Many Thanks To

...my sister Alexandra who made the new banner. Is it not awesome? I'm so excited!

So all the birthday invitations are mailed and Doug did most of the work there. They were really cool. We made flowers out of card stock and glassine paper (it was supposed to be vellum, but we couldn't find that and we don't know what the hell vellum is, anyway) and when you open the card, a little fairy pops up in the invitation. The cards were see through so you could see the flower. I even got flower stamps.

Now to figure out what to do at a 2 hour party for 9 five and six year olds and 2 three year olds. I assume everyone is coming. The card said RSVP, but, cynic that I am, I doubt I will get much feedback on that. I'll hear from a couple of people, definitely. I know there will be 2 unicorn chocolate cakes. That's all I've got.

I think Fiona is coming down with a cold, so hopefully that will be all gone by next weekend. She must have something because she actually thinks it's cold outside. Despite this, she still will not wear her coat from the car to the building for gym class. Maybe it's because she is so tired of carrying a bunch of crap to school every morning. She has to carry her snow pants (won't wear them to school, but must have for recess and gym), her lunch, her backpack, and on some days like today, the snack for her class (peanut butter and jelly muffins and carrots). It doesn't sound like a lot, but she is still little and she looks like she's going on a major voyage. The backpack is small so she can't put her lunchbox in. She'll need a bigger backpack next year, I'll wager. She doesn't need the back pack for much. I could be wrong. I see her classmates with these HUGE backpacks. What is in them? I have no idea. They don't even bring their lunch. They are so big and so full. It's very mysterious. They look very heavy. It looks like the center of gravy is totally off when they wear them and if it is very windy, they will fall backwards.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

So the house next to us has been for sale for what seems like ages. Someone bought it a couple of weeks ago and I finally met one of them today. Fiona asked to play outside, which thrilled me, so out we went. It was the kind of snow that adheres to itself really well so we (I) made a snowman. Our neighbor came out and shoveled the driveway and Sophia looked over and said "HIIIII!". So we have now met Dave, who went to NECI, and whose wife is an accountant. He seems very nice and the girls really wanted to spend the entire afternoon chatting at him. They have a dog named Misha, who seems nice enough so far. They moved from a different town and they seemed to like how quiet it was on our street. This sounds promising. He left for a bit in his car after chatting with us (no, I don't think we scared him away).

We finally went inside so the girls could relax after watching me build a snowman and so I could get accessories for said snowman. I decided to take pictures of the snowman. I also put my arm around him and posed for more pictures. Right at this exact moment, our neighbor drives back up (the snowman is pretty much right next to their driveway, but up on a hill...so you can really see us). Priceless: buying the house next door to the crazy lady who poses with snowmen.



Go ahead and mock the snowman. I've never really made one before. He's really lumpy. How does one get them all smooth and 3-ball like?

Cruel Winter

This winter I have accepted the fact that I have SAD (well, and a doctor confirmed it). I also have PMDD (Premenstrual dysphoric disorder), which I guess is super PMS. It didn't really show up until fairly recently...now that I am neither pregnant or breastfeeding as I have been for about 5 years. December sent me to the doctor in desperation and I have joined the ranks of mothers on anti-depressants (Lexapro, if you're wondering. And I say "ranks" because it seems to be eerily common among mothers--but maybe that is because that is who I mostly talk to. And it's not just mothers in the dark North). I do not know if I will only need this in the winter, or if I'll need it year long. I guess I'll know in a couple of weeks how it affects the PMDD. I'm not wild about taking medication if I don't have to, but this really felt like, at the least, a bridge on the way to normal. I now also have a full spectrum lamp and an exercise bike. I know for a fact light and exercise help. I would love to eventually wean off the medication, if possible.

On cheerier notes, the girls love sledding and there is a fabulous sledding hill at Fiona's school. These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago. The snow right now is hard and icy and not great for doing anything with except melting.




Also, I am happy to report that our grocery store had cherries yesterday that were acceptable, but not stellar, at only 2.99 a pound. Funny.

Brought to You by the Color Distraction Yellow

So in three weeks, Fiona will be 6. Six. I think this is the start of the big kid years, no? Of course, when Fiona was a baby, 5 seemed just as remote as 15. We'll have a birthday party for her, and it looks like it will be at our house again. I think we'll actually have to come up with some sort of activity this year and I am totally at a loss. I can't even decide what to buy for her birthday present. All we know for sure is that she wants a chocolate cake. So as long as we have that, how bad can her birthday be? That's right, it will be just perfect.

Another food related oddity of Sophia's is that she will answer the question, "What would you like to eat?" very creatively (And this is what happens when I do not offer choices right away, so it serves me right). Sometimes she just announces what she would like to eat out of the blue. "I want some cherries", she will announce. We have no cherries. It's the dead of winter and if cherries appeared, they would be $8 a pound and look like grey red rubber balls. "CHERRIES!" she says. Still no cherries. "I'm sorry", I say. "How about some clementines?" "I want cherries", she says. "We don't have cherries", I say. "Yes, we do!", she says. "Oh?", I say. "Where are they?" "I don't know", she says. "Neither do I", I say. "I want cherries", she says. "Me too", I say. She makes her little "awwww" noise, sticks her thumb in her mouth for a minute (she really, really likes that thumb), then takes it out and smiles at me and asks to watch show. Then we have a similar conversation about how we aren't watching show right now. Favorite cabin fever activity is definitely trying to beat previous times for how fast we can make mommy's eyelid twitch.

I have paid for this post with Play dough. Neon yellow Play dough is scattered all over the kitchen in itty bitty bits. I don't have any idea how or why and I do not really care. It has served its purpose. It is ground into our too-nice-for-us chairs and our wood floor--which means it has melded with various bits of god knows what on the floor. Play dough, now with oats and macaroni. No one needed help with it, no one screamed at me that it wasn't wooooooooooooooorking and it's such a stupid poopy butt I hate it I hate it so much!!111 I will vacuum it up later with a smile on my face.

A Dainty Dinner

Last night Doug made cod poached in hard cider and dried porcini mushrooms. Side dishes of brown rice and green beans.

Sophia ate ALL of the porcini mushrooms (I keep expecting anyone under the age of 20 to spit out mushrooms) and 2/3 of the green beans.

I think she is really a fairy sometimes.

Bacon is the Fairy Dust of the Food Community

12 Years

Doug and I got married on Christmas Day, 12 years ago. We were married by a Unitarian minister, Don Fielding, at my parents' house in Texas. Doug's brother Sam was there, my bud Triana and her mom were there, and my parents and sisters and grandmother were there. Then a couple of days later we drove a U-Haul with our cat Merlot to live and work in Tampa, Florida. Note: it is hard to get a hotel room on New Year's Eve. We slept in the U-Haul on our second night on the road. Good times.

Our wedding contained these verses from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran:

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love. Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup, give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.

Sing and dance together and be joyous but let each one of you be alone. Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping, for only the hand of Life can contain your hearts, and stand together yet not too near together: for the pillars of the temple stand apart, and the oak and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

I love you, Douglas. Thank you for being my wonderful partner in life. I know we will be together forevermore.

Cynical at Five

Fiona's Kindergarten class recently had a section on America, including presidents. She brought home some of her work today, and I had to share it.




Really, what can I say? Let's just try to put aside how unsettling it is to find Dubya's face on your child's work for the moment, please. No, I can't. I found her statement so depressing, yet I laughed out loud (not in front of her, of course).

Good Morning, Vietnam

A typical morning at the purple house.

Sophia. In front of a plate of eggs. "I don't want this!" Me: "Then don't eat them." Sophia eats the eggs and asks for more.

Fiona wants to bring her fairies to show (the whole small suitcase of them) at school. I remind her of the recently reinforced rule of no toys at school. Fiona: "But I haven't shown anything at show and tell in a while." There is no show and tell. Me: "Your teacher's rule is no toys at school". Fiona: "But I want to show my fairies." Me: "No toys at school." Fiona: "I'm just going to bring my fairies." Me. Chewing off my arm. Doug: "This conversation is over". (Aside: we have said she can invite her classmates over to show her fairies. She is bringing her teacher and the one across the hall their own fairies tomorrow.)

Sophia: "I want juice!" Me: "We have no juice." Sophia: "Juice! I want juice!" Me: "We have no juice." Sophia: "Please?" Me: "We have no juice." Sophia: "UUUURRGGGG!!!" Me: "I'm sorry. We will buy more later. How about water or milk?" Sophia: "Juice." Me, leaving the room. Sophia: "MILK! I WANT MILK!" Me: "Can you ask for it a different way?" Sophia: "May I have some milk, please?" Me: "Yes!" Gets milk. Sophia: "I want water."

It's 7:28 AM.

Purple House, The Musical, with Cookies

Fiona goes around singing everything these days. She tries to communicate in song. She needs some background music. I feel like I have mentioned this already. Well, if I have, it's still going on and it's happening more often. She also rummages through her closet so she can dress up as each fairy from those Daisy Meadows book series (she has the rainbow fairies and the weather fairies series and now she would like to start on the gem series...she has the first one and we check the others out from the library).

So we got buried by snow Sunday and Sunday night, but school was only delayed by a couple of hours today. For Fiona, who is only in a half-day Kindergarten, it meant no school! It is way too cold and windy, however, so we didn't prance in the snow. Maybe tomorrow. Today was cabin fever day. Very fun.

I finished the Christmas cookies for our family and now I must mail them out. Mailing them out is not the fun part.

Almond shortbread with raspberry jam.

Caramel popcorn with peanuts.

"Trio". These and the meringues are from the December 2007 Gourmet.

Cocoa and vanilla meringues.

Dark chocolate for toffee.

Taste testers. It is very serious work.



These aren't all of them, but some. The pecan crescents do not photograph well, and I'll just leave it at that. I just didn't photograph everything. I should because it is the only way I'll be able to remember what I make every year.

Making cookies with a 3 and a 5 year old is not easy. They just love the fussy cookies. I usually make the drop and bake kind because they are so easy. They were enthralled with the pastry bag, the cookie press, the different ways a cookie can look besides round. It was fun.

Here is the cookie press. It was my grandmother's. I hear they make them a lot easier to use now, but I am quite fond of using this once a year.



I love it enough that the spelling of cookie as "cooky" almost does not make my eye twitch.

Christmas Cookies for that Special Someone

I love this.

Run, Run As Fast As You Can

So Fiona is home today because she said her tummy hurt. She looked a bit peakish, so after some temperature taking and going back and forth on the matter, I decided she could stay home. She is just fine, but I guess she needed a day off. Never mind she had the whole week off last week. The only thing is, they are working on their costumes at school today and Fiona has a fairly major part. She is the baker! (I'm so proud.) She has all her lines memorized, at least. The play is this Monday and so they have already missed a whole week of practice.

We had a good morning making gingerbread cookies and reading and doing puzzles. Now they are playing fairies and hopefully we will have some lunch that isn't gingerbread cookies and then work on some of Fiona's reading questions from school and some spelling.

Staying home from school today means also that I couldn't volunteer to be in her class to help with workshop, so Doug did! Everyone missed her (she hasn't missed a day yet) and was worried about her. Doug brought home a note from one of her friends and went back to work with some of the gingerbread cookies. He probably should have taken more cookies.

I need to make several different types of cookies for family and friends and it isn't really working out very well. I need to set them up with a movie or wait until they are asleep and get baking. They want to eat the cookies and I cannot deny them Christmas cookies. They love to help as well, and then we've got a situation where Sophia is eating as she goes and helping with the cookies. Yeah, those are definitely our cookies.

It's 11:48 AM and we are all still in our jammies. Okay, let's be honest here. The girls are now playing dress up, so I'm the only one still in my jammies.

Not My Wisest Purchase

A couple of Christmases ago, I bought Fiona a tin whistle for her stocking. I just found it again stowed in the depths of our bathroom cabinet. We have this deep, enormous bathroom cabinet, and below that, ample drawer space. The cabinet is actually far bigger than we need and so stuff can just get lost in there. I'm pretty sure there is a door to another world in there, but best to leave it alone.

Anyway, I took out the tin whistle, because it has been in there a long time. So it has been very loud and shrill here today because Fiona loves a toy she hasn't seen in a while and Sophia loves it for what it is. It got ugly there for a while, when Fiona came home from school, but now they are sharing it. Actually, it seems to have been temporarily forgotten. I just realized I have been forming complete sentences without trying to ignore pain.

The Holiday 2007 Photo Shoot

I really need a big black drape of some sort so I don't have to share the ancient yellowing wallpaper...the bottom of the door coated with smears...the who knows what I haven't noticed yet...


This was one of my favorites, mostly because I was able to get some natural light in instead of using flash. Not easy in the winter.





I got pictures like this last one by saying delightful things like "Buddy-butt poopy butt!" "Here comes Mommy Poopy Butt!" They call their bottoms "Buddybutts" (maybe it's "buttybutts"? "bummybutts"? or all of the above...) sometimes and they know I am not wild about it, but it sure does make them laugh! I think they had trouble breathing on the last one. Fiona was laughing nearly as hard as when I visited her Kindergarten class for the first time and her teacher asked me, in front of the class, whether I preferred to be called Mrs Brown or Rachael. The idea of calling me Mrs Brown (not my real name, by the way) was absolutely like opening up a can of the funniest possible thing imaginable to a 5 year old.

It was actually pretty fun to do, then Fiona accidentally....I think...busted Sophia's wooden doll house and it needs gluing back together. That just sort of screws up the whole day.

How about a nice football?

Last night I took the girls to the tree lighting. Our little town has a little tree and a little choir from the middle school. The little shops on the little square have hot cider, cupcakes, and cookies. We've only been one or two times before, because we are lazy and because often the weather does not cooperate. This year, Doug was off to see the Golden Compass (his verdict: disappointing) so it was just me and the kids. We listened to the choir for about 2 minutes and then went to the end of the street to get in line for Santa. The one and only time we did this, the line was so long and in such a small space that we bolted from the scene. This year, we were going to get there early.

Santa and Mrs Claus ride around on the back of a fire engine around the square where the tree lighting and shops are. The kids sort of liked that, but it's hard to really see anything. Despite the tree lighting and Christmas lights--and the fire engine--it is still really dark at 6 PM. We actually run into people we know and wait near the head of the line for Santa.

When you see Santa, you get closed off in a room with just your family and the Claus family (and our small town newspaper reporter). Now, we had tried Santa at the mall and Fiona sat next to him and asked for a real fairy or a toy fairy or a mermaid toy. Sophia wanted nothing to do with him, but she would take the chocolate kiss at the end. This time, Fiona sat on his knee and asked for a real unicorn or a toy one. Then she got this package from Mrs Claus with an activity book, a writing tablet, crayons, and about 5 different kind of Christmas marshmallow chocolate treats. Sophia was apprehensive again, but not in a loud way. More like a big eye kind of way. She actually sat on his knee. She did not say a word, she did not suck her thumb, she just stared at everyone with a shy little smile. She, of course, got a package, too. She got her picture taken by the paper photographer (hopefully, she'll be in the paper...except that means I will have to buy a copy...).

How can you read this? There's no pictures!

Well, we have the tree up and I have finally caved in and gotten white and pink dance clothes for the girls because Fiona really wanted PINK for her dance class like all the other girls (here we go). Truthfully, they were both outgrowing their black and dark blue dance clothes. I think I have to embrace the pink. There was no interest in the pink earlier, but that was then. They do look terribly cute. Fiona's clothes were too small and defective anyway, so she doesn't have a picture yet.

Fiona's latest topics of interest lately have been mermaids, princesses, and getting married. There is this boy in her class, let's call him K, whom she seemed fond of (She said he taught her how to kick sharks in the water; what more could you want in a man? She said if that didn't work she could lift them out of the water and throw them like Pippi Longstocking.) and wrote little love letters to. K would wait for her in the morning so they could walk back to the playground together before school started (K's older sister would wait, too, much to K's chagrin). She asked him if he wanted to get married when they were older and he said no. She asked if they could just live together and he was okay with that. Later he decided it was okay to get married.



This is old news, now, and that was about 2 weeks ago. Last week she told Doug that she was a princess and she had to marry a prince. So, Doug asked, "What about K?" She said she liked him a lot but she had to marry a prince. She pondered a bit and said, "Gosh, I hope he doesn't go all Gaston on me" (For those who do not know who Gaston is, you would need to see Disney's Beauty and the Beast).

I apologize for how slow it has been around here. It's not like I don't have a plethora of material to work with. Oh, and I'm not wild about this princess phase, so any suggestions of good books for how to be an alternative princess would be welcome. I'm not too worried, however. I eat lunch with her class on Thursdays and K wanted to sit next to me (most of them want to sit next to me, it's really flattering) so I did (Fiona on the other side--these are round tables). He whispered to me that he saves his milk so he can drink it after his nap and could I make Fiona save her milk so she can drink it after her nap? I couldn't help but laugh because A) Nap?! Fiona?! (I didn't mention her lack of nap to him) and B) I said, K, I can't make her do anything. He said, "She makes me do stuff all the time!" (Don't be alarmed; he went on to talk about their workshop time in the classroom. Fiona is not shy about handing out instructions.)



In other news, Monday was a snow day and the girls now adore sledding in the back yard (it's sort of difficult to veer away from the maple saplings we have everywhere, though). However, a pipe burst at Fiona's school so one snow day as turned into an entire week off.



Cutest moment of the week: One afternoon, Fiona read to Sophia on the couch. After about 4 books, Fiona came over to me in the kitchen and said Sophia fell asleep while she was reading to her:


This morphed into:

25 Most Baffling Toys

http://www.cracked.com/article_15670_25-most-baffling-toys-from-around-world.html

I had a really good laugh. Not work or child safe. Surprisingly.

The First Overnight

Forgive me. These are not the best pictures. My camera does not like taking close up pictures.

It is actually snowing today! It's not the 3 to 6 inches they predicted, but it's still snow.

Tomorrow night is a big deal around here. Doug and I are going to an inn about an hour away. For the night. Without the kids. The kids will sleep at home with Sobo (my mother). I am so excited! I'm also a little nervous. We will be staying here. Did I mention we're going without the kids? For the whole night? Plus breakfast? We have never done this before. In case that wasn't obvious.

Then it's back home to plan Thanksgiving dinner! My chef friend Annie sent me numerous new recipes, one of which is a Cosmopolitan-like cranberry sauce. Plus, mashed potatoes you can make ahead of time. Apparently, they don't get gluey or anything. I hope I can use a food mill, because I finally allowed myself to get a food mill.

Fairies

I got the bright idea last week to get the materials to make pipe cleaner fairies with Fiona. I've had this little yellow piece of paper with the instructions for, oh I don't know, about a year. We finally got a hot glue gun (to glue rocket pieces together), too, which was something we needed for the fairy project.

Now we have a box full of faux flowers, pipe cleaners, wooden beads (for the head), yarn, feathers, etc. Fiona could do this all day long. She carries them in her Easter basket from last year---you know, I just realized it's Sophia's Easter basket because Fiona's friend Hazel is borrowing HER Easter basket---and she brings them to school every single day. When her friends come over, they make fairies. I'm just waiting for some doom to come to the fairies at school.

When Fiona does something, she really immerses herself in it.

Halloween was great. Fiona actually did dress up as Ariel (she wanted to be a mermaid, then finally saw the Disney The Little Mermaid, and thus became Ariel...we bought a red wig even, since she asked for it. Which she did not wear). Sophia begged for a skeleton costume. Which she did not wear. She was a unicorn, like last year. She was a big hit. The candy is finally almost all gone.

My Daemon