::lighting them up::

Lighting the big tree was super tricky.  It was so big that we had to cut a few feet off of it when we got home, and once it was in the stand it still basically brushed the ceiling.

Anyway, there was no way I could really light it from a ladder without being really scared.  Kris suggested lighting the top while it was lying down and then standing it up in the corner where it was going to live and finishing there.  I was skeptical, but it sounded better than the ladder option!





It was hard but it worked! Lucy was fascinated with the lights though and kept trying to crawl under the propped up tree. She made me nervous.









I was pleased with how it turned out. It think it was a lot quicker to do it this way. I just love
Christmas lights. If I could I'd wrap everything with them and keep them on all year.

::laundry helper::

Honestly I wish she could really help me!  But being cute is the next best thing.  She loves to follow me around, so when I'm in working on the laundry she'll scoot after me and show up at the door.



When I first put her in the laundry basket she was so confused--do kids really belong in here??



I'm trying to train Max to actually help me with the laundry--the neverending task--but some days go better than others.  He'd much rather just come and sit in a basket like Lucy.
Oh well, at least they're both cute.

::sleeps::

Our little Lucy has been a pretty delicate and difficult sleeper, as I've mentioned before.  Just before Thanksgiving she was still sleeping in the Moses basket by our bed, still getting up many times at night, thinking she needed to eat a lot and just never sleeping terribly solidly.  And she was in our bed a lot of the night, thrashing and twisting and complaining and kicking.

After another terrible night Kris and I decided to try some good old fashioned sleep training--it was just too much and nobody was getting the sleep they needed.  I was getting so desperate.  Anyway, we thought we'd take advantage of the work break over Thanksgiving and get her sleeping.

As usual it was pretty unpleasant, lots of sad crying and pitiful whining whimpers.  Lots of little silences where we would be hopeful and then loud howls.  But eventually she did go to sleep, and after a few days of effort and follow through she was sleeping a little better.



We got her in her own crib in her own room so that was the first big triumph.  And then one night during the holiday weekend she actually slept through the night.  It was incredible.

It's nice to have Kris's help.  He always brings a more hard-nosed approach to the sleep training which at some point can really help.

Little darling thing.  She's so happy after she actually sleeps.

::art lessons::

Shakti taught art lessons at Max's school for the last couple of years, but things have changed and she's not there much anymore.  At some point I was talking to Shakti and she told me she'd be willing to come and teach art at our house.  At our house!? Super!!!  So now Sandy gets to sit in on the lessons.  Shakti's son Malachi has been coming along and joining in too.

A weirder goofier group of kids you're not going to find.  They've been having a lot of fun and it's nice to see Sandy enjoying doing some drawing/coloring/writing because I can never get him to do it.

Look at the way they're all sitting.  So goofy.

::poor baby::

Lucy is in that mode where she just scoots backwards and gets so frustrated.  She's been getting stuck under stuff and behind stuff.  Under Sandy's bed.  Under the couch at work.



She doesn't think it's particularly funny.

::thanksgiving 2014::

Max claims that the photo above was staged--he was making that face on purpose because he knew I was taking a photo. I'm going to stand by the fact that I just captured an embarrassing spontaneous moment because I'm pretty sure he had no clue I was photographing him.

The turkey was making kind of a gross cracking noise, but did Max think something was going to fly off and hit him in the face?


Anyway, that's probably enough making fun of Max for now.

Cammon and his family were going to come to our house for Thanksgiving, we'd been planning it for a while.  But then, unfortunately, just as they were getting ready to leave, some of the kiddos starting acting sick and it seemed smarter all around for them not to come.  The kids were sad their cousins didn't make it.

So we had a quiet holiday with no guests and not a lot of pressure--honestly it was the next best thing to having loved ones there.  Kris and I could really use some down time and it was nice to be home together getting some stuff done and just having fun together.

I took it pretty easy on the cooking.  The turkey was being smoked by the local BBQ place and we had ordered pies from a local diner.  I was planning on doing lots of sides, but I ended up just doing the sweet potato casserole and calling it good!


As we prepped food Sandy was working hard on his favorite activity, playing with toys (usually preferably legos) at the bar.



He probably spends about 75% of his life doing this very thing in this very spot.


Kris was carving the turkey and I was trying to take his picture.  He was a good sport for the first two photos that both turned out blurry.  Then when I finally got a good photo he was out of patience.


Stinker.  Now that's how he'll be remembered by the posterity forever.



And Mr Sling had a lot to say about everything.  He's always trying to make some sort of sarcastic joke or something.



Or a silly face for a picture--this one was on purpose I'm pretty sure.



And we sat down to a nice peaceful dinner with some football in the background.  Lucy took a nap for about the first half of dinner and then joined us for some sweet potatoes.  (Sandy refuses to eat the sweet potatoes.  He's nuts. They're basically a dessert.  I keep trying to explain that but it doesn't work.)



The kids got to pick out a soda at the store with Kris earlier that day.  I think Max got orange Fanta and Sandy was very excited to bring home a "woot beew."



I think all Sandy ate for Thanksgiving dinner was hawaiian rolls and woot beew actually.  Maybe a little nip or two of turkey.



The baked beans from the BBQ place were also a welcome addition to the feast.  Those things are so dang good.



Sandy might not be on track to win any competitive eating contests any time soon, but at least he's cute and likes to kiss me.  And he has that cute curly hair that kills me every time.



After dinner we were all full and went to relax in the living room.  Lucy is working on her crawling and she's pretty proud of herself when she gets any sort of forward motion.



The boys played some sort of weird game they've developed that has something to do with turning cards over.



I was really really full.  So I just lay on the floor.  Kris enjoyed some football.



Oh she's so dang cute!  Later we ate pie, put the little kids to bed and let Max stay up late and watch Jurassic Park with us.  He was pretty excited about it, but I think honestly his favorite part was the music.  He loved it.

It was a great Thanksgiving.

::practicing::

Kris has been wanting to participate in Tuba Christmas for years now, and finally this year it looks like it's going to happen.

So he's got to practice.  Practice a lot.  It's loud.



Sandy joins in with his bubble wand--which is usually used as a light saber, by the way.
Please also note Sandy's Darth Vader PJs.  Best PJs ever.  They include a cape.





Lucy is cool with the practicing, evidently she was also eating dinner--dinner and a show is alwasy the best.



Now, I remember a baby that wasn't so cool with Dad practicing.  Sandy HATED it.  Remember this?
Pretty funny, huh?  That Sandy is MAD.





Do Sandy and Lucy look alike?  I usually think Max and Lucy look a lot more similar, but I don't know.....

::funniest thing ever::

Our home teacher, who also happens to be our employee dentist, felt very bad for Max with his busted bone, and put together a care package for him.

I had no idea what he was getting ready, but he got Max all pumped up--telling him it was stuff he could do with just one arm.

The family arrived to deliver the gift, and it was the funniest thing.  It was all the supplies for painting.  Paper, paints, brushes.  Also and more notably a palette which was carved out of the back of an old puzzle, and a beret that was sewn by hand by Dr Gonzalez (Brother Gonzalez?) himself.  His wife said he kept bugging her about how to use the machine.

Oh, and of course there was also the stick on mustache.

Max thought it was all pretty funny.  I'm still confused about why painting is a one arm only activity, honestly I don't think it is, but I guess it doesn't matter.  It's a great home teacher that sews your kid a beret.  Seriously.  How can anybody else ever live up to that?

::lucy goose::

Lucy Goose is about 8.5 months old.  Here she is on Sunday afternoon wearing her Easter dress that finally fits.  Yes, those are adorable little bunnies on there.



But as adorable as the bunnies are, they're not nearly as adorable as the Lucy herself.

She waves and claps.  She dances a little to singing and music.  She thinks Max is the funniest thing alive.  She thinks that if she's not taken out of her carseat the second we get home, it's the end of the world.



She creeps, mostly backwards.  She rolls.  She's adventurous and really really wants to crawl.  She loves to eat from the spoon unless the kids are playing nearby.  If the kids are around she'd much rather watch them than eat.  She doesn't really sleep at night.  She sometimes takes nice naps.  She's always happy to see me.  She sometimes cries when I leave the room.  She watches me like a hawk.



Dressing her up might be one of my most favorite things ever.  She's tiny and perfect and knows what she wants.
We're so glad she's our baby girl.