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Snow

For our forecast to include snow, conditions have to be perfect. Occasionally, our weather dips below freezing, and we often have rain. Only rarely do those two events occur simultaneously. However, conditions were right yesterday.

 

We have been waiting for this moment.  After retrieving the duo from school, we suited up and went out during the peak of our little snow storm. 

The duo wanted to see the neighborhood. On our walk, they kept saying, "It looks like Christmas!

They were ecstatic, to be sure. 

Our winter walk was beautiful, and will likely be one of my favorite activities of 2013. 

They resisted the urge to run through every yard, leaving our neighbors' snow untouched. 

After walking to the end of our street, they were frozen and ready for a break. 

After watching a quick movie while snuggling under blankets, we returned to the outdoors.  

This time we had our sidekick with us!  Although William George had been napping earlier (with supervision), he knew about the snow from his earlier exposure when we picked up his sisters from school.  While he loved the snow, his outdoor experience was extremely tentative because he HATED his snowsuit.  In fact, he wrestled violently once he was suited up.  Overall, he was fine, as long as the stroller was in constant motion (read: do-not-ever-stop-moving, no-I-mean-it, if-you-talk-to-our-nice-neighbor-you-will-have-to-keep-me-moving-even-if-it-means-you-stroll-me-around-in-circles-the-whole-time).  His conditions were worth meeting because he said, "Snow!" at least a hundred times during our outing.

"Shnow."

"Shnow?"

"SHNOW!"

 

In the meantime, the duo were busy throwing snowballs. 

...and occasionally eating snow. 

Snow of 2013, thanks for the magical afternoon. 

Friday's Quote

Image via Fotopedia

I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

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The Last Party of the Season

Skip's mom closes out our holiday season with her birthday on January 6th.  Just when the trio were thinking there were no more celebrations, they were excited to get to have one last party...

 

...and dinner... and cake... and singing! 

Fun for all!

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Birthday

My birthday is two days after Christmas.  Our sweet Gracie is the family leader on all birthday parties and celebrations, and she has started a tradition of having family birthday parties in the dining room.  The venue was slightly challenging because we still had Christmas remnants strewn all over the dining room (and the whole house, for that matter).  Our tree had been strategically placed in the dining room so we could block the door whenever William George got too rambunctious in his exploration of Christmas ornaments.

Skip and the duo went out that morning for menu prep, etc.  I had purchased the above dresses for the girls to wear for Christmas, but we had never gotten around to wearing those particular dresses.  They had also watched the American Girl movie "Felicity" and were mesmerized by Felicity getting a new gown for the Christmas ball... so we decided to dress up for the party.  They were very excited and kept urging me to get dressed up, too.

Poor William George was coming down with the bug Lauren had on Christmas Eve so he was not feeling himself.

What a festive table!  The duo and Skip should consider starting a catering business.  Alternatively, I had the strongest epiphany about Gracie the other day when she was imagining some celebration or party.  I could see her at 25, working at Southern Living and telling her friends her baby story about how "marinara" was one of her first words.  "No, you guys!  It really was!" she would say to her friends at lunch.

After singing, I had a lot of help blowing out the candles.  The duo have turned the corner on keeping gifts a secret.  They are so good at discretion that they do not crack under probing questions.  As cousin Lexy said over the holidays, "I'm not sure I like this new phase."  They are strong-willed, saying several times throughout they day, "I'm not going to tell you your present."

My best present was the party itself, and dining with the monkeys.  The trio thought the best present was CAKE.  With their excitement and hard work, this was definitely a wonderful party.

Many, many thanks!

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Christmas Update, Fifth and Final Update

On Christmas Eve we performed our usual rituals of leaving cookies and milk for Santa, and we left the reindeer some food on the front steps.  After carefully looking around the house and outside for any signs of Santa and his sleigh, we began the race against the clock to get in bed and asleep before Santa arrived.  At Lauren and Gracie's insistence, we hurried through our reading of The Night Before Christmas.

When we awoke the next morning, we discovered Santa had visited!!!!!  We paused on our way upstairs to appreciate the contrast of Santa's gifts.  We especially like William George's monster truck parked next to the girls' Bitty Twins strollers.

We hurried upstairs to wake the duo, and then we grabbed William George from his crib.

Although George didn't know what to think about all of the excitement, Gracie and Lauren raced to the tree.

George quickly found his very own flashlight tucked inside his stocking.  In fact, there were two flashlights in there, and he had previously scored two cool flashlights from Uncle James and Aunt Melinda and Gran.  That might be enough flashlights for him, but we shall see.  He LOVES flashlights, and he already knows you can never have too many.

The duo were as excited about George's truck as he was.

Doesn't he look completely at home in that thing?

There were a few more goodies to discover and open.

Santa brought new shoes for everyone.

After the mayhem, we played... and played... and played.  Later, after George climbed into the bed of his truck and fell a few times, Skip dubbed his monster truck the "concussion machine".  Luckily, there have been few incidents, and he has stopped attempting to climb onto the roof of the truck.

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Although the gifts are featured here to preserve memories of our children's Christmas experience, we reiterated the true meaning of Christmas daily.  The "stuff" doesn't matter.  Remembering the reason for our celebration is the surest way to keep commercialism at bay and to prevent holiday blues when our regular celebrations are over.  Our holidays were also magical because we were able to spend time with family, to celebrate, visit and laugh.  To our families, we had a WONDERFUL time.  To our friends out there, we hope your holidays brought you warmth and love.

xo
Cathi

Christmas 2012

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