Sally Says

What I Read in 2011

According to my log on Goodreads, I read 73 books in 2011.  That's a lot of reading.  I didn't do a very good job of logging books in a timely manner before this year, so I can't compare this year to previous years very accurately.  However, I'm pretty sure I only read about 50 books in 2010.

I think that number is a pretty clear indication that my mommy-life has finally settled into something balanced.  I don't have to ignore my children to read.  If I say I'm going to spend a Saturday afternoon reading, I can, and my considerate family enjoys doing their own things all around me.  How cool is that?!  Plus, I have lots of time for reading during various sports and activities, when they're doing stuff and I just have to be there.

I had been thinking that the number was artificially inflated because of all the graphic novels I read this year.  I've always enjoyed graphic novels, but for some reason I read a LOT of them in 2012.  I suspect it's because Tommy's finally old enough to share my interest and is capable of reading all of the age-appropriate ones himself.

However, the inflated number from all the graphic novels is well off-set by the number of massive tomes on this year's list.  At least three of them were over a thousand pages long, and I count 8-10 of them that were over 700 pages.  I think the massive novels and graphic novels balance each other out.  

To commemorate such a banner year for reading, I thought I'd list my 5-star books for you.  Feel free to look me up on Goodreads if you want to see the rest of the year's books.  Maybe you'll see something you'd like to read yourself.  I do have a caveat, though.  I don't use Goodreads the same way a lot of other people do.  I hardly ever write "real" reviews on Goodreads, because it goes against my librarian instincts.  Every book has its reader, and my personal opinion of that book might bias your reception of it.  I prefer to let my personal star rating and the general plot synopsis stand instead. 

I will also say that I never give 1 star, reserve 2 stars for books I don't finish (I don't finish or waste time on books I don't enjoy), and use 3 starts for a general "eh, it was OK, but I wouldn't have missed anything if I'd never read it, and I don't think I'll ever re-read it."  I do a lot of review-reading before I commit to reading a book, and I don't read something unless I'm pretty sure I'll like it.  That means that most of the books I read get 4 or 5 stars, and the 5 star ones are absolutely fabulous - books I was surprised by or feel in love with.

Without further ado, here are my 5-star books from 2011.  I read a bunch of solid 4-star books this year too, but  these were the stand outs.  I can't wait to see what 2012 brings.

The Kingdom of the Gods (Inheritance Trilogy #3) by N. K. Jemisin

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Night Circusby Erin Morgenstern

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

The Name of the Wind; The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller Chronicles #1 & #2) by Patrick Rothfuss

Shades of Greyby Jasper Fforde

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Ozma of Oz (graphic novel) by Eric Shanower

Happily Ever After (short stories) edited by John Klima

Tintin Hair

The inspiration...

Before...

 

During...

After...

Resolutions

I don't do New Year's Resolutions.  I've always felt like they are artificial and inorganic.  They're like crash diets - less effective in the long run than simply making good choices, and more prone to manic cycles of success and failure.  Everybody makes unrealistic plans and then whines when they aren't 100% successful three months later.  It makes so much more sense to be self-aware and to make small, realistic changes on a daily basis.  See a problem; fix it.

I also firmly believe that resolutions can undermine self esteem.  You should like yourself, warts and all.  We all have our strengths and weaknesses.  It's good to be honest about them, but trying to change who you are assumes that there's some sort of Perfect out there that you ought to be.  No!  Don't believe it!  Perfect with a capital P doesn't exist, and you're good enough just the way you are!  (I read something once that said if you use the word perfect really often, then it's possible you have self esteem issues.)  My daily goal is to be at peace with myself, and resolutions seem to work against that goal.

Yes, it's good to strive for self improvement, but too often the process of setting New Year's Resolutions starts with damaging, self-reflective "I'm so bad at..."  baloney.  I wouldn't have a problem with it if people said things like "I'm good at X, but if I do Y, I'll improve" or "I could be better at..."

But then I'm the kind of person who finds the journey totally pointless.  I never read those sorts of books that are full of amazing prose and long descriptive passages describing real life, while the characters don't DO anything.  I'm all about what you actually accomplish.  Either do it or don't do it, and be satisfied with your capabilities.  "Do or do not...there is no try."     

Anyway, I just have never understood the appeal of resolutions.  I'm too pragmatic and realistic to see the allure, and they bother me on a philosophical level.  What an annoying blow hard I can be!  

Now throw all that out the window.  For some reason, this feels like a good year to set a New Year's Resolution.  I have an idea for one that's been percolating away in the back of  my brain for a while now, and it's not just for me, but for the whole family.  Why not drag everyone into my insanity!  I still believe all those other things, but maybe we'll give it a try this year.  It can't hurt.  You can make fun of me in three months when I give up on it like everyone else. 

(Shout from the chorus: Hypocrite!)

So here's my idea.  Let me know what you think about it.  Is it remotely possible, or am I just setting us up for stereotypical Resolution Failure?  I'm still not completely sure we'll do it, but the idea is there.

Use the library and Netflix instead of spending money on books and movies

We love buying books and movies.  I don't thinkit's a problem that we spend money on books and movies.  I just think it would be interesting to try an EXPERIMENT.  Can we go a whole year without buying them?  Alternatively, can we put all the books and movies we want on our Amazon wish lists and only make two or three carefully considered and budgeted purchases during the year? 

I want to try this because I think it's important for kids to learn that there are free or economical ways to access most media.  You don't have to spend a lot of money to have access to books and movies.  We're affluent enough that they've never really learned that lesson.  We do use the library, and we also use Netflix, but those aren't the defaults for big, new releases that we're really excited about.  It would be interesting to try to change that pattern for the boys.  We should read the book once from the library, or watch the movie once from a rental, and THEN decide if we want to buy it and add it to our permanent collection.  David and I have both used that process at times in our lives, and it would be good for the boys to learn how to do that too.

Also, it will be fun to see how much money we save by doing this.  I'm sure there will be a dry spell at the beginning, but eventually the library and Netflix will catch up with us, and we'll be rolling in "free" books and movies.

(Yes, I do realize there's a HUGE disconnect between my attitude towards New Year's Resolutions and my tendency to come up with Grand Plans like my summertime H.E.L.P. scheme .  Grand Plans vs. Resolutions -- is it an issue of semantics?  Possibly.)

Christmas 2011

We've been having an excellent time relaxing for the last couple of days.  I love quiet family time at home over Christmas.  I suppose I should clarify that with little boys in the house the "quiet" part is relative.

We had a wonderful Christmas nosh that lasted all day long.  We had fancy cheeses with bread, Irish butter on German stollen, meatballs, ants-on-a-log, pistachios, and all sorts of cookies and candies.  Santa even gave each little boy a Coke in a glass bottle.

 

We've been spending a lot of time with our new electronic toys.  I have a new iPhone, thanks to David, and I've even let the boys use it occasionally to play Angry Birds and to watch The Monster at the End of the Book over and over again.  David and the boys have been taking 30 minute turns with the Xbox, playing Skyrim (David), Lego Harry Potter 2, Skylanders and Sonic Generations.  Look!  I made a video using my phone of the boys playing their video game!  (How very 2012.)

Skylanders for Christmas from Sally Epp on Vimeo.

We've been warm and cozy too.  We are happily swathed in new layers of fleece and flannel.  I bought all three boys fancy fleece-lined jeans.  Tommy and Charlie got new jammies from Grammy Nancy.  My dad picked out nice new fleece/flannel items for David and me.  I got a new flannel nightgown from Charlie.  And Uncle Ben and Aunt Erin bought the little boys some very cute and soft flannel sheets.  

We've also been reading.  I did the "Mommy was a children's librarian" thing and got the boys new books, as I always do.  I gave Tommy some new Tintin books and gave Charlie some new Elephant and Piggie books.  Our families also gifted us with lots of new books.  They always come through for us.  I ended up with 5 new books, David got 2, Charlie got 5 and Tommy wins the prize with 17 new books (10 were together in a box set.)  Everyone has something to read when they're waiting for their turn to play on my phone or on the Xbox!

What else have we been doing?  Charlie's been playing with new toys.  Tommy's been drawing like an obsessed artist.  David's been fiddling with new tools in the garage.  He wore the headlamp that Ben and Erin gave him while he was out there.  He wanted one for nighttime runs, but now is starting to talk about how dark it is in the garage.  Oh!  And I can't forget the Legos!  We've built a lot of Lego models in the last 36 hours.  I went a little overboard buying Legos for the boys, but I was the only person who did, so I don't regret it a bit.

Now that the big day is over, I can honestly say that the boys are finally old enough to make us proud during Christmas morning present opening.  They were patient.  They were interested in seeing other's reactions to their gifts.  They wanted everyone to take time to look at each new thing before moving onto the next box.  They were happy for each other and truly thankful for every gift.  They didn't get upset when something was a bit broken or didn't fit.  Most importantly, they really focused on the things they were GIVING, rather than just focusing on what they were getting.  Whew!  I think we've actually done a good job at this parenting thing!

Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope your holiday was just as enjoyable as ours was.

Phone Post

Merry Christmas! I got an iPhone from David, and thought I'd try doing a blog post from it.

La Nochebuena!

We spent Christmas Eve day with my mom.  She stopped in Albuquerque on her way to Spokane, and we're all really glad we got to spend most of the day with her.  We made lots of Christmas cookies together, had tamales for lunch, and spent some time in Old Town looking at all the farolitos around the shops.  We were all pretty sad to have to take her to the airport this afternoon, but are glad that she and my Dad will be together by the end of the day.

The boys aren't quite old enough to stay up late for a traditional New Mexican Christmas Eve celebration yet, but I suppose we'll do it some day.  I've heard that the walk through Old Town among the farolitos and luminarias is spectacular.  For now, we're content to eat Epp-family sauerkraut with pork chops, re-watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas for the 28th time, track Santa on the NORAD website, while carefully choosing cookies for the jolly old man (and then eating them, and choosing new ones, and eating them, and choosing new ones, etc.)

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve!  I'll be sure to post something tomorrow after all the excitement...if I can pull myself away from relaxation mode.

 

Room to Grow

David and Charlie started a clean-out project on Monday.  Charlie declared that he'd outgrown most of the things in his room.  David agreed.  "Mom keeps all these baby toys in my room and I don't play with any of them."  Yes, when David and Charlie get together Stuff Happens.  By the second day Tommy wanted in on the action too.

This massive pile of toddler and pre-school toys in the garage is the result of their labors.  I spent some time out there yesterday.  I pulled out some really nice toddler things to mail to their cousin Riley.  I walked through it all with one of my friends helping her find some great things for her pre-schooler.  I'm so happy she gave Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie a home.  It would have killed me to take them to Goodwill.  I put all the little pieces from sets I've protected and kept together over the years into ziplock bags and taped them to the accompanying big toy.  I cried.  A lot.

Anybody want a play kitchen?  Or some wooden toddler puzzles?  Or a set of train tracks?  Or a massive collection of dinosaurs?  Or a Little People bus or a Little People Car Track?  Or an Imaginext Castle with all the little guys and horses?  Speak up if you want them.  I'm going to offer a few things to Charlie's preschool and then David will take the rest to Goodwill.

Now it's done.  Their rooms are clean and only have age-appropriate toys that are interesting to their own unique personalities in them.  Charlie isn't buried in toys that He Should Like, but that are actually hand-me-downs from Tommy that Charlie has never gotten into.  Tommy has lots of empty shelves for Legos and drawing stuff.  They each only have a reasonable number of stuffed animals.  They have room to grow, and that's very good.  I'm sure they'll keep growing whether I like it or not.

Tommy's room...

(One of these days I really ought to paint over the blue walls of his closet.)

Charlie's room...

(I know it still looks really full, but 50% of it is "new" big-kid stuff that came out of Tommy's room.)

River of Lights

We had a rather meh visit to the River of Lights at the Botanic Gardens last night.  I'm not sure why it felt spectacular last year and just cold and annoying this year.  Sometimes outings are like that.  At least the boys seemed to have fun.  And I got some bad pictures out of it.  Mocking bad pictures is always fun.

 Our own little psycho had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner at the Shark Reef Cafe.

 Hey David!  Aren't you glad you schlepped the tripod around for me all night?  I didn't use it for this one.

 I didn't use the tripod for this one either...and I gave up and turned the flash on for it.

 This was right before Tommy spit scalding hot chocolate all over himself and David.  Unsurprisingly, it was too hot.  I did warn him.

 Are they looking a little cold and tired?

 Oh!  I did use the tripod for this one.  Now wasn't it worth schlepping around?

Huh.  I think I'm going to go have another cup of coffee.

Aunt Frieda Would Be Proud

We made a German/Mennonite marzipan that is traditional in David's family today.  It's the first time we've ever tried to make it.  It's a version of marzipan that is browned under the broiler after being shaped.  Browning it gives it a toasted flavor and cookie-like texture that's very unique.  It's made from ground almonds, powdered sugar, vanilla and rose extract.  (It's taken me years to find a source for the rose extract.)  Now that we've actually made some, we know that you also have to add some water to the mixture in our dry New Mexico climate.

David's grandmother used to make this sort of marzipan, and then his Aunt Frieda took up the tradition.  She used to send little packets of Christmas cookies to all of her nieces, nephews, grand-nieces and grand nephews, and there were almost always 2 or 3 marzipans in with the cookies.  They were always our favorite, and we'd negotiate over every crumb.  With the passing of the generations, it feels like this is the first year we've really missed them.  Thanks to some instructions from David's dad, we were able to figure out how to make them ourselves.  Maybe someday Tommy and Charlie can carry on the tradition.

Distraction

Dance party!

I love to watch the three boys having fun and being silly.

(We're in the middle of a toy purge over here, so these pictures are my attempt to distract myself from the sadness of baby dolls and Little People sets being carted unceremoniously out to the garage.  Big boys don't play with such things you know.  They do dance, though, and still look like little boys while doing it.)

Thanks Cindy!

Thanks to Cindy S., I have video to share with you of Tommy's Jazz Dance performances!  Dan and Cindy's daughter Claudia is in the purple shirt right next to Tommy.  I didn't bring my camera that day, so it was really nice of Cindy to share these with me.  I think you should just be able to play the imbedded video, or you can click on the link to go to Photobucket to watch them.

Run Rudolph Run

Shake It Up, Part 1 (it's longer)

Shake It Up, Part 2

Lord a-Leaping

We continued our week of  performing boys at Tommy's dance studio.  Charlie was our shepherd this week, and Tommy was our Lord a-Leaping.  He had two performances this week - Jazz Dance on Thursday and Modern Dance on Saturday.  I forgot my camera on Thursday, but here are some shots from today.  His classes did two dances each day, and he did very well in all four of them.  I particularly liked that he got to be the leader in his modern dance performance.  His teacher said "I have Tommy go first because he pays attention and doesn't forget to move." 

(In 8 more days I'll have my big Christmas present, and will be able to shoot VIDEO of things like this for you.  Won't that be exciting?!)

Shepherd

Charlie was a shepherd in his school Christmas program.  He even had a speaking part. 

"Let's go to Bethlehem to find the saviour."

I took Tommy out of school yesterday, so that he could see the performance, and David went today.  As you can imagine, the cuteness was overwhelming.

Time to do Fun Stuff

I love this part of Christmas.  I've finished all the work, and am ready to relax and enjoy time with my family.  I like the work part too.  Seriously.  I LOVE shopping for presents and making lists and running around.  But it's very nice when all of that is done and we can settle in for some meaningful togetherness. 

Last year, I focused our holiday activities by making daily Advent calendar envelopes.  Each one had an activity written on the card inside.  I decided not to do that this year because 1) it was too hard to do things on the school days before Christmas break and 2) we didn't save any big, fun stuff for the empty days between Christmas and New Year. 

This year, I brainstormed all the stuff we like to do and put them on a tentative calendar.  I was able to plan things for the short Wednesdays and the weekends, and once school is out we'll have something to look forward to every day.  The boys are enjoying moving the squares around.  I'm sure the plan will change many times between now and the day they have to go back to school.  This is what it looks like.

Yesterday was our "Hot Chocolate and Drawing Party."  We didn't spend a lot of time doing it, but it made the day special.  We used stickers and stencils and had lots of marshmallows in our cocoa.

And look at what else I did yesterday!  I made peanut butter cups, chocolates with soft salted caramel center,s and peppermint snowflakes.  I was naughty and bought myself a few candy making supplies just to try out what I learned from my friend last week.  Yes, I know that I'm not supposed to buy myself stuff right before Christmas.  I only bought a little bit though!  It's going to be a fun hobby, I think, and there are so many cool supplies.  (Pst!  Birthday present ideas!) 

 

Family Portrait 2012

Christmas cards are out, and most of the U.S. ones have been delivered, so it seems safe to post this here today.  Thank you to my sister-in-law, Amy Epp, for capturing such a natural moment!  This year's is way better than the ones we get using the tripod and timer.

Geeky Snowflakes

Look at what I made this afternoon instead of cookies!

 
Clone Trooper Snowflake

Tardis Snowflake (if you close one eye and look at it from a wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey direction)

Sadly, my attempt to stay busy in an effort not to spend money today was a failure.  Curse you Lego.com and your "just released today!" e-mail.  Ah well.  I can't resist the siren call of something that the recipients don't even know exists yet.

P.S.  The snowflake templates are from this site.

Brotherly Entertainment

When Mommy has a cold and Daddy seems to have eaten something destructive, you have to entertain yourself.  You can't play video games and watch DVDs all day, after all. 

You can draw. 

You can sort, count and discuss the presents under the tree. 

You can chase your brother until he is laughing so hard he can't breathe because he happened to walk under the mistle-toad and must be kisssed. 

You can stage ambushes for each other while pretending to be Inspector Clouseau and Kato.  (What?  Isn't that part of your kids' imaginative play repertoire?) 

And when all of that becomes boring, you can dance.

It Smells Like a Forest in Here

We bought a $45 tree off the back of a truck and it's kind of spectacular.

Remember how we cut our own Christmas tree last year?  Well, we decided that as fun as that was, it isn't an every-year sort of activity.  We really liked having the real tree though, so we decided to buy one for the first time since 1997.  I'd forgotten what a mess they make...and how the pine smell makes me wheeze just a bit.  I don't really mind though, because it's awfully nice.

I don't have any action shots of the decorating this year because nobody had any patience for photo taking at the time.  The boys and I trimmed the tree while David put up some outside lights (our first outdoor Christmas lights EVER.)  We had a moment when we realized that this tree was way bigger than any we'd ever had and therefore required a lot more lights, but we scrounged around and solved the problem without having to resort to a money-spending trip out.

They were quite happy to sit for a picture in front of the tree after baths tonight though.  We spent the day relaxing, going to the movies (Arthur Christmas), wrapping presents and watching Rankin-Bass Christmas specials while eating quesadillas.  I'd say we're ready for Christmas break!

Should But Won't

I probably should make him get a haircut, but I won't.  He goes in to my fancy salon once every 8 weeks and tells her "I just want a trim because I'm so close to having a Thomas Jefferson ponytail."

It's gone from Luke Skywalker to John Denver in the past six months, but that's OK.  At least he's sticking to one decade.  I don't think he realizes he's evoking the 1970s rather than the 1770s.  Only 200 years to go!

Accomplishments

Time for a day in the life!  People often ask me what I'm going to do when Charlie's in school full-time next year.  The simplest answer is that I'll do all the stuff I already do, only I'll be calmer and will have more time to accomplish said stuff.  A day like today, for example, I could possibly spread across more than one day instead of cramming it all into one.  Won't that be heavenly?  But for now, I occasionally pay to let Charlie stay in school until 3:15 and then use every precious extra minute to accomplish scads of important (and not so important) things.

What I did today, in chronological order...

It starts at 6:00 am

Wake up when Charlie comes in to find me

Get Mr. Growth Spurt some oranges and milk

Read and respond to e-mails (and Facebook)

Greet Tommy with a long snuggle on the couch

Referee the morning advent calendar door opening

Empty and load the dishwasher

Make breakfast for Tommy and 2nd breakfast for Charlie

Take a shower

Tell the boys to get dressed

Make 2 lunches

Wrap the last few presents to go in the shipping boxes

Rearrange the shipping boxes, look up addresses, find packing tape, etc.

Enter "Get Dressed NOW - shoes too - brush your hair!" mode

Supervise backpack packing, sign notes, look over homework

Take Tommy to the bus

Talk to Charlie about his show and tell choice and explain why he can't play video games today

Print out the coupons I need for today

Feed Charlie his 3rd breakfast

Interact with The Orkin Man

Load the car without forgetting anything

Take Charlie to preschool

It is now 9 am.

Go to the post office - stand in line for a long time

Deposit check at the ATM

Go to Target - buy 4 print cartridges and get $30 in free gift cards because of my coupons

Have a slice of gingerbread and a latte for breakfast (hurrah for Starbucks inside Targets)

Drive to my haircut appointment

Realize that I'm 20 minutes early for my apt. and don't have a book with me

Try to call people on my very old phone, do not succeed

Go inside for a hand treatment since I'm early anyway

Talk very seriously with my hairstylist about the travesty of a haircut she gave me 9 weeks ago

Give her a 2nd chance (it turned out well)

Leave, then have to go back for my coat

Go to The Specialty Shop to buy chocolate making supplies (no, I couldn't wait)

Talk to my mom on my cell phone in a public place (I'm as shocked as you are that I answered)

Eat lunch at Caesar's Mexican-Greek restaurant (it's an ABQ thing)

Drive to the mall - buy a birthday present and some facial cleanser

Drive to another place - buy a Christmas present

Go to the UPS store - stand in line again and ship 4 packages

Home!

It is now 2:30 pm -- 35 minutes before I have to leave to pick up Charlie

Unpack the car

Wrap the Christmas present

Install the printer cartridges and start printing more Christmas card letters

Answer the doorbell, chat with the mailman

Open and sort the mail

Make a cup of tea

Sit and stare

Rush out the door

Pick up Charlie from school

Feed the boy a snack

Print and fold more Christmas card letters - undo all the good moisturizing from the hand treatment

Meet Tommy at the bus

Break the news that he has 15 minutes to eat a snack and get ready for dance

Give Tommy his snack, go back to get more snack for Charlie

Pack Charlie's bag of entertainment

Take Tommy to dance, sit and talk with Cindy while Tommy dances and Charlie watches a DVD

Home!

It is now 6:00 pm

Make dinner

Chat with boys about their days

Finish the LAST of the Christmas cards

Greet David

Turn the bedtime parenting over to him and sit down at the computer

THE END

The Ambidextrous Wonder

The boys and I were working on a top-secret holiday project when Charlie did something amazing.  At least I think it was amazing.  He drew a picture of me using both of his hands at the same time.  He drew the left side with his left hand, and the right side with his right hand.  Here's the picture.  It's more or less symmetrical because he did both sides simultaneously, in a kind of mirror-image drawing dance.

This is what he looked like while he was doing it.

Spooky.  I think maybe he would draw more often if his teachers and I would stop telling him to "pick a hand."  Maybe he just wants to be free to do 2-handed drawing his own way.

Real Smiles!

More Snow Pictures

Hurray for a Snow Day!  School is cancelled today.  It's actually a cold temperatures, wind and ice day, but there's still some snow on the ground, so I'm sticking with the traditional title.

The most intense snowfall of the weekend was Saturday night.  It was really coming down - big fluffy flakes - when we were driving home from dinner.  We let the boys go outside as soon as we got home, and it was a triple treat.  It's not very often they get to go outside when it's 1) snowing really hard, 2) dark, and 3) technically after the start of bedtime.  We warmed Charlie up in a bath when he came in, and then all stayed up "late" watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer together.  David fell asleep.  (It was only 8:30 at the end of the movie.)

Traditions

We pulled out the Christmas decorations yesterday, and Charlie and Tommy had a great time...once David made them stop playing and help me do it.  Watching them unwrap each item and run it to its proper place was splendid.  There wasn't any disucssion about "what's this?" or "where does this go?"  They just did it.  I guess they have been paying attention.  

The metal Santa that I don't remember buying is hanging in the bathroom where he belongs.  The jingle bell wreath is hanging on the coat closet door.  The stockings have been hung, and my two fancy Santas are on the mantle with the Nutcracker.  The Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer animatronics are on the hearth.  Tommy put together the playmobile advent calendar and Charlie immediately requested hot chocolate in his Santa mug.

We don't actually have that many Christmas decorations, but what we have is well-loved and familiar.  This is probably the first year that decorating has felt like a tradition.  Everyone knew what to do and was excited to see old familiar objects. 

We are waiting until next weekend to do the big Christmas tree, but the boys set up their little fake trees in their rooms.  I was going to skip the little trees this year, but they were insistent.  They knew exactly where they were supposed to go and had a plan for dividing the kids' ornaments between their rooms.  I guess the small trees have become a beloved tradition for them, and I'm certainly not going to stand in their way. 

 

It's funny how traditions can be built without intention when you have kids.  For the first little while you just do things that you think might be fun or cool.  Then one child gets old enough to remember what you did last year and expectations start to emerge.  You start out with little tabula rasas, and then all of a sudden you realize all sorts of stuff has been written in their brains under the holiday categories.  Luckily, I love having traditions and doing favorite activities and eating favorite foods year after year.  It's just funny how things *I* might not think are important are  becoming beloved traditions for Tommy and Charlie.

This is probably the last year I can get away with deciding how we're going to do Christmas.  I fully expect them to have strong Opinions about everything next year.  It's already starting a little bit, and it's nice to watch it happen.  There's nothing worse, from my perspective, than a child without opinions.  I don't want to make all the traditions by myself!  I've experienced that, and it's no fun.  If letting them help build our traditions mean that we set up little fake trees in their rooms every year and also display the scary life-sized toy soldier with a scanned photocopy of Tommy's kindergarten face on it, then I'm OK with that.

Coat Confusion

It is absolutely required that all Albuquerque residents make a big deal out of any snowfall.  We do have a real winter with cold temperatures and weather that is distinct from our fall and spring weather.  However, most of our snow stays on the mountain (where it belongs.)  Whenever it really snows down in the city all the kids jump for joy and squeeze as much fun out of it as possible.

That's why we were outside at 8 am this morning.

Tommy took his snowball making very seriously, but he only made one snowball.

 Small

 Medium

 Large

 Larger

 Largest!

While they were playing we noticed something strange.  Charlie's coat seemed to have grown over night.  We knew Charlie hadn't been shrinking, but I could have sworn his coat fit better than this.  We went to a birthday party last night, but I could easily see that we brought home the right coat.  It's exactly the same as Tommy's, only in a different color, and smaller.  But doesn't it look big?

I had just about convinced myself that I was imagining things when Charlie found a set of keys in the pocket.  I looked at the label inside the coat and it said size 14.  It wasn't my imagination!  I called the birthday party host and she said there was a teenaged sibling at the birthday party last night in a panic because he couldn't find his keys.  "I noticed that his coat seemed way too small for him - his wrists were sticking out - but it never occurred to us that it might not be his."  I think it's hilarious that Charlie played in the snow all morning in a teenager's coat, and that a teenaged boy went home in a 4-year-old's coat, and NOBODY NOTICED.  Granted, they must be exactly the same coats in different sizes, but still...

Charlie thinks it's funny too.

Flannel

We had 75 mile an hour winds last night - the strongest winds in Albuquerque in 20 years according to the news.  Then it was very, very cold today, and we're supposed to have snow tonight. 

I responded to the cold by telling everyone to put on sweaters this morning.  Charlie tried on all of his sweaters, the ones that I had pulled out of the hand-me-down box in November, and they were all too small.  The boy must have really grown in the past month.  The sleeves hit him well above the wrists, and a large amount of belly showed when he raised his arms. 

Tommy reported that from last year's sweaters, only the red one still fit.  He wore it to school with smug content, pointing out to Charlie that he was certainly happy to have a nice, warm, red sweater to wear.  Charlie gave me the big-eyed sad-face as he put on his t-shirt, so I promised him I'd go shopping while he was at school.  He certainly didn't have to beg very hard.  I've been Christmas shopping all week, and am on a roll.  That sort of deal-finding, money-burning momentum is hard to stop.

I ended up buying them cheap snow boots, just in case it actually snows today, and am feeling quite prepared for the onslaught of winter weather (read: 2 days of cold with some snow flurries and then back to 55 degrees in the afternoon.)  I also got them each a flannel shirt, a basic sweat shirt, and a red sweater just for Charlie.  

Charlie was so very happy.  He has never had a flannel shirt and found it to be a revelation.

"It's just like a blankie, only WEARABLE."

"This velcro stuff is amazing."

"You might think it's called velcro, but it's not.  That's an easy mistake to make.  Mom told me it's really called flammo.  I don't know why though."

"Can I sleep in my velcro shirt tonight?"

"You mean they really make real pajamas out of this stuff?!  Awesome!"

"We should buy this kind of stuff more often.  It's way better than a t-shirt." 

I should probably buy some more flannel shirts tomorrow.  They were only $11 at Target.  I'm tempted to add flannel pajamas to my Christmas shopping list, but I'm supposed to be done spending money.  If anyone in the family wants dibs on buying flannel pajamas (or sweaters!) for the boys for Christmas, just let me know.  I know they would be appreciated.

Day One

I think I will try to post something every day in December.  To start us out, how about some giggles?  Sometimes I just can't help taking pictures of Charlie when he's being goofy.

 "I have a dart on my head."

 "I'm a gansta."

 "If I were a bubble, I'd be camoflauged right about now."