February Changes

I have several updates for the blog:

1. Squirms is now a four year old.
2. I have gained too much weight to be labeled a Trophy Wife, and, therefore, (is that too many commas?) have begun a full time job.
3. The Great experienced his first day of school (aka preschool/daycare).
4. We have a contract to buy a home.
5. Items 1 - 4 happened within a time span of 7 days.

Yes. Valentines Day, our clever, stubborn, affectionate "tiny girl" turned four. Grandpa, Gran, Auntie H and her significant other traveled north (I just love saying that, we are north of people now!) to celebrate with us. We visited a children's museum, at which our children really only wanted to play trains, enjoyed lunch at a cafe several feet from an in use train track, and ate a Doc McStuffins themed cake.

Auntie H loves me.

Presents before cake.

Little Lady with her new tea set (Auntie C and Uncle T) and new table (Grandpa and Gran)

How delicately she drinks....

The Friday before Valentines Day was my first official day at my new job and new company. This fall, when the Great turned two, I began praying about the possibility of returning to the work force. R was supportive and also began praying about it. I uploaded my resume to several interesting job descriptions and began the interview process for two different positions. The position I accepted felt like a gift and we have felt at peace about me working in this job. Plus, the end item of the project I'm on is a rocket. And that's just cool (technically, I think it's one of the coolest things I could have possibly worked on, and it's just fun to tell Squirms that's what mommy is working). Disclaimer: I'm not super cool and working design or actually torquing bolts, but I do get to be part of the project.

With this change came full time care for our angels. We are hopeful that full time care, or school as we are calling it, will be beneficial: providing structure, play time, and hands on learning opportunity. Squirms LOVES it. The Great is adjusting, but does tell us that "I played" when we picked him up and ask how his day was. The Great's teachers tell us that he has great verbal skills and knows his colors. I will admit that I was so concerned with buying work clothes, registration paperwork, house hunting, and R being on work travel that I almost forgot to take pictures on his first day of school. But I did remember, and while the shutter is still having issues, you can tell how handsome he looked. And how unimpressed with this development he was. 

We're really doing this?

Can I go home and play trains now?

An online software tool that we use to track our budget sent me an email this week. It told me that we have spent $870 dollars on childcare/babysitting in the past month. And that we normally spend $5. And then the email message said "Might want to look into that".

We close on our new home at the end of March. I'm hoping that we will be able to see stars at night (even though we will only be ten minutes from the downtown church we've been visiting). We will have a guest room, hint hint Central Florida friends. We are looking forward to settling in and I'm especially looking forward to buying an address stamp. 

Other updates include R going to a choir practice at a church we've been visiting, cheering Auntie C as she took the bar exam, a visit from Auntie L that included getting a manicure (helping me through the Great's first day of school), and lots of shopping from Ann Taylor clearance. Oh, and the Great has been using his nebulizer to vibe test his trains. Thomas the Train handles vibration well, and this method of test has shown a decisive difference in Thomas the Train official wooden trains and the Toys R Us brand wooden trains. 

Treats

I mentioned that my in-laws visited us and brought treats. And by treats I mean the best pears and almonds I've ever tasted, and more cocoa that I will try not to share. To best explain, I've included a list:

• White Chocolate Covered Pecans. From Alabama's favorite pecan place, Priester's. We have been allowing the children one pecan per day.
• Pecans fresh from The Farm. The Farm is what we're calling the land in North Florida that R's dad and uncle have been playing at working recently. It's land their parents owned and farmed. They have now harvested hay, field peas, pecans, and cabbage. 
• Cabbage fresh from The Farm. I put this on a ham sandwich because I thought it was lettuce. It turns out that Squirms really likes raw cabbage.
• Creme Brûlée Almonds. Wow. Wow. The brand is Squirrel's, and according to the can has been around since 1888. 
• Dunkin Donuts cake donuts. I only ate them in small segments. One can't just leave leftover donuts on the counter. I can only walk by them so many times.
• Pumpkin Marshmallows. Squirms adored these at Thanksgiving so Mamé brought the remainder for Squirms and the Great to share. They've been super helpful for bribing happily rewarding the children this week.
• Harry and David Pears. Juiciest pears ever. I didn't understand why this seemed to be a very special box of pears and it seemed very important to wait until they were ripe. It's a pear. But. It's not just a pear. If we buy you a Christmas gift next year, it might be pears. And you will probably be like, oh, great, a fruit I can get at Publix. And then you will take one bite. And we will become your favorite gift-givers.
• Spiced Pumpkin and Pecan Quickbread Mix and Pecan Pumpkin Butter. I'm going to make this for the moms' group I attend on Mondays. So I can seem fancy.
• Silly Cow Cocoa mix: Chocolate-Chocolate and Chocolate Moo-use. We all know who this is for. Me. Tonight the kids asked for hot cocoa and marshmallows. I offered them marshmallows only.

It's time to make some cocoa and keep watching the PBS show Chasing Shackleton on Netflix.

Shutter Problems

Our shutter is slowly dying on our camera. And I realized today how much I missed wearing my hair down. Living in a hot, humid climate, working in a clean room, and holding tiny babies who like to pull hair has equaled a lot of bun and pony tail styles. The Great and I were running errands today in feels-like 29 degrees temperatures and were a swirl of big coats and curls. Curls are warm.

Here are some Christmas celebration photos. Our Christmas day included reading from the book of Luke, Squirms being excited about stockings, a visit to my grandparents' home, flash flooding, hiding in a closet because of tornado sirens, power and water outages, and ear infections. It was memorable.

Christmas Eve at Great-Granny's house.

Christmas morning tree, and wagon!

Girl loves stockings.

They can both open their own gifts now!

Lunch crew. 

We are ready to start house hunting. I am addicted to Zillow. The Great is becoming such a little boy, and he loves to have iPad time (he loves it so much we have to restrict it so he will play with toys). Squirms really enjoyed Christmas decorating and all the celebrating this year. I am slowly coming to terms with her turning four next month. Four!!!! It seems so much bigger than three.

And R's parents came to visit us last weekend. They had to listen to me talk about prospective houses and look at pictures on Zillow, but we also let them play trains with the kids a bit too. They brought the kids even more trains and tracks so downstairs now is basically just train tracks. I'll probably need to do a full blog post on the different foods they brought us.

Time to go. Squirms started back to preschool today.

Ten Things

1. The Great (finally) got his first hair cut! Those wonderful curls are a bit shorter now, and he looks just as handsome.

The before picture.

The "I'm not pleased with this" picture.

Watching Thomas the Train.

The post cut picture.

2. We spent Thanksgiving with family in Florida. Lots of fun and lots of food.

I wish I knew what the Great was thinking here....

3. November was busy.

4. December has been busy too.

5. Being busy has been nice.

6. But I'm not feeling inspired to write a lot. I'm feeling inspired to take a nap.

7. R's dad celebrated 25 years of leadership at the accounting firm where he has worked for over 30 years. R and I were able to be there and celebrate with the family; and enjoyed a road trip just the two of us! I took several naps in the car.

8. Sunday night R made us homemade pizza (with purchased dough). The Great has asked for it every meal since Sunday night. I understand. I like pizza for most meals too.

9. Squirms is really enjoying Christmas decorations, talking about Christmas, thinking about toys, and more Christmas decorations. She has also decided she really likes candy canes, or candy cans as she calls them. It's fun to see how much she is enjoying celebrating Jesus's birth this month.

10. We took around four hundred and seventy-six thousand photos to put together a Christmas card (with three photos). We have photos of silly faces, back-of-their-heads, dancing, crying and tantrums, and smiles (but not at the same time). These are two we didn't use for the card:

We love band aids.

We tried to get them to hold hands.

Smiles and Candy Theory

1. Give them a piece of candy.

2. Candy devoured.

3. Giggling, tackling, tickling, giggling.

4. Try to wear blankets like spooky ghosts.

5. Disappointment surfaces (not sure of the origin).

6. Crying. Oh, I'm so sad. I'm sad. Lots of crying.

I call this the One Piece of Candy Life Cycle.

I've also figured out that eating lots of whoppers does not make me better at crossword puzzles. Unfortunate. 

Here are a few photos, one from the beach trip, and several from R and the kids carving pumpkins. 

This girl knows how to have fun.

Squirms was great at cleaning out the pumpkin.

The Great was not so sure about sticking his hand in there.

The edge is as far as the Great would go.

R and his helpers. Sorry I cut off your handsome head R.

Happy Halloween. 

Happy November!

Reviews of Books

The Remorseful Day by Colin Dexter.
      Ah. Great book. Great characters. This is the last in the Inspector Morse series. A series worth the time to read because of how well you get to know Inspector Morse and trusty Lewis. As Squirms says about Arnold Lobel (see below), they are my friends. I'd like to have a silent conversation with Morse and his blue eyes across a pub table. And to enjoy fish, chips, and eggs with Lewis after a long day at work.

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough.
      I do enjoy reading about others' lives. And the more I read about Theodore Roosevelt, the more I respect him. I particularly liked that McCullough gives information on his family members too, like older sister Bamie. It seems Bamie might need her own biography written.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
      I read this because it is classified (in bookstores, school lists) as a classic. It's poetic. The writing is pretty. There are several phrases that are just beautiful. I had a difficult time getting drawn into the story and had to force myself to read. However, an english teacher / book lover that I trust assured me that it's one of her favorites so I'm glad that I finished it. If I read more of Hurston I may need to find her poems instead of novels though.

Capital Dames by Cokie Roberts.
      This is most current in my memory; and it's a book written from letters and historical documents about the belles of Washington DC in the 1860's so of course I loved it! Roberts follows the women of DC and others who come to DC, from before the Civil War through just after, and then thankfully gives a short epilogue for each. This book offers so much detail and insight to this time period, and so many facts that I didn't know about these women. It also showcases the heartbreak that the war caused, from her focus on one city and it's people - friends, coworkers, families all effected. It brings light to a side of the Civil War that I had not studied or considered.
      It also made me take note of a certain historical marker in front of a home for sale in our surrounding area. Virginia Clay-Clopton's former home. A belle during the Pierce administration and wife of a US Senator and then wife of an Alabama Supreme Court Justice, she became involved in the suffragette movement in her later years. Now, if I can just convince R that we should buy a house built in the early 1800's....

Mouse Soup and Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel.
      The Squirms whole heartedly approves of these books. One of them is read at least once a day, usually more, and she has declared that Arnold Lobel is my friend. After reading Mouse Soup she must know who paints each book we read. These are both gifts from R's parents, and it should be noted that it's nice to have a former elementary reading teacher in the family. And although I do have some concerns about the Owl and his seemingly complete lack of common sense, Squirms adores him and almost has Owl at Home memorized.




And in case anyone was wondering, Chaco does make boots (I haven't purchased any, just a discovery). And buying Halloween candy before the 31st is a bad idea (this I did purchase, and then eat).

We Rode a Train

So, the Great turned two. I'm pretty sure I should have devoted an entire blog post to this major life event. I need one of those shirts that says I'm an Okay Mom.

Of course we went to a train museum and took a train ride. And then ate hot dogs. And cake and ice cream.

 

Also. I need to know what shoes people wear for Fall and Winter. I've been wearing Chaco sandals for about nine years, year round - with running shorts, jeans, and sun dresses. In my fashion worldview, Chacos go with everything. Tonight at church my toes were turning purple during listening about the Christian Women's Job Corps, and I thought that it might be a good idea to find some closed toed shoes. I finally now understand why my favorite Auburn friend from Florida, Miss JS, walked around Auburn in 30 degree weather in flip flops her first year.

  

Thomas the Train came with us on the train ride. As did Grandpa and Gran, or Breat Branny (Great Granny) as the Great calls Gran. The train took us to a little pumpkin patch and the kids each chose a pumpkin. Our two year old thought that the pumpkins were there for a Pumpkin Throwing Contest.

  

And then we went to the beach. I mean the Gulf. The beach on the gulf.

The spoiled rotten angel children got to spend the weekend playing on the beach with both sets of grandparents. They were fed ice cream for snack, given legos by Auntie L, and allowed to stay up late. We also now own one million sea shell pieces.

Yoga, for the boy who loves the sand.

Sea shell hunting with Grandpa