Jackson's 2nd Birthday

Trust the grandparents to provide a noisy toy!! But Jackson had fun showing off his dancing skills. Notice he's also clutching his new Cars cars and sporting his new Cars slippers...three favorite presents being enjoyed all at once, what could be better?

Bicycles on the Roof

"Mom, there's bicycles on the roof."
Another freak windstorm has passed through our neighborhood, and in the aftermath of this one our roof is decorated with dozens of bicycles. But this time as I survey the damage, I chuckle, because I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming. The lush green lawn tickles my bare feet as I stand gazing up at the roof, shielding my eyes from the sun and it's January... yep, I'm dreaming.

"Mom, there's bicycles on the trees, too!"
It's Lauryn's musical little voice in my ear. She still has the squishy r's and l's of a toddler despite her otherwise grown-up vocabulary. I can feel her soft dewey cheek against mine as she puts her lips close to my ear to share her exciting news about the bicycles. ...wait a minute... Lauryn's awake, I'm not dreaming, there are bicycles on the roof? The fog of sleep is abruptly wiped from my brain, and I'm out of bed, on my feet, and running to the window with a speed that would shock anyone familiar with my morning habits. A moment later I lay my cheek against the cold window in an effort to slow down my racing heart, and finally I can release the breath I've been holding ever since I realized I wasn't dreaming. It comes out at first in a shudder and then with a syncopation that echoes my relieved laughter, leaving a long bouncing foggy spot on the glass.

There are icicles on the roof. They hang from the gutters on the house and adorn every tree branch in the backyard. Icicles.

"See, Mommy? See those pretty bicycles?"
Yes, Lauryn. I see the pretty bicycles.

I'll catch up next year!!

By the way, just in case you've been thinking to yourself, "gee, is Cristyn dead?" the answer is Yes, I was. There's a really nasty two-week flu going around, and of course I caught it a few days after Halloween (note to self, while you're at the clinic getting flu shots for the kids, maybe you should get one yourself, too?) And then, just when I was finally feeling better, my kids brought home a gift from their school: strep throat. Which we all caught one at a time and one after another just to stretch out mom's misery for as long as was humanly possible!!! But we are all well again at long last (although the top two octaves of my singing voice are still gone...but if you've ever heard me sing you know this is no great loss.) Christmas cards are finally on their way out; this was supposed to happen before Thanksgiving since we moved and no one has our new address, but oh well. Perhaps you will receive a New Year's greeting from us instead! Merry Christmas!! We love you!

To the North Pole and back

Uncle G's Christmas present to our family this year was tickets on the Polar Express (known locally as the Lebanon-Mason Railroad during the other eleven months of the year!) The kids were very excited to go visit Santa's workshop at the North Pole, relieved to learn that they did not have to walk on top of the train in the snow, and just a little disappointed to discover that the hot chocolate servers didn't dance on the ceiling. But the juggling elves, a picture with Santa, and more than a few cookies made the trip worthwhile. We love Uncle G!!!!

And just in case you're ever in our corner of the universe, Lebanon Ohio is a really cute little town if you're into antiques and historical markers! There's a hotel where Henry Clay stayed and all kinds of cool stuff. Who knew? Just goes to show, you don't need to travel across the country or across the world to find new stuff to see and learn. (Of course, the chocolate factory across the street from the train station was our favorite attraction, but hey, we did look at the historical stuff...)

Fall Fling

A few pics of the kids in the yard. Once again, they were supposedly helping me rake leaves, but spent more time playing in the leaf piles than bagging them. So, of course, I spent more time taking pictures than making my yard presentable! Oh, well! It'll snow soon, and then no one will be able to see all the leaves in my yard!

And yes, Jackson DOES look like he's smacking his lips in anticipation of a tasty mouthful of pumpkin in the group picture...but after one big bite he decided he didn't like raw pumpkin so much after all.

Crazy Cooperness

Grant and Breanne have been singing a version of "who let the dogs out" in their music class at school...it's almost unrecognizable as a rock/rap song when sung by sweet little voices and punctuated with animal sound effects (who let the sheep out? baa, baa baa baa!!!). I have to laugh every time I hear them because it reminds me of the Sesame Street version of "Rebel Yell" which involved a foam letter L sporting a mohawk and singing, "I'm a Rebel L, I go La La La..." Billy Idol would be rolling in his grave if he had one.

Anyway, the next step was inevitable, since Lauryn cheerfully repeats everything her idols bring home from school...

Breanne's homework

Breanne was assigned to cut out labels around the house that she could "read." (Her kindergarten class is working on sight words.) So I gave her a pair of safety scissors and set her loose on our junk mail and pantry. It was very interesting to see what logos were familiar to her! Especially the one in the bottom left hand corner...Do I really talk about stamping that much?