUR of them! Now here, ladies and gents, are some tunes that will get even a 5½ month pregnant lady exercising.

And now. I want you to look very closely. Among the various goodies in Michelle's envelope was nestled a tiny silver box in the shape of a star, which I plan to fashion into a pendant of some sort. It is an enchanting little item and I love it. Thank you so much, Michelle, for braving the bone-chilling cold of Canada to forge your way to the post office!


So, Mom. It seems your tenacious and creative usage of the USPS has caught on! Good Mail circulates the globe, and you have always been The Grande Dame of it.