Recent Fortunes

S--You are the crispy noodle in the vegetarian salad of life.

J--You will become a philantropist in your later years.

R--He that climbs the tall tree has a right to the fruit.

Our Tree

Decorating the Tree

Every year J and I talk about getting a real tree. And every year we decide against it--because of the cats, because we'll be travelling, because there isn't room, etc. This year was going to be "the year". We were really going to do it! And R was just going to decorate our little tree--the tree we've used since Christmas 2002--for fun.

Things didn't turn out that way, though. The week we were going to go get the tree, both kids were sick with colds. R was sick enough to stay out of daycare for a week, and we'd have only had the tree up for a week before we left to visit Grandma and Grandpa anyway. So we decided it wasn't worth the energy and expense.

But, I'm very pleased to announce that next year is officially "the year" that our tree will be large enough to actually put presents underneath. J's parents are giving us their fake tree. So no matter what, we won't have any excuses next year!

Snowflakes!

One of J's favorite holiday traditions is to make snowflakes out of paper every year when we start decorating for Christmas. This was the first year R was able to really help out. Here she is modelling one of their creations. It's really fun seeing the snowflakes hanging on our kitchen windows.

A is for Alligator . . .

. . . B is for Bee and C is for Cupcake!
We made these letter crafts a few weeks ago-- on several separate afternoons J and I busted out the construction paper, crayons, and glue and helped R make these letter creations. We keep meaning to move on to "D" is for.... something, but with the holidays we've been super-super busy. Maybe we'll find some new colors of paper for the next ones!

For the alligator, R got to glue on the teeth (I helped-- she actually insisted that we alternate turns gluing on teeth. Two guesses which teeth I glued on and which ones she glued on!). For the bee, R glued on wings, 3 legs, 2 antennae, and a stinger, and for the cupcake, R colored in the cupcake and glued on sprinkles. If you need a quick way to entertain your toddler, just come up with something that they can glue on to something else!

Talent Show

Growing up, one of my family's big Christmas traditions was a talent show on Christmas Eve, after church services and before opening family gifts. Usually we played whatever musical instrument we happened to be learning that year, but there were other talents as well--A drew something one year, for example, and often my talent was reading the Christmas story aloud.

Now that my brothers and I are so far-flung, the talent show takes on new forms. This year we've got some pretty impressive talents on display.

Local Hero and his girlfriend, Local Heroine, ran a marathon. Local Hero finished in just under 3.5 hours. Nice!!

A is currently deployed in Guam and he reports that he is the BBQ King of Guam.

So you can see that I've got a couple of tough acts to follow.

But I am proud to announce that I have been working on mastering the art of "Baking With Toddler." I've baked four loaves of applesauce bread, snickerdoodles, two batches of French buttercream cookies, peanut blossoms, two batches of peanut butter chocolate pillows, 6 or so dozen sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and a failed batch of peanut butter oatmeal cookies (failed because the sugar got left out... long story!).

Things I've learned along the way:
1) Always keep the toddler busy. Let her scoop, scrape, stir, and otherwise get her hands dirty.
1a) Give the toddler her own spoon, bowl, etc. This helps prevent the "helping" from throwing off the precise measurements you need for baking.

2) You cannot stop the toddler from eating whatever is in her bowl, no matter how gross it is.
(At this point, in this picture, I don't think there was anything other than flour and baking soda in her bowl. Didn't stop her from taking numerous fistfuls of the stuff and trying to eat it--thinking, perhaps, that it had magically turned into cookie dough since the last time she took a bite?)

3) Sprinkles are a toddler's best friend!
4) Licking the batter off of a beater can occupy up to 15 minutes! A lifesaver when you are trying to get cookies onto a cookie sheet!

Snow Report

12.5 inches and still snowing.

A Couple of R Funnies

Both said to J a few mornings ago.

****

J is washing his hands at the bathroom sink.
R: Need my stool, Daddy?

****

While eating breakfast in her high chair and talking to J. I am in bed, lingering as long as I can until RUS officially wakes up.
R: You will wake Mommy up.
J: I will wake her up? Why?
R: She will make a surprise face.

A Drive-By Update

This will be a quick blog post, as I only have a few moments to throw this up.

--We had RUS's 2-month appointment yesterday. He is 11 lbs 14.5 oz (50th percentile) and 23.5 inches. He looks to be growing very well. He also has a cold. BOO. The doctor said his breathing sounded good so it was all up in his throat.

--R has also been sick with some coughing but is definitely on the mend. It was just a virus so no antibiotics. We're glad she's getting back to her "usual self".

Evidence that we read her a lot of books

A dinner conversation.

J: "R, would you like some salsa?"

R: "More salsa, said R!"