Fall

Giving Thanks

Posted on by Amy
Thanksgiving seems to kind of get a raw deal these days.  Right after Halloween, the Christmas craziness kicks in to full gear in stores, in ads, and so on.  Thanksgiving seems to have been relegated to the position of being nothing more than a signal that it’s time for Black Friday sales to begin.  
Well, I protest.  Thanksgiving may not be as magical and glitzy as Christmas, but it’s a pretty darn cool holiday.  It’s about history, tradition, family, and of course, being thankful for what we have.  And I am oh so thankful.

How in the world could I be anything but thankful every day?  I have a wonderful husband who is an awesome father to our girls. I have two beautiful and healthy daughters.  I am more than halfway through a third healthy pregnancy.  I am so fortunate to have been able to conceive and carry two healthy children and to have a third baby girl on the way.  Even though this is my third pregnancy, I still marvel at the wonders of growing a little person in my belly.  Every time she kicks or wiggles, I can’t help but put my hand on my stomach and smile.  It never gets old.  Never.  And I am so thankful.  

I’m thankful that my girls have each other and love each other so much.

I’m thankful that my husband works hard every day, and has worked hard for a very long time, so that we are in a position where I am able to stay home with our girls.  It’s the best job in the world and I am so lucky to do it full time.

I’m thankful for so much more.  But today, after spending the day with my husband and our girls, eating food that someone else cooked, watching football, and just enjoying each other, I am so full of gratitude for this.  For my family.  For our home.  For my soul mate.  For these beautiful little souls and their baby sister.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I Love a Treasure Hunt

Posted on by Amy
My husband hunts deer.  He is a bowhunter, which means he spends a lot of time sitting up in a tree watching deer.  He loves observing deer and the other animals he sees while sitting in a tree for hours and hours (this year he saw a bobcat twice).  Eventually, he does kill a deer.   This year he killed two.  Our freezer is fully stocked with venison to last for the next year.  This is great, because venison is much healthier to eat than beef. It’s leaner and you never have to worry about hormones or antibiotics or anything else weird and gross like that.  Some people prefer to get their meat at the grocery store, where they never have to think about how it got there.  I prefer venison.  I know where it came from, have a good general idea of what it ate, and know how and by whom (my husband and brother in law) it was butchered and processed and packaged.  
All this is leading up to the point that we got home last night after spending a week and a half at the Farm while my husband hunted.  And also to give the warning that there are photos near the end of this post of some dead deer.  The photos also have my handsome husband and adorable older daughter in them, but if you don’t like photos of dead deer, you may not want to read this entire post.  I’ll give a warning right before those photos come up, so you can feel safe reading through the first part of this lovely post if you like.  
Since we were at the Farm, Miss and Lass got to see their cousins and spend time doing fun things like going on treasure hunts.  We went on an especially fun one yesterday.  Because the water is so low, we went to the beach, where there was lots of room to walk around and find treasures.

Miss got to see the work of some beavers.

 And my husband found the coolest and biggest caterpillar I have ever seen.

The kids also found a partial skeleton of what was probably a raccoon.

It’s so fun to just go outside and turn a walk around the beach or the woods into an adventure.  Anything Miss picked up, from a hickory nut, to a shell, to a pine cone could be called “treasure” and she was all into it.  Treasure hunts are one of my favorite things about being at the Farm.

The girls had lots of other fun times playing with their cousins over the past weekend too.  Dress up was a favorite.

Prior to this weekend when all the aunts and uncles and cousins came down, we were just all hanging out together with my mother and father in law.  As I mentioned, my husband spend a lot of time in a tree, but we had lots of fun with him when he came in.  We indulged in some special treats, like ice cream, since we were on vacation.

My girls like ice cream.

And we spent a lot of time just playing.  Miss had fun with this guitar one afternoon.  She has really been into singing lately, often making up her own songs.  The other day she started strumming the guitar and singing a song that went something like, “Mommy and Lass and Daddy and Miiiiissss. You’re so cuuuute and so adoooorable.”

I would tell her what a beautiful song it was and how wonderful her singing is, and then she would stand up and strike a proud pose next to the guitar, come over to me and tell me, “I love you Mommy,” and then do it all again.  I don’t know how many times she repeated this, but it was a lot and I loved it.  It was cuuute.  And adoooorable.

Okay, here’s your WARNING: Dead deer photos follow.

My husband shot a buck and a doe.  Miss was quite fascinated with them and asked lots of questions.  She was very interested in the fact that “Daddy deer” are called bucks and have antlers and “Mommy deer” are called does and “have ears.”

Lass lost interest much more quickly, but of course had fun being outside anyway.

I’m proud of my husband.  He’s an ethical hunter and doesn’t kill more than what we will eat.  He practices shooting his bow a great deal beforehand so he will make a clean shot when the time comes.  He spends hours and hours observing the deer and learning about them, and passes this information on to his family members, including his nephews who also enjoy hunting.  He spent a morning hunting with one nephew and helping him shoot a deer himself.  And even though it’s a little rough to be away from home with my girls for almost two weeks, I feel fortunate that we are able to go with him when he hunts.  And it is completely worth it to know that he had such a great week outside doing something he really enjoys.  He is an amazing father and husband, and he deserves that.

Of course, it’s fabulous to be home. And you’d better believe I’m going to milk my “sacrifices” of the past week and a half to get myself a nice massage 🙂

Happy Halloween

Posted on by Amy
The ballerina costume was a hit!  Miss loved the embellished leotard and tights.  So much so that I almost couldn’t get her to put on her tutu because she didn’t want to cover up her tights.

But once we got to her party at school she did put on the whole get up.  She looked beautiful and was loving being a ballerina.  she even seemed to forget about her desire to be a bear.  It might have helped that I didn’t dress Lass in her bear costume for the party.

I was afraid she’d get too hot, the costume wouldn’t fit well in her car seat, and I also wanted to give Miss a chance to bask in her ballerina-ness at her school party before getting them both dressed up for Trick or Treating tonight.  Lass didn’t seem to care.

They both had lots of fun at the party.  There was so much for them to do, but Miss just wanted to play with these orange balloons.

It was fun to see her in her school environment and to see some of the kids she is becoming friends with.  The costumes were great too.

When it was time to Trick or Treat we started getting warm layers of clothing on.  It was pretty chilly tonight.  I knew Miss would have to wear a jacket, because there was only so much we could put on under her leotard and tutu.  I barely got her to let me put these pants on but convinced her that they wouldn’t show under her tutu, and they didn’t.

I got a couple of layers on Lass, knowing that she would be nice and snug in her fuzzy bear costume.

Fuzzy bear costume…

After Miss decided she wanted to be a ballerina for Halloween, I thought for a long time about what costume to get for Lass.  I kind of wanted something that would go with a ballerina, but couldn’t come up with anything.  When I saw this bear costume, I figured it out.  A bear.  In a tutu.  A dancing bear.  What could be a better costume for my tutu-loving girl??

I was happy with the way the embellishments turned out that I added to Miss’s leotard and tutu.  The felt flowers were cheap and easy, and I just pinned them on so they can easily be removed and the leotard can be worn for gymnastics class and possibly future dance classes.  Plus they helped tie the unmatched pinks of the leotard and tutu together a little bit.  I didn’t realize how different the colors would be when I ordered them, but hrough the magic of felt rosettes, they work just fine.

All ready to go!

Gotta love a wagon.

I think Lass looks a lot like me in this photo.  Sometimes I see it and sometimes I don’t.  I see it here.  Am I crazy?

Trick or Treat!!

The girls did a fantastic job going up to the doors of our neighbors and following the drill.  Miss said, “Trick or Treat!” and “Happy Halloween!” and “Thank you!” very appropriately. I was proud of her and couldn’t help remember last Halloween how we could not get her to say, “Tick-a-Teek!” for anything when she went up to the houses.

The girls enjoyed the fruits of their efforts this evening.

Happy Halloween!

A Week??

Posted on by Amy
I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since my last post.  I have had a lot of work come my way and a 2.5-year-old who hasn’t napped all week, so I guess blogging has escaped me for a few days.  I always miss it when I don’t post for a while.  I love sorting through and choosing the photos for a post and then writing about my favorite thing in the whole world, my family.  So, what have we been doing this week?
Going to preschool with absolutely no tears whatsoever.
A little bit of baking and cookie decorating.

A fabulous play date with wonderful friends, where the cookies were gobbled up.

Trying on Halloween costumes.  Miss has been planning to be a ballerina for weeks.  Last night we tried Lass’s bear costume on her, and now Miss wants to be a bear.  I should have known that would happen.  But she is still excited about being a ballerina when I tell her about how we’re going to do her hair and what she will get to wear.  She loves wearing a leotard and has a special fondness for tights.  Plus I told her she can play with Lass’s costume after Halloween if she wants, so she seems happy with the current situation.  For now at least.

We’ve been enjoying fall.  

The weather has been crisp, but we are trying to still get outside a bit before it gets really cold.  The girls love to play with our pumpkins.

 And while showing off her muscles power lifting pumpkins, Miss saw this:

Then she just had to show off her hunting/stalking skills.

Lass got in on the fun for a minute, but seemed to not really notice or not care about the bunny, because she ended up walking on by.

Miss got pretty close to the little guy before he did this funny little stretch and hopped into the middle of this big evergreen tree.

The girls just moved right on to the next fun thing.  Most of the leaves are gone from our yard, and I’ve pretty much closed up the sand box for the year.  I guess mulch is the next best thing to play in.

We’ve just being doing our thing here.  Watching “Go Blue” today.  Happy weekend.

Vacation at Home

Posted on by Amy
For the past week, my husband has been on vacation.  Usually when he has time off work, we go somewhere.  We live far away from our families, and think it’s important to see them as much as possible, so we are often traveling to visit someone.  This week, for the first time in a long time, we vacationed at home.  It was wonderful.
We got to spend lots of great quality time with the Daddy.  He was able to come to Miss’s gymnastics class and to the girls’ music class.

 I think he really enjoyed observing both classes.  Miss has really blossomed in her gymnastics class and both girls really get into their music class.  Miss loves to sing and play the instruments and Lass is a total ham.

Today we went to brunch, where we got to carve pumpkins for Halloween.  Miss and Daddy did all the work on our pumpkin.  Last year the Daddy did it all by himself, but this time Miss was able to really participate.

She helped scoop out the guts

and decide what type of face to draw for the Jack-o-lantern.

 Lass enjoyed wandering around and looking at some of the other pumpkins.

 Miss was even able to help cut out the pumpkin face.

 She was pretty happy with the finished product.

We also spent lots of fun time with Daddy at home.  Tonight Miss got to try out her new dot markers by drawing with Daddy.

They drew snakes and faces and lots of grapes and blueberries.

It has been a great week.

It’s a Girl!!!

Posted on by Amy
Yesterday, we had our ultrasound and got to see Baby.  We were thrilled to see a healthy little one, growing and developing right on track so far.  We were also able to be able to find out Baby’s gender.  Though I was pretty convinced that this baby was a boy, we were very excited to see that we are having another girl.  Miss and Lass will be having a Sis!  I’m so happy to imagine how wonderful it will be for all my girls to grow up with sisters so close in age.  Though I don’t have a sister, I’ve heard they’re pretty great.  I love that my girls will have each other.  I’m picturing some pretty fabulous tea parties, slumber parties for which we don’t even need to invite any guests, and lots of great girls’ days out.  They can do each other’s hair and share clothes and be each other’s best friends.  I love having girls.
And just in case you’re feeling badly for my husband, swimming in a sea of estrogen and nail polish… Don’t.  He is thrilled to have another girl, if maybe slightly terrified.  One of the first things he said after our ultrasound appointment was something about needing to build a 20-foot wall around our house.  But he loves having girls too. He’s gotten very good at playing Care Bears and dress up.  And our ladies are total Daddy’s girls, especially Lass right now.  
We may or may not someday have a little boy.  Of course we’d love to have a boy, though we would be perfectly happy with all girls too.  And even if we never have a son, I’m quite certain my husband will never feel like he’s missing out on anything.
Our girls love to watch football with him on Saturday mornings, 

though he is not terribly happy with their choice of teams.  So far Miss has expressed her preference for “Go Blue.”

For the record, when I bought these shirts for the girls, I wasn’t in search of Michigan wear.  I was shopping online for a few things for Miss for school and I happened to see these on Old Navy’s website.  I actually did look for Iowa shirts on there too (I’m not entirely sure I would have bought them, but I did look).  No Iowa shirts at Old Navy.

And in case anyone was wondering, when Michigan and Iowa play each other in a few weeks, the girls will be wearing neutral clothing.  Maybe I’ll just dress them in Maize-colored shirts, since both teams share that color.

We try to keep our rivalry all in good fun around here.  But I have to admit I was very excited that Miss burst out singing the Michigan fight song, completely unprovoked, in Target a few weeks ago.

Whichever team our girls choose to root for (it’ll probably end up to be the Badgers anyway…), we still all love to watch football together.  And they love to be outside with their Daddy.

They don’t mind getting dirty or playing a little rough.  Miss loves to try to climb trees.

Yesterday we were taking a look at a house on the water.  Miss went out on the dock with her Daddy, and when he told her it was time to leave she said, “No, I want to fish.  I don’t want to go!”  My hubby will teach them to fish and even to hunt if they are interested.  Miss had her first archery lesson yesterday.

I was really bothered the other day when Miss was looking out the window, watching my hubby shoot his bow.  She said something like, “If I was a boy, I could shoot like Daddy.”

I was quite upset by this statement, and puzzled, because I have never said anything like this to her, nor have I heard anyone else make such a statement to her or in her presence.  So I don’t know where she came up with the idea that she would have to be a boy in order to shoot a bow, or do anything else.


Right away I told Miss that she didn’t have to be a boy to shoot a bow or do anything else, that she could certainly shoot with her Daddy, she just needed to get a little bit bigger.  My husband was so upset when I told him what she’d said, he took her out the next day to shoot with him.  I guess she didn’t need to be bigger, at least to watch and get the sense that she was doing it.

We will always teach all of our girls that they can do or be whatever they want, if they work hard.

And they will learn to do all sorts of fun things with their Dad.

So definitely don’t feel badly for my husband.  A few people have made comments like, “Oh how exciting that you’re having another girl!  But your poor husband!”  Of course, they mean this with all good intentions and kindness.  But, hell no he’s not poor!  To quote a song by Greg Brown: my husband is “a man who’s rich in daughters.”  Yes, we are very rich indeed.

Happy Fall

Posted on by Amy
Fall is my favorite season.  I love the crispness of the air, the colors of the leaves and their lazy floating to the ground.  I love pumpkins and apples and squash and chilly morning trips to the farmer’s market where all the season’s bounty can be found.  I love open windows through which cool breezes bring the scent of burning leaves.  Fall makes me feel cozy and productive.  Like I want to snuggle up with my Loveys, but also to get out and go do stuff.
Last year around this time, we went to a local farm where they have pumpkins, apples, animals and a big rustic playground.  We had a lot of fun, though I ended up a bit overwhelmed at the end of the day, struggling back to the truck with a newborn wrapped to me, a toddler and a big bag of apples in one arm, and pulling a wagon completely loaded with pumpkins with my free hand.  Thank goodness for the kindness of a stranger who came to our rescue.  Here we are in a photo from last year. 

We went back to the same farm yesterday.  My how things have changed.  We’ve upgraded our equipment,
and the girls have grown so much.  They were both charged with the task of picking out our pumpkins.
Lass took a relaxed approach to the job.
Miss, on the other hand, was all business.
She searched through all the pumpkins and even hauled the ones she chose toward the wagon.
We met up with some good friends, and had a wonderful day.
Back at home in the afternoon, we took full advantage of the glorious weather and the mass of leaves fallen from our beautiful oak tree.
 

The girls had a blast jumping and rolling in the leaves.  Daddy got down in the leaves with the girls too, and even got buried.

And yes, I got buried too.  I don’t know the last time I played in a big pile of leaves. I was a little shocked by how wonderful the leaves smelled and how the scent transported me instantly back to my childhood.  I had completely forgotten that smell.  It’s a fantastic smell!
Happy fall to you!
 

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

Posted on by Amy
Today I got some cheap white pumpkins for the girls to paint.  I had been meaning to make sidewalk chalk paint with my $1 tub of sidewalk chalk from Target for quite a while.  It was a gorgeous day for painting outside, so we took full advantage. 
This was Lass’s first experience with painting.  I knew it would be messy.  I was just hoping to keep her from spilling or eating the paint. 
 
That didn’t work out so well for me.  Oh well.  We made more green paint.  And she didn’t eat much of it…
Miss was really showing her creativity.  Both girls did a great job with their pumpkins.

Lass had as much fun playing with the tub of chalk as with the actual painting.

 But Miss really encouraged her to paint, so they did it together.

And then Lass dumped over my bucket of water and the painting was abandoned for splashing and swirling water.

I love painting outside.  Especially with a 13 month old.  This was a Come-in-the-door-take-clothes-off-immediately-and-put-them-directly-in-laundry-room activity.  And we all had fun doing it.

And if getting messy once today wasn’t enough, well, Lass enjoyed the mac’n’cheese’ for dinner tonight.

Thankfully it was bath night tonight!

Finally! Giraffes

Posted on by Amy
Yesterday, I lost my Mommy Mojo.  I was adrift on a sea of preschooler tantrums and disobedience and toddler crabbiness.  I couldn’t seem to do anything right from nap time to bed time. Miss wouldn’t listen to a thing I said.  She didn’t take a nap, so she was cranky and whiney.  My attempts to redirect and/or to discipline her left both of us frustrated and frayed.  I could not seem to find my usual groove with my big girl, and to top it off, my normally sunny, cheerful Lass was a crabby mess.  By the time I took Lass up for her bath, I was in tears.  I managed to rally and get Miss bathed and in bed happily and without struggle, but I ended the day exhausted and unhappy with myself.  I vowed to get it right today.
Today, Mama got her groove back.  Today, we went to the zoo with some friends and had a blast.  Both girls were wonderful.  Lass even sat in her stroller the whole time with minimal protest!

Miss was fantastic.  She listened well, helped with her sister, and was my usual happy, if sometimes slightly mischievous, girl.  She had so much fun.  Of course, there was plenty of goat feeding.

Lots of excitement over the big llamas.  These were thankfully fairly well groomed and free from matted, poo-crusted fur (click hereif you missed the post about matted, poo-crusted fur).

Lass made a new friend.

Miss played chase with her friend all over the zoo.

She was really interested in this tortoise.  The poor thing kept trying in vain to fit through these posts, and Miss was calling to it, “Come here big turtle. Come here so I can hold you.”  It was kind of pitiful.

And then.  After months of asking for them.  Three “zoos” and many animal encounters later, we finally saw the giraffes.

Initially Miss was timid about feeding them.  She wouldn’t do it herself, until she saw Baby Sister do it.  My little fearless girl.

After she saw her Sis do it, Miss gave it a try too.

The tall guys were definitely the highlight of the zoo.  It was a great day with friends.  And to top it off, both girls stayed awake for the entire hour-plus drive home (right at their usual nap time) and took fantastic naps after we got here.  That never happens.  It must have been some cosmic freebie to make up for yesterday.

But really, yesterday probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I had just managed to pick my battles a little more wisely and maybe count to ten a few times.  Yesterday I was not my best Mommy self.  Okay, let’s be honest.  Yesterday I was an ugly mess.  Today, I got myself a little perspective, took a deep breath, and got my Mojo back.

Feeling Crafty

Posted on by Amy
We went to the park on Friday for a play date.
Before I talk about how much fun we had, I must make note of the fact that these pants were the worst possible choice to put on Lass to go to a park where the ground is covered with mulch.

They’re not just fleece pants.  They’re extra fluffy, nubbly, super-fleecy fleece pants.  Watch, and take note.  Don’t put super duper fleecy pants on your kid if there’s mulch at the park.

A little while after I took the photo below, I put Lass in the sling so she could have a little snack.  The whole time I was holding her I was picking mulch off her pants.  I didn’t even make a dent in the matted, embedded mulch stuck in these things.  The big pieces came off, but the smaller fibers seriously got matted into the fabric and will not come off.  I took them off her the minute we got in the door, tried a little while longer to de-mulch them, and then put them in the trash.  They are that far beyond saving.  Who knew?

We did have a wonderful time at the park.  It was a great park.

And we were there with great new friends.  I just have to say how much I enjoy finding a new mom friend with young kids who is easy to talk to and fun to hang out with.

When we first moved here I hated that I didn’t know any other moms for so long.  It’s hard to be a new mom living far away from family and not really having any friends.  Over the years I have gradually met some really cool mom friends.  It helps more than I can explain to have other moms for support and just hanging out.  Friends who understand that when we get together, conversations will necessarily be fragmented, between corralling kids, wiping noses, answering questions from curious two year olds, excusing oneself to change smelly drawers, etc.  Friends who will grab your kid before she falls off the teeter-totter if you’re distracted for a second with another kid running the other way.  It’s an extra special bonus to find a friend with whom I have things in common besides just being moms.  The kind of friend with whom I laugh a lot and can talk about just about anything.  I have a few of these treasured friends.  Sometimes I don’t see them as often as I’d like, but I’m thankful to have them.  Friday’s play date was with a new friend (and her kids!) whom I think is going to be this type of friend.  It was a good day.

On a completely unrelated note, I have been feeling super crafty lately.  The other night, while watching Chopped, I made Miss a new tutu.  This weekend I finally finished a yarn wreath (I totally got this idea from another mom blog, Mrs. Priss) I have been working on for months.  This was the wreath in June.

I really struggled with getting the wreath covered with the yarn.  The straw wreath was not the best choice for this type of project.  I chose it because it was half the price of the foam wreath, and I thought it might be kind of cool and rustic looking.  It turned out looking fine (though not especially cool or rustic), but the extra hassle of getting it covered completely was not worth saving $3.  And I have to say I do not know the trick (is there one??) to working with yarn.  The above pile of tangled mess started out all nice and neat.  It repeatedly got tangled beyond untangling, and I had to cut it and start again more times than I’d like to remember.  Anyway, even after I finally got the wreath covered, I was so fed up with the project that I put it away for two months, until this week, before finally finishing it.  It took some nice crisp fall weather and a desire for a pretty fall-ish wreath for my front door to prompt me to pull it out, along with some great fall-colored felt.

I made a bunch of felt flowers.  Check out Mrs. Priss’s tutorials for these pretty and absurdly easy rosettes here.

Find Mrs. Priss’s pom-pom-looking flower tutorial here, and yarn wreath tutorial here.  I told you I got the ideas from her!!!  I’m totally giving credit where it’s due.

I love how it turned out!  I swore I wouldn’t make another yarn wreath, but I like this one so much, I just might.

Next time I’ll get the foam wreath though…