Paparazzi

Grandma Shutterbug, a.k.a. Grandma Paula, came to town and made little Millie feel like a big celebrity with lots of attention and camera time. The above shot was probably my favorite but some other cute ones came out of the visit too.

Jenae crocheted this little cap for Millie. Isn't it cute?

Two days later my friend Jenny sent me this cute, homemade hat. Stephen calls it her flapper hat. I think they're both perfect for our little Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Oh, and do you like my new header? Talk about a day--or moment--in the life. I just love Eli's expression while Millie is pulling his hair.

Uncle Worship

Somebody can do no wrong. His name is Uncle Joseph. In fact, both our boys pretty much worship the ground he walks on. He plays with them. He wrestles with them. He patiently helps them play the Wii. He knows Star Wars. He knows superheroes. He wakes up early on Christmas morning to come over and watch them open presents. He rides in the back of the van with them. He reads to them. He talks to them. He is missed and requested and prayed for when he leaves to go sleep in his hotel at night.

And tomorrow he goes back home to Utah. . . which means things are going to be sad around here for a few days.

Comic Books and Umbrellas

We went to Santa Cruz to visit Stephen's older half-brother, Troy, who owns a very cool little comic book shop downtown. As much as our boys love all the superheroes, I don't think they had any idea that they come from comic books. I'm not even sure they had ever seen a comic book before visiting Troy's store. They fell in love. They did not want to leave. They would have been happy to spend the entire day camped out on the floor of that shop reading comics about Batman, Superman, Spiderman and the gang.

I loved finally getting to meet Troy. So nice. And down to earth. And funny. And cute the way he kept calling Stephen "brother." And completely cool with all [eleven] of us showing up at his shop unannounced. And surprised by how many kids Stephen and I have. And utterly Santa Cruz. Did I mention his wife teaches belly dance? She does.

After the comic shop, we grabbed some sandwiches and headed for the beach. The weather had been clear the whole morning, but wouldn't you know it started to drizzle just about the moment we stepped onto the sand. We headed for the waves anyway, some of us more literally than others, and soaked in the ocean air, sounds and scenery for as long as we could. Eli and Bennett ran around while Millie hung out under the umbrella and "dined out," as Grandma called it, on her very gourmet Gerber baby food.

Navidad '09

Eli on Christmas Eve, sitting by the fireplace where Santa will soon descend

Thanks for the cookies, Kathleen. Santa said they were better than ever!

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night"

Christmas morning quiet, coming out to the candle-lit Nativity

The grand finale was a little disappointing in the box, unassembled

He was way more excited about Buzz than the bike

Yes! The one thing from his Santa letter that was actually under the tree.

This little gal would have been happy with one piece of tissue paper

Have you ever heard of the game Take Off?

It can get pretty competitive with this crowd

Wii Love Santa

That Santa sure knows how to make us happy. We suspect he hails from the slightly more southern north pole, Seattle, and has a bunch of other kids I'm related to. . . wherever he comes from his generous Christmas gift has kept all of us entertained and occupied, sometimes even together! I am by far the worst in the family. Bennett has already schooled me in tennis and bowling. He even knocked out his heavyweight dad in boxing. Stephen's had fun rocking out with the Guitar Hero we borrowed from Liz, and both boys love the Cars Race-o-rama along with Kendra and Joseph's Legos Star Wars.

B opening his new Cars Wii game

Hooked on Santa

Bennett has been begging me to write a wish "list" for Santa. Apparently the Santa letters he wrote at school weren't good enough because he's been persistent with his requests. I softened my "too busy" Grinch's heart this morning--it IS Christmas Eve after all--and sat next to him while he wrote and stamped the list/letter above.

The whole sound-it-out spelling is just about the most adorable thing ever. Can you tell he's starting to experiment with punctuation? His commas look a little like backward C's and his "Batman car 'slash-dash' plane" takes a little figuring out. The budding speller ran out of gas with gar(bage) truck and proclaimed his arm too tired to continue. Fine by me. I had no idea he wanted some of this stuff! I'm afraid he will not be opening a box with a dog in it tomorrow or probably any Christmas in the near future. . .

Equal Opportunity Spectators

We had a chance to support the Stanford women's and men's basketball teams on back-to-back nights, and since we are all about equality in our family we supported both. The boys tagged along for the women's game the first night, their first college basketball game of any kind, and although our free seats were a little high for my liking... they didn't know any better and loved it all. The band had Eli captivated. The dancing tree cracked him up. Bennett was more taken by the concessions possibilities and the scoreboard, since he loves tracking game scores with his daddy at home. He also seemed into the action of the game, aware that he was seeing live what he's usually watching at home on a television. They also loved meeting the Stanford football team before the game with famed running back Toby Gerhart as a definite highlight.


Stephen and I went alone to the men's game the next night with much better seats, thanks to Aunt Kathy's Oklahoma State connections, and definitely enjoyed the game more fully without the muchkins. I forgot how much I like watching basketball. I also forgot how much watching basketball makes me want to get out and play basketball. It's been so many years I don't even want to count, but something about the excitement and energy and tension of a live game makes me feel like hardly any time has passed, as if I could just jump out there and win the game for them. Ridiculous, I know. It's no wonder all those old people sitting around us fork out the big bucks for season tickets. Feeling young and invincible seems pretty worth it.

Holiday Roadkill

Forget Grandma, I feel like I'VE been run over by a reindeer these days.

Why does all the early December fun and magic turn into mid-December stress and fatigue?

My house is a wreck,
my calendar insane,
my sleep minimal,
my to-do list completely overwhelming,
my patience thin,
my temper strong,
my husband exhausted,
my boys sassy,
my baby grouchy,
my shows stacked a mile high,
my book sadly neglected,
and
my toenail polish so chipped it's embarrassing to look at my feet.


Oh well, at least my whining is still intact.

Somebody's Three

I, the mother too caught up in Christmas to properly celebrate her kid's third birthday, vow to throw him a bona fide birthday party next year.

I feel like I made this same promise last year, but now that I'm promising publicly maybe I'll actually follow through for Eli's fourth birthday. I feel bad that he watches his older brother have huge birthday festivities every October, talks about his own birthday every day for a month, and then gets the shaft because his family is too busy being busy in December. Why do I get the feeling he'll be telling his therapist this same story someday?

So there wasn't a party. But there was a cake. His first ever, I might add. I busted out the ole homemade cake and frosting recipes, along with my super rusty 9-inch round cake pans (parchment paper to the rescue). I even put some blue crystal sprinkles on top, which I bought at the store after hearing Eli tell someone he wanted "sparkles" on his cake. Thankfully I had exactly three candles left in the candle box since I forgot to pick those up, and while the frosting was a little on the runny side I don't think Eli minded.

There were also a few presents. I love new toys. The first few days are always the toy honeymoon when the boys play happily, actually sharing with each other because they're so excited to have new stuff, and they even forget about the TV for a little while. Miracle of miracles!

There was also a big package that arrived at the house with Eli's name on it. Very exciting indeed. Guess what was inside of it? The very firetruck Mr. Eli had been wanting for almost a year now. The one with the doors that open. The one with a fireman to go inside. The one that is tougher and louder and all around better than the one his older brother got from Santa last Christmas. You scored big, Granddad Jory and Connie.

And of course there were In-N-Out burgers for lunch.

Next year, however, there WILL be a party. A real one.

"Mommy, my hands are freezing!"

Stephen had to work late last night, so I decided to head for the hills and chase the newly-fallen, mountain snow. I mean, how often is the white stuff within driving distance of my little Bay area home? I didn't have an exact destination in mind, just up, up, up until we hit the snow, so there was a bit of meandering until we hit Highway 9. Bennett was getting concerned after a half-hour of driving and no visible snow yet. "Do you know where you're going, Mommy?" and "Where's the snow?" kept coming from the back seat. I sometimes forget that a mom like me can really stress out a kid like Bennett. He is a lot like Stephen in his need for planning and structure and predictability, which is why I usually save spontaneous outings like "Let's go chase the snow, kids!" for when Daddy's not home.

When we finally did reach the snow, however, all of B's stress melted right away as he caught his first glimpses. "I see it, Mommy, I see it!" I may as well have been five years old myself, though, the way I couldn't stop smiling at the blanketed trees and little white piles on the sides of the road. Seeing all that beautiful winter scenery was food for my snow-starved soul--apparently absence has made my heart grow fonder (especially when I think of how I used to complain about it when I lived in UT). As we approached the top, Benito kept asking to get out and see it, so we pulled over and frolicked midst the snow-capped trees and gorgeous views of the lighted valley below. Eli was fast asleep in the van with content Millie by his side, so it was just B and I throwing snowballs at each other. This cute couple gave Bennett their miniature snowman and laughed at his shock over how cold his hands were from touching the snow. First-timer through and through.

Baffled

Remember how I told you that child #2 was having issues going #2 in public bathrooms? Well, apparently we wished or prayed a little too hard for him to overcome that one because now we can't get him to stop doing it! Lest you think I'm exagerrating, let me give you a brief run-down of how many bathrooms the kid "dooked it out in" over the course of one day:

Monday night -- drugstore
Monday night -- home
Tuesday morning -- home
Tuesday morning -- Bennett's classroom
Tuesday morning -- home
Tuesday morning -- mall
Tuesday afternoon-- park (twice)
Tuesday afternoon -- home
Tuesday night -- Costco
Tuesday night -- home

Does this seem a little unnatural to anyone else? How does one little body produce that much stuff? And where he used to insist that I come into the stall with him, now he "wants privacy, Mommy" and gives me the stiff arm every time I try and help (although I have peeked to make sure he's doing what he really says he's doing in there and not faking it). Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about any of this. It's soooooooo much better than what I was dealing with before. I'm just baffled by what brought on the sudden and dramatic change, not to mention how he's pulling this off physically. Maybe he really is the man of steel. . . complete with a robotic bodily fluid rationing system.