As part of our bedtime routine I lay down with Eve each nap/night and sing her a few songs. My repertoire is limited, but she seems ok with what I’ve got. One of her favorites is “You are my sunshine” and tonight after I finished the song she said, “Lex is your sunshine.” I smiled and said, “Yes he is, and you are too.” She giggled and replied, “No mommy, I’m your daughter!”
Happy December!
We started the day by tearing a ring off the count-down chains. Each year I have grand ideas for making an advent calendar, but then December rolls around and I haven’t made it past the idea stage, so I end up throwing something silly together instead. This year we made count-down chains with construction paper, glue, and crayons. Each day they tear off a ring. I like that it shows them the concept of time as the chains get shorter and shorter.
Count-down Chains (this year's advent calendar)
Naked walls
We then did school and playdates in the morning, then cleaning in the afternoon! Yay! It was actually a really nice afternoon. I took down all of the artwork (going back over 2 1/2 years!) from our walls and, with help from the kids, divvied it up into piles to be dealt with appropriately. I’m happy that Lex was very ok with the whole process :) Then the kids played so sweetly together while I did some cleaning and made dinner, with dance breaks in between. We’ve been listening to a lot of Christmas music the past few days and they LOVE it when I dance with them. By “dance with them” I mean hold them in my arms and bop around for an entire song. They laugh and laugh, which, of course, makes me laugh and laugh. :) This afternoon they played with babies together. Eve’s babies were sick, so Lex gave them some medicine (Lego meds) and then he made them a rattle (Lego rattle) and then he got a baby for himself and they proceeded to feed their babies and read to them and put them to sleep. At one point Lex came over and said, “Mom, I have everything I need to take care of a baby!” Ha! If only wooden pickles and watermelon, a Lego rattle and a few books were all it took! :) Then we had pancakes for dinner (I tried REALLY hard to just have salad but ended up finishing their leftover pancakes… sooooo yummy!) and bedtime. A very nice day to start this exciting month.
Playing with babies and puppies
Did you know that tomorrow is December 1st? Crazy! I had so many ideas and plans for the holidays and now I find myself scrambling, as usual. I’m in a bit of a cleaning frenzy because I have to have a clean, uncluttered house before I can get out box after box of Christmas decorations. Lex and I are negotiating on what to do with his artwork/wallpaper currently cluttering… er, I mean decorating the walls of the dining room. I haven’t even told the kids (or hubby for that matter!) my rearranging plans for the living room. Need to get a tree in there somewhere… not sure how it’s all going to fit. We may end up losing a toy shelf or recliner chair. No one will be happy! Just kidding… mostly… major furniture gets priority over a Christmas tree. I’m hoping to get the cleaning done this week and do some decorating this weekend. Lex loved decorating the neighbor’s trees. Not sure when we’ll get one of our own. I can’t believe we used to wait until Christmas Eve!!
Speaking of Christmas Eve… I started playing Christmas music the other day (and singing it and I love that the kids love to hear me sing!) and every time a song says “Christmas Eve” my little girl says “Christmas EVE?!!?! I’m not Christmas!” I tried to explain that “Eve” is her name and a word with another meaning, but she still giggles whenever she hears Christmas Eve. :) I love her!
We were in Franklin for Thanksgiving and I was unmotivated to blog. If I were a serious blogger I would have had a post all lined up and scheduled to post on Thanksgiving day. Did you know you can schedule a post to go live some other time? I’ve never done it. I’m not a serious blogger :)
Anyhoo… we were in Franklin this year. We had fun. The kids love the country and I love that the kids love the country. It’s so nice to have a country home to go to. We took a long walk on Thanksgiving day and relaxed and played and Lex made placecards for dinner and we all ate and life is good. I had a much snazzier post written in my head, but it’s gone. Maybe some pics will help.
Today we went to a holiday party at the neighbor’s house. The first holiday party of the season. We are already exhausted!
A Thanksgiving day walk (click on it to see better detail)
She's a very expressive girl
Josie! We had our friends over a few days ago and Lex drew a picture for Josie. When they left she forgot to bring it with her. Lex was pretty unhappy about that. Tonight he decided that we need to mail it to her. He got an envelope and did his best to write her name and address. The name takes up the whole envelope and he got bummed that he ran out of room for her address. I wrote it in tiny letters underneath. Eve also wanted to send them a picture so she got herself an envelope and went to work decorating it and “writing” the address.
Lex writes a letter
Eve writes a letter
And Joyce! Later in the evening they decided to make Thanksgiving pictures for Aunt Joyce. I have a picture of the final card Lex drew, but I think I’ll hold off posting it for a few days. Joyce, check your mailbox on Wednesday!
Eve draws a picture
If anyone is looking for a pancake recipe (a fantastic pancake recipe!!!) this is for you. We like pancakes around here and I’ve tried many, many recipes. I made these for breakfast the other day and EVERYONE was in heaven. I made a double batch and froze them. We had pancakes for breakfast yesterday and today, and for dinner tonight. Alan said they were the best he’s ever had. I did half plain and half with blueberries and the general consensus is that blueberries are yummy, but the plain ones are just perfect. Simply perfect!
Simply Perfect Pancakes from King Arthur Flour (who else?!?)
Ingredients
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/4 cups milk
* 3 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 tablespoons sugar OR 1/4 cup malted milk powder (I used sugar)
Directions
1. Beat the eggs and milk until light and foamy, about 3 minutes at high speed of a stand or hand mixer. Stir in the butter or vegetable oil. (I was too lazy to get out the stand mixer, so I just used a whisk for a minute or so.)
2. Whisk the dry ingredients together to evenly distribute the salt, baking powder and sweetener.
3. Gently and quickly mix into the egg and milk mixture. Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes, while the griddle is heating; it”ll thicken slightly.
4. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat, or set an electric griddle to 350°F. Lightly grease frying pan or griddle. The pan or griddle is ready if a drop of water will skitter across the surface, evaporating immediately.
5. Drop 1/3 cupfuls of batter onto the lightly greased griddle. Bake on one side until bubbles begin to form and break, then turn the pancakes and cook the other side till brown. Turn over only once. Serve immediately.
Check out the King Arthur Flour recipe page for photos and tips including a cool one (that I’m trying next time) about how to make blueberry pancakes.
PS. Grandpa Tom, I was telling the kids about world famous french toast and they are now excited to try some of that next week :)
Baby Zig - 12/17/04