Gobble gobble, 2015!

"Thanksgiving just gets me all warm and tingly and all kinds of wonderful inside."
-Willard Scott

We got too busy this year to hire a professional family photographer but that didn’t stop us from getting the kids dressed up and out to the park for some pictures before all the leaves fell.  I think the pictures came out pretty well.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  It’s a holiday whose sole purpose is to spend time with friends and family and be thankful for what you have.  There’s no pretense of presents, parties, or anything else.  It’s simply good food and good company.  Our Thanksgiving weekend started at the Wolfe’s where we got our first helping of turkey, pie, and sweet potatoes.

The next day it was time to put up the Christmas tree.  The kids were eager to help this year and actually did a pretty good job putting up the ornaments.  Even Isla go it on the mix, although she took down one ornament for every two she handed to Ashlyn or James to put up.  The end result was good and our home is definitely starting to feel a bit like Christmas.

It’s a good think all the decorating worked up an appetite, because Turkey Round 2 was the following day at Nina and Papa’s.  More turkey, yams, and pie ensued along with some excellent champagne and wine.  Unlike previous years we didn’t do it on Wednesday which meant we got to spend much more time as a family.  The cousins don’t get to see each other as often as they should and they took full advantage of the extra time.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A troublemaker and a fishing trip…

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."
-John Buchan

I’m contemplating starting off each weekly blog post for the foreseeable future with a picture of Isla getting in trouble.  This kid is into everything, and either my memory is failing or she is much more nosey than her older siblings.  Here she is digging into the Nilla Wafers after opening the pantry and pulling the box down and her digging into the cub drawer in preparation of tossing them all over the kitchen.

Sometimes I’ll post picture simply because they make us happy.  Seeing the three kids sitting and eating together is why we wanted three in the first place.  I won’t put the after pictures where someone ran out of cookies first and the other two fought over them.  As they say, ignorance is bliss and I’d prefer to only record the good parts in pictures.

I’m also happy to report that we finally have a magnetic kitchen appliance.  Playing with magnet letters is a staple for any kid and these have been missing from our house for years.  This also gives us another opportunity to pick things up off the kitchen floor0.  We’ve been complaining recently that we only get to spend around 2 hours each day picking things up and we deserved more pick up time.  Problem solved!

Apparently a drop in temperature outside means it’s time to pack some bags, get the fishing poles, and head outside to catch fish.  Unfortunately the drop in temperature meant it was too cold to be outside and we ended up spending half the afternoon untangling fishing lines from furniture, toys, and Isla.

The kids finally talked us into going to McDonald’s this weekend and we consented primarily because we knew they would burn off some energy in the play area.  It did not burn off as much energy as we would have liked, but the kids had fun either way so I guess it wasn’t a total loss.

A troublemaker and a painter…

"Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is."
-Jackson Pollock

This will be a short blog, shorter than most at any rate.  For whatever reason, we took almost no pictures this week.  I know we did stuff, the week simply went by too fast to capture it for the blog.  I’ll share what I can though.

First, our little trouble maker.  All kids get into stuff, it’s true.  But our little Isla gets into EVERYTHING.  And what’s worse, she knows when she’s not supposed to do it and does it anyway.  If you walk in on her doing something she’s not supposed to do she’ll look at you with a look at that clearly indicates she knows what she’s doing.  Take her away from it though and she’ll scream like you’re taking away the only thing in the world that matters to her.  It will be interesting to see if this continues as she gets older.  Just in case, we’ve sent out a few inquiries to some boarding to schools to see if they have pre-school levels.

 

Luckily she has a big sister to help show her the ropes.  Right now the ropes typically means wrestling around with her on the floor.  But someday I hope it will turn into more important lessons.

Mom is always on the lookout for things the kids will enjoy.  She found a face painting set and of course the kids wanted to open it up immediately.  There were plenty of examples to choose from, things like a flower or a rainbow.  You know, simple things that would be easy to paint for an amateur face painter.  The kids of course picked some of the complicated designs.  Ashlyn went with a cat, complete with whiskers and ears.

James went with a dinosaur of course.  This was just as involved as the cat.  In true children fashion, both wanted it wiped off their faces within 4 minutes (I’m not kidding).  They even went and took a bath on their own just to get it cleaned off.  Kids, am I right?

And finally we rounded out the week with a visit from Nina and Papa.  They weren’t able to stay for dinner, but they were able to play with the kids a bit and that’s always fun.  We’re looking forward to getting the family together in a few weeks for Thanksgiving.  Bring on the turkeys!

A steak, a park, and a birthday…

"He's frowning because he has something on his foot but he doesn't have any arms to reach it."
-Ashlyn, describing the paint on the "Y"

This week marked our 12th anniversary.  Most people would have taken a vacation, maybe spent it on a beach or in a cabin on the mountains.  We spent it eating prime steak on the porch with the kids.  You know what?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.   Thanks for twelve great years Heather.  I’ve known you now for a third of my life, and my only regret is that I didn’t meet you sooner.

Isla is starting to grow up quick.  She’s still not showing a lot of interest in talking, but she’s understanding more and beginning to play with puzzles and books.  The talking will come when she’s ready, at this point we’re simply happy to see her getting more independent.

Our house saw a lot of sick people over the past two weeks and so this weekend was spent getting caught up on all the things we have been falling behind on.  That didn’t stop us to stop by the park on the the way to the grocery store to enjoy a little of the fall weather (and burn off some excess energy).  Ashlyn made a new friend on the playground and it was neat to see them play together.

Sunday was PePa’s birthday and the kids made him birthday cards.  Ashlyn’s said “You are the best PePa ever”, which I thought was sweet (no offence to the rest of the PePas out there).  Happy birthday PePa!!

Later that afternoon we took the kids outside while the weekly dinners were simmering.  The highlight of these pictures is Ashlyn toting James and Isla around in the cart.  One of our primary goals as parents is training our kids to be fully independent so that we can sit back with a margarita while they raise themselves.  This is a great first step.

To help make sense of the quote this week, here are a couple of pictures of Ashlyn painting some letters she got for her birthday.  She drew a happy “H”, but for some reason the “Y” was sad.  When I asked her why, she informed me that the Y had something on his foot and no hands to pick it up with.  Oh the imagination of children.