Birthday

So it really did happen, of course. She's getting big!!! But enough about that... Saturday started like most any other day, except for the fact that Squirt woke up at 6:00 and started knocking on our bedroom door every five minutes for about the next 45 minutes until I had a minor nervous breakdown and relocated to the couch so she'd quit trying to come get me. I was a brilliant parent, and we set all her gifts out on the living room chair to tempt her mercilessly. At least that was the end result.

She played her first basketball games on Saturday. They were ref training games and truthfully I felt quite sorry for one of the kids. He didn't "demand it!" quite the way his trainer expected... but I digress... She had a blast. I don't think she really has any clue what is going on still, but she did have one lengthy dribble down the court.

After three games, a shower, and a tiny bit of down time we went for a birthday dinner of her choice: Carls' Jr. As we got there she asked if we could go through the drive through... which was both hilarious and not indulged. Birthday dinners are not to-go (at least in the grown up mind). We made faces and played with the shutter remote while waiting for our food.

And then the moment(s) arrived: cake and presents!

The cake was a simple coconut cake served with double chocolate ice cream. While I was playing with the camera and timer, His Hotness was being goofy and smearing icing all over the birthday girls' face. She loved it.

Despite the fact that Christmas was here about fourteen minutes ago, she got some serious stuff. In addition to the pile pictured there was a huge stack of clothes and a new winter coat. After conversations with many different family members, it was time to play Skylander, have a dramatic sugar crash, and collapse in bed. She had a great day.

Halfway

Squirt had a birthday this weekend. It's a birthday that is hard for me to face. I'm a sentimental mother and for the past six years (prior to my marriage) it has just been the two of us. She's been my other half for so long, it's hard to realize that we're halfway to the point that she leaves the "nest."

She doesn't view it that way of course. To her it's another year older which means another year closer to the freedoms older kids get. And presents. It was definitely about presents. I realized after the festivities were done that once again I was in a precious few photos with her. Several years ago I had made a goal to be in at least one photo with her each month, even if it was a cheesy self-portrait snapped in the bathroom mirror before bedtime on the last day of the month. Since meeting His Hotness, I've gotten out of that habit and I realize now how much I miss it. 

Before bedtime, I made Squirt take some pictures with me. 

I can't believe how big she is now. I can't believe that we're halfway to the move-out point. I can't believe how different our life has become from when she was little. It's beautiful and completely amazing but I confess that a small part of me is not loving this whole growing-up business.

Happy Birthday baby girl. With every passing year you weasel your way deeper into my heart.

Normalcy

Sometimes it really is the little things. The last couple days have been filled with relaxation, playing at the park with neighbors, and just being. It's nice to let kids be kids and not worry about the hype and chaos of Holidays, travel, or other such things. Squirt had her first day back at school today and in the afternoon the weather cooperated again so we spent a good chunk of time outside.

Jellie-Bellie wanted me to capture her "being a tree." Rest assured she was merely 3 feet off the ground, if that.

She also loved riding a bike - a LOT. In fact she tried at one point to get Squirt off her bike and teaching her how to ride with no training wheels. If not for the fact that the other bike was way too big and she had no helmet, I might have just sat and watched that scene unfold.

After every lap of the common area, she would pose for the camera (often making goofy faces) and I would wait until she circled again to show her the image.

We took Squirt's new basketball to the park and had a blast trying to make baskets. She starts up basketball practice again tomorrow and is super-excited for it.

Then they rode bikes some more.

It was just a normal day of kids being kids.

A speck of sunlight

After we returned from Christmas in Washington, we were greeted by a deluge of water that lasted for 2-3 days. I was glad, actually, as I had started to question the sanity of every person who told me that winters are wet in the Northwest. Every pleasantly mild overcast or misty day I thought to myself "Huh. What rain?" and I was disappointed to not be able to break in my rain boots. Those days of rain were welcomed - by me at least.

Today was a delightful 50-something degrees with bright sunlight. This too was welcomed. His Hotness and I had wanted to get outside and do something with the kids if possible, and boy was it ever possible. We packed up and headed to the coast.

His Hotness has joked about the fact that Squirt may not have gotten what she imagined a little sister to be with Jellie-Bellie. Squirt would love someone to follow her around and look up to her as though she is a caretaker and role model but Jellie-Bellie is a bit too independent to let her fill that role. This moment was rare in that Jellie-Bellie wanted Squirt to help her and for a moment they were able to fill the sibling roles that Squirt imagines.

Partly due to the fact that the water was a delightful 43.3 degrees (as measured by the infrared thermometer we brought with us), we tried to keep the kids as dry as possible. Which meant tempting fate and running from the water hoping to escape the very moment before saturation becomes imminent. In case there was a doubt, they were both soaked up to about the knees before we left.

Posing on the rocks. Looking through these pictures is where I realized that I need to hand off the camera once in a while so I can be in some of them. Or remember to pack the tripod. That would work too.

This picture melts my heart a little. His Hotness and I decided long ago that we were each going to let the kids call us what they wanted - so long as it was nice. Names are so personal and represent the relationship we have with someone. As far as I'm concerned, Jellie-Bellie can call me by my first name forever if she wants. The last few days though she has called me mom a few times. I will never ask for that - but it made me feel like we've got a good little bond going on.

It was a great day at the coast for our little family.

Man-pedi

The promise of creative liberty was made long before the Holidays began. Of course, the initial plan was to all do our toes red and green prior to Christmas. Life was just too busy however, so then it became a New Years plan. New Years then found us at a party we'd not anticipated. So it became Monday, for no other reason than it was Monday and the kids were ready.

After baths I painted the girls finger/toe nails any colors they wanted. When we were all done, His Hotness gave his body feet to artistic experimentation. Jellie-bellie could not quit giggling! Somehow the idea of manly painted toenails got to her...

Our second family foot-portrait. Can you tell who is who?

Christmas Morn

Somewhere in the back of my mind I have this crazy and naive idea that life should look like a Norman Rockwell painting. The calm, cooperative, playful nature of children, moms wearing aprons while pulling fresh baked bread out of the oven, and Santa with a big long beard being watched by trusting yet anxious little eyes. As I look back over my childhood, I try to identify where this idea came from. After a short time I realize that of course no one has a life that is that idyllic or picturesque, but despite the disparity between dreams and reality those feelings can certainly be created.

For me it was when Grandma would let me cook with her. As the other kids were running and playing, the adults were playing Rook or talking football or doing needlework or planning last minute shopping trips, I was in the kitchen with Grandma making something yummy. She always had time for me and she always let me help her. If there was nothing that needed to be made, she would figure out some sweet treat or another that we could make together. In doing so, that magical feeling of Christmas evolved. It was a feeling of being loved, of being important, and of spending time with people who made me feel like I was one in a million. The twinkly lights inside and outside of the home just accentuated it.

It's harder (and more rewarding) to prepare for holidays as a new family. Not to mention I tend to stress out easily. Too easily in fact. I was worried about being able to create the feelings of joy and elation that I imagined in my mind while in the home of new family that I hardly know.

The gifts were all hidden prior to Christmas Eve which made the magic of Christmas morning all the more powerful. Kids awoke to find piles of gifts where there was once open space. I haven't a single picture from the morning. Not one. I literally sat on the couch and watched all the enthusiasm unfold without so much as one click. Very unlike me. Between the awe of Christmas morning, the Christmas Eve pajama scavenger hunt, gingerbread houses, craft projects, the 12 days of Christmas (all done by Grandma), and just being able to play with cousins, the elusive perfection of Christmas seemed to be felt by all the children. Which made me realize: the magic of Christmas is often the magic of having a Grandma.

Part of me feels a little sick at the thought that I didn't take a single photograph. Instead I will have to make due with the Rockwell-esque pictures preserved in my mind as a memory of this, our first Christmas as a family.

And this:

Hopefully your holidays were just as memorable.

Ducks BBall

...or how to steal pom-poms from the college cheer squad.

You guessed it. We headed out to the ball game again. This time we were all together though, which made it all the sweeter. We had told bribed the kids that if they were super-duper good that day that they would get to open a Christmas present early.

Oh, yeah (the sound of Yello and a Twix commercial suddenly come to mind). You'd better believe that for a few sweet hours we were all powerful, almost super-human parents with the most obedient children known to man.

When they unwrapped their gifts, they found these matching pink Ducks Fan Club tees. Normally we avoid the matchy-matchy thing since they are definitely individuals and we'd like to preserve that - but this was an acceptable deviation from the norm. They like pink. And ducks. And pink ducks.

Then at the arena we bought them each a pom-pom to fully enjoy the experience.

The general student seating area includes that right adjacent to the band, which means right in line of sight for cameras. The girls dancing in their pink duck shirts and flailing pom-poms was caught on camera multiple times, which always brought squeals of delight and encouraged goofy behavior during every break in play time.

So I started taking pictures. His Hotness has a better camera than I do so I've sort of exercised my wifely co-ownership opportunity and confiscated it for a while. The only problem is that while his lens is far better, mine is a wider angle. Meaning my beloved self-portraits don't work with the nicer lens. I got pics of those of us who were sitting...

...and the girls when they gallivanted down the stairs to greet Puddles...

...and Jellie-Bellie when she ended up with one of the cheerleaders pom poms. We're still not entirely sure how that happened. One moment she was kid-flirting with Puddles, the next she's running up the stairs enthusiastically waving the metallic balls of fluff. 

It seems they had traded their fluff - but I'm not sure Puddles realized she was going to take off with them like that. Soon after he came to reclaim them.

After we took the game from N. Carolina we headed out for our typical after-sports ice cream where we ran into one of the cheerleaders the girls had been talking to. Fun times. This being all together stuff is incredible.