Delight

1. LAAAAAZZZZY day for me. I can't remember the last time I stayed in my pajamas that long!

2. Espresso and Jeff's famous egg sandwich for breakfast, Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch and Three Amigos for dinner.

3. NOT fighting the crowds today. I'm very happy for you if you found a deal, but I'm quite pleased I did my minimal shopping online.

4. Christmas decorations in progress: two trees up, one half-decorated; mantel done.

5. A little boy who is loving Christmas thus far. He is single-handedly responsible for the half-decorated tree and greatly looking forward to tomorrow so we can finish.

6. Elf on a Shelf courtesy of Grandma Rock. Really cute book, very cute elf, really hoping it creates some magic.

7. Three-year old logic on how an elf might get in and out of our house. His last theory involved the elf "shooting out the window."

8. Watching an eight-month old cruise in her quest to get ahold of the remote.

9. Feeding the baby from the table...at the Mexican restaurant. Love starting them young.

10. Saying prayers with Wyatt. Funny what he deems worthy.

11. Blackout curtains. Funny what I deem prayer-worthy.

12. A baby who is sleeping through the night.

13. Hearing a little voice sing along to Call My Name  as he falls asleep. Even better hearing him during the night when he's turned his music back on to soothe himself back to sleep.

14. Watching my husband finally just. relax. already. and fall asleep on the couch nice and early.

15. DVR'd tv shows.

Happy Thanksgiving

While we won't be with family today, we will be with friends who feel like family. Wyatt is quite excited to be hosting his pals Isaac, Samuel, Sam and Julie for Thanksgiving feasting. Jeff and I are quite excited to see their parents, too.

I made a little spirit mission yesterday to borrow some beautiful red maple leaves of the neighbor's tree (there's no one living there to enjoy it!) so we have a little fall inside. The table is set, waiting for everyone to arrive. Jeff has wrestled with a turkey and convinced it to get into the smoker; Jerod has prepped the fryer for another turkey; pumpkin pies are finished; green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and little smokies wrapped in heaven are forthcoming. The stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn, rolls, desserts and who knows what else will arrive with our friends.

What a blessing to have a day to recognize how thankful we are for our family, friends, health and the fact that we want for so little in life. Part of our squadron is deployed right now which reminds me to be very thankful for the sacrifices made by so many soldiers and their families who aren't together today. No matter where you are, I hope you have lots to eat and fabulous people to spend your day with. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hair

Freshly cut:

Growing out:

As a side note, the boy ate a banana, a grilled cheese and a couple handfuls of animal crackers. Of course he's already had breakfast and two snacks today. It's one o'clock. The girl is still going after having eaten an entire yobaby, half a jar of chicken and rice dinner, half a jar of peaches, untold numbers of puffs and half a slice of American cheese. Methinks these children have their daddy's metabolism.

It's an Uphill Battle

Me: Wyatt, the bottom line is that when I say no, it means no.

Wyatt: Oh. What's the top line?

This Won't Work in Lawrence

This is what greeted me after school today:

Nothing about it is politically correct. Today Wyatt learned about Indians (not Native Americans - I asked) and they "flied like Eagles" and played some drums while dancing around a campfire ("don't worry, Mommy, it was just pretend"). But honestly, I don't care about anything except the great delight this brought to my day.

Hail to the chief.

Revisionist History

While the entire day wasn't as glorious as it could have been, I'm choosing to remember the best part: playing in the leaves with my kids and their friends. Good times.

Eight Months

Natalie, Natalie, Natalie. You make us laugh with your growling, squealing, blah-blah-blahing and smiles. You have finally started sleeping through the night about half the time. Somehow you totally get away with this non-conformity and we still just love cuddling you post-feed in your sleepy stupor. We're total suckers. Hopefully we won't always be so easily swayed by your charms.

Your crawling has gotten pretty speedy and all of a sudden you're really all over the place. You have no issue going after what you want - Wyatt's toys, random specks of dust, my hair - we're all equally on your list. And I watched you take something back from Wyatt today after he'd taken it from you; I think you'll hold your own quite nicely. You spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out steps. One of these days you're going to get it and then I'm really in trouble. You also are pretty sure you should just try to walk. You pull up all the time and will take steps if you're holding our hands. Newsflash: your balance will betray you! It's going to be a while before you can really motor like your brother and I see in your eyes that's your goal.

You've developed a healthy love of Cheerios, puffs, all food (broccoli didn't even give you pause!), Elmo, books and your music table. You're finally (finally! took you long enough) on a more regular nap schedule, though you still don't complain if our day doesn't let you get to your bed. Your easy-going attitude continues, and we only hear protests if you're tired or hungry. Turns out as long as you're held, though, even then you're pretty darn happy. Wyatt can almost always elicit a squeal of delight from you. I especially appreciate that you crack up at him when he's throwing fits. He, however, is slightly annoyed by that.

What else? You love your little blanket (but don't seem to care which one I give you) and I can tell if you're really ready for bed by the way you grin ear-to-ear when I hand it to you. No grin? You're not ready to sleep. You obviously understand "no" and will test our ability to say it over and over. You seem to really like power cords and I don't remember Wyatt doing that. Somehow I have a feeling you'll be my kid that gets into stuff she shouldn't - just so you know, your brother is a challenge but was never one to open cabinets. How about if you don't, either?

Your top tooth is about a quarter of the way in, the one next to it has barely broken through and I think I see the tips of two more bottom teeth. Your hair is a little less sparse and is definitely getting long...in sections. I have a learning curve on this girl hair thing - sorry in advance for the days to come when I can't quite figure out what to do with it. I mean, someday you'll read my archives and realize I can't even deal with my own hair, let alone someone else's! I did order you some more hair clips tonight, so hopefully you'll appreciate my attempts. You're getting too big for some of your 6-9 mo. clothes, especially sleepers and pants. There's some girth to deal with but we have all faith that someday you'll be perfectly proportioned. So in the meantime we adore your chunkiness. Seriously, we squeeze your chubby thighs and belly and grin with pride. And all that prodding makes you laugh, which is maybe the best sound of all.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

I've always been a fan of experiencing weather phenomenon unique to our various locations. You know, ice storms in Little Rock and Enid, hurricane in Florida, typhoons in Okinawa. Now we're getting a "classic" nor'easter here in Virginia. It's a good storm and much a like a thunderstorm except that it's lasting for days and causing lots of tidal/coastal flooding. It seems like even the lakes in our neighborhood might end up well above their normal shores.

Anyway, I always like to learn from these experiences. My takeaway from Little Rock was that they are greatly unable to drive on slick surfaces and will clean grocery stores out of every shred of 'staple' foods in anticipation of inclement weather. In Enid I learned that it is no fun to lose power but that when you do, even dogs get cold and need coats. In Florida I learned nothing from the hurricane (I was out of town for work already) except that my husband is stubborn and chose to ride out the storm even after he promised me he'd leave. And in Okinawa I discovered that if American coastal areas would build even half as wisely as Okinawans, there wouldn't be a massive fear of hurricanes. Oh, and that sideways wind does really strange things but doesn't take down buildings. So, in case you never get to experience a nor'easter, here's my list of lessons learned so far:

1. Bonus days! Jeff gets to "stay home" because the base is remarkably low-lying. Like there might be airplanes with wet landing gear right now. And I put it in quotes because he had to go in this morning to get computers off the ground of his first-floor office and is now on his way home. It's 3:30. But he doesn't have to go in tomorrow, either. I heart bonus days.

2. We have a leaky roof riiiiiiight over the kitchen table.

3. Home warranties are a really good thing.

4. My kids sleep later when the sun is nowhere to be seen.

5. Days like today confirm how much I love the drop-off system at Wyatt's school. No getting wet for us!

6. The public schools around here might be trying to make up for last year's missed call - they cancelled school in anticipation of a snowstorm that never arrived - by staying open today when every other district in the surrounding area is closed. Hmmmm....perhaps someone should tell them that two wrongs don't make a right!

7. I am very thankful for my garage parking spot.

8. I'm glad there are leftovers from the coffee I hosted on Tuesday - no trips to the grocery store!

9. All this rain makes me want to curl up with a book and some hot tea.

10. Leaves are stubborn. The wind has been gusting to 45 mph for 24 hours yet still there are many leaves holding tight, surely waiting to drop until after we've raked up what's out in the yard right now.

11. Millie's nine years of being housebroken goes out the window when it's like this. She dashes out quickly - if at all - and apparently accomplishes nothing in those outings. I know that because of the 'treat' she left for me on the rug right inside the front door this morning.

You Know What they Say...

One of Wyatt's favorite new things is to have us cuddle with him before bed. Truthfully, Jeff started it and I think it was born of Jeff's crazy schedule making it so that many nights he wasn't really home before bedtime. Anyway, tonight I put the young man to bed and he requested a cuddle. So we did. We lay there chatting and I asked him if he thought he would have kids when he grows up. He said he would, so I asked how many. And he held up three fingers.

"Three?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"Well do you think we should have three kids?"
"Yes, I do," he said.
"Really? You want another baby in this house?"
"No, Mommy," as if that was the craziest thing I could've said. "Just Isaac!"

I'm telling you, my heart is already aching for my little boy who has no idea that his best friend won't always live within walking distance. I guess for Wyatt, friends really are the family you'd choose for yourself.

Benevolent Dictator

Surely that nasty leader of the third reich was never so cute, right?

Music Man

As we were driving to school today, Wyatt requested I turn up a specific song and that is becoming more common. He definitely loves music and is quite equal-opportunity in his choices. So, because I think it's something I should remember when he's older, here are some of the songs that consistently get a hearty two-thumbs-up from Wyatt:

Celebration, Kool & The Gang
Say What you Need to Say, John Mayer
Sweet Escape, Gwen Stefani
anything by Jimmy Buffett
anything on NPR. Yes, that's right, the classical stuff on NPR is his fall-back every time.
Call My Name, Third Day
some Jay-Z song I don't know the name of
Boom Boom Pow, The Blackeyed Peas (however, he believes it's "boom boom cow")
Poker Face, Lady Gaga (and always elicits the question, "why is she poking her face?")

Funny kid. Incidentally, today was parent-teacher conference day for his preschool and we were disgruntled proud to learn that Wyatt uses excellent manners at school. His teacher was sure to tell us that Wyatt never has to be asked twice to do something, is quick to help pick up, is compassionate toward others and a joy to have in class. After confirming we were all talking about the same Wyatt, I was pleased yet sad that we'll have to do more home improvements. I mean, obviously there's some sort of forcefield around our house preventing his good behavior from being consistent within these four walls. Although he is a joy (on the days I'm able to take a deep breath and frame it as such), so hopefully the rest will start to break through for us, too.

Evolution at Warp Speed

She just started crawling yesterday. Is this really what I should've expected to find after her nap today?

Oh, and her big brother is really proud of her. Little does he know this is just another step to his world in ruins.

Double Whammy

Natalie chose today to get another tooth (top right) and to start crawling in earnest. Big day and apparently we need to baby-proof the house since she continues to attempt to get herself up the two steps from the family room to the kitchen. I have a feeling she'll be difficult to keep in one place from now on! Video to come...

Falling for Virginia

It's taken me over a year, but I'm finally really appreciating where we live. There's so much to do and we keep discovering more - I'm so glad we have a full year left. Given the unseasonably warm weather in the last week, we trekked to a local park to gather leaves.

As it turns out, Wyatt loved our mile hike around the lake, Natalie was completely chill in her stroller and we spent two hours enjoying each other. Wyatt had a magnifying thing from a Chick-fil-a meal so he inspected a lot of minutiae along the trail. Wyatt was great about not running, as stated on the sign at the head of the trail (see picture below - when this kid learns to read my parenting tactics will have to change.)

In fact, he had so much fun that he requested a repeat trip on Saturday so he could show Daddy. Pretty fun the second time, too, though he was much less content to take it all at a slow pace, instead wanting to rush ahead to see his favorite parts (benches, lake overlooks, covered bridge).

So if you come to visit us, there's a good chance we'll drag you out there for a little nature walk because this fieldtrip was a success all around.

Halloween Recap

Cliff Notes version: uh, it was Halloween recently which generated some parties, pumpkin patch activities and school festivities. The end.

Unabridged (and in no semblance of order):

Halloween: Wyatt was a football player this year, purely by his own choosing. He really wanted to be a Blue Man (from said group) but that is fairly difficult to make happen for the preschool set. No, I didn't look online for ways to make it happen but I couldn't quite get gung-ho for that costume since I knew he had to wear it all day at school. I just can't imagine how an entirely blue face/head/hands would work out. So, after being slightly crazy and thinking I might make something, I took the kid to our local retail establishments to pick out his costume. He really didn't care too much about it, at one point he desperately wanted to be a doctor, later a squirrel (and Natalie was going to be an acorn - cute until he said, "oh, and then I can eat her!"), or maybe a fireman. Turns out the local Wal-Marts and Target were running a little low on small costumes, so we went to Party City as a last resort. Honestly, I had scoped out the selection the day before and deemed Party City too expensive. I'm nothing if not cheap at Halloween. It falls into the "mandatory fun" holiday category for me - lots of pressure to have SO. MUCH. FUN. in one evening, kind of like New Year's - and the costumes get so little wear.

Or so I thought. We strolled into Party City (which, by the way, is completely freaky this time of year. There was some sort of devil something hanging from the ceiling, right next to some skull creature both of which were larger than life and for a brief moment I felt like I might not even get Wyatt into the store) and Wyatt picked out a football player's uniform. At $9.99, it was the cheapest option available so I applauded his choice and we headed home. And he begged to nap in his new costume. That was two weeks ago and he's worn it every day.

Best ten bucks I've spent in a while. When he's in "sootball" player mode, he runs around like a wild man, getting tackled by invisible lineman who are quite obviously in stellar shape, the way his little body hurtles toward the ground. And then he rolls around and gets up for more. He really likes it when we play with him, but that really just means we run around, too, and keep our eyes open for the bullets he throws our way. The kid's got an arm. As luck would have it (and by that I mean it's completely annoying on all levels), Jeff has kept our recording of last year's KU v. Mizzou game because it was a really good game. Let's just say it's getting a lot of play around here because someone likes to watch football while he's playing football. I recorded the UNC/VaTech game the other night so I can at least have some variety in my life, though I don't actually care about either team.

Oh, and Natalie was a bat. You might remember that someone else was a bat as a baby and well, I've already told you I don't really love spending money at Halloween. She was a cute bat, but aren't they all.

We also trekked to a different pumpkin patch this year. It was further than last year's which was fine because it was in an area we'd never visited and while the farm was much more my idea of what a pumpkin patch should be, the patch itself was a pretty big disappointment. But since it's about the kids, I was able to suck it up and we each found a pumpkin to bring home.

Thursday was Wyatt's fall festival at school so every kid was in costume and then they paraded outside for the parents before singing songs. My son, sweet boy that he his, waved diligently through the parade and then sang with all his might. I also learned that he knows the pledge of allegiance. If I were a really great mom, I would have pictures or video for you but I don't. Jeff couldn't make it so I opted to capture it all on our camcorder and I'm too lazy to figure out how to upload that format. Trust me, it was entertaining.

Wyatt carved his first pumpkins this year, first one at school as a class and then a couple here at home. It was really great to be told by my three-year old that "that's not how Mrs. Denton does it" and "no, I don't want to get messy!" while scooping the guts out of our squash. And since he can't actually use a knife, Wyatt's carving actually consisted of him using a spoon to get a few seeds out and then drawing on a face with black crayon. I had fun enough for both of us since I used a handy carving kit again.

Halloween night brought the standard festivities in the neighbors' driveway. Wyatt enjoyed the trick-or-treating this year, bravely going up to every door, waiting his turn before issuing forth the magic phrase, receiving his reward and saying thank you. I was proud of his good manners and surprised at how much he enjoyed it compared to last year. Of course it didn't hurt that his best buddy Isaac came and cruised our neighborhood, too. He spent the remainder of the evening hanging out at the neighbors' house with us, then playing football (what else?) in their yard with the big kids. He had a grand evening.

And then today Wyatt informed me we cannot use the orange napkins anymore because Halloween time is over. So it is.