Random stories

I finally bought some plastic pants to go over the cloth training pants we were given. I am impressed with how well the training pants fit, but the waterproof pants are a different story! There is simply too much material there, even though they fit very well around the waist. Anyway, I had commented on how it sounds like somebody is wadding up a plastic bag every time Chloe moves. So one morning Kevin put the training pants and waterproof pants on her and told her to keep her pull-ups dry. Chloe’s response? “It’s not a pull-up, it’s a bag.”

One day Chloe was building some steps to help her reach my camera at the top of the bookshelf. I was sitting in the armchair right by her, nursing Julia. Once I realized that she was building steps I told her that she couldn’t climb them and pull on the bookshelf because it might fall over on her. She immediately thrust her hand out at me and said, “No! Stop. Close your eyes. Go to sleep!”

I had a sore throat one day that hurt very much to swallow. After eating our lunch Kevin got out some dessert, and I passed it up. Chloe asked, “You have dessert too, Mommy?” I told her that I wasn’t going to have any that time, but I didn’t tell her why. She still responded, “Oh, poor Mommy.”

Preparations

Here it is December 8th, and we don’t have any Christmas decorations in our house yet. This wasn’t a good weekend to bring it all out since both churches did their decorating this weekend. I think the plan is to go get our tree on Saturday. I’ve been meaning to get the decorations out of the attic and slowly start decorating, but that hasn’t happened yet.

I did pull out all of the Christmas books. I have been reading a different one to the girls each day. Then on Friday I realized that I could pull out the Little People nativity playset; it was put away in the girls’ closet instead of the attic. I was looking forward to acting out the story with Chloe while we read a new book that day. There was only one problem with that plan -- Mary and Joseph are missing. The only possible explanation I can think of is that maybe Chloe decided to hide them away in some random Christmas decoration last year and they’re tucked away in the attic someplace. If I don’t find them next weekend, I don’t know what we’ll do.

There is still plenty to do around here before Christmas -- decorate, bake cookies, finish shopping for gifts, get cards ready to mail, find a dress for Julia. The list is short, but it will use up all of the free time I have while Julia is sleeping.

You probably noticed that I changed the picture of Julia on the side. I promise I’ll add an updated picture of Chloe just as soon as I get a decent picture of her smiling. All of her pictures have been looking rather goofy as of late.

Caught in the lights

I share this story especially for Mom, who was teased so much for having her Christmas decorations up at Thanksgiving. (In her defense, she put them up early because she wanted her granddaughters to see the house while it was decorated.)

Friday afternoon we left Mom and Dad’s house, and I was in the mood to do some shopping. I had been wanting to do some shopping in downtown Washington for awhile. We had tried shopping there once already, but we but got there at 10 minutes to 5:00 without knowing the shops all close at 5:00. So I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try again; after all, we were going to be driving right by Washington on the way home. We weren’t going to be arriving until around 5:00, but it was a Friday and all the shops are open late.

So we get to downtown Washington and I see a lot of people walking around. I don’t think much of it. I simply comment on how it’s a happening place to be that evening. Then we turn onto a different street and see lawn chairs set up on the sidewalk. At this point I’m beginning to wonder if there’s a parade. Sure enough, we see some of the floats getting ready.

We decide we can still do some shopping. We made it into a total of two stores looking for Christmas gifts. As we walked out of the second store we realized that there was nowhere to walk. The sidewalk was completely packed, leaving only the street for walking purposes. So what else were we to do? We stood on the only available sidewalk (right behind a parked car!) and watched the parade of lights.

A mere one day after teasing Mom about all of the Christmas festivities, we were stuck watching a Christmas parade. It was an enjoyable time. Chloe especially liked the marching bands. And it all ended with a special wink from Santa. Not exactly what we were planning, but it was a nice family outing.

Thanksgiving

The original plan for Thanksgiving was to drive to my parents’ house after the church service Thursday morning and drive home Saturday late afternoon or early evening. On Sunday of that week I got a phone call from Mom saying that Aunt Donna had died. The new plans were up in the air, but I wasn’t really expecting to be having Thanksgiving dinner in Illinois. As it turned out, the funeral was Saturday. Mom and Dad left for Michigan on Friday. My family still met in Illinois to celebrate Thanksgiving together. It ended up being a very short trip for us, but well worth the drive.

Chloe really enjoyed her third Thanksgiving. She was very excited every time she saw a turkey. She ate a little turkey, but not much. Her favorite food was the Jell-o with oranges that Grandma made especially for her. Maybe the pumpkin pie tied for her favorite food. Her favorite part of the day was getting to help Grandma make the stuffing.

First Grandma showed her how to stir it. Notice the look of intense concentration.

Then she was able to do it herself. I should have got a picture of all the stuffing that ended up on the counter!

Poor Julia didn’t see anything special about Thanksgiving, of course. She ate the same old foods she always gets, but I did make sure she had some pumpkin. At least she had something that matched our meal. She did end up with a special treat -- Cool Whip!

“Hey, that was pretty good stuff.”

“I want more!!”

We did bring home a little turkey from Mom and Dad’s house. It was only enough to make 2 ½ meals worth of sandwiches, but it was good nonetheless. Wish we would have had room for all of those yummy leftovers!

Visitors

I’m forcing myself to sit down and write again. It’s pitiful that there’s only one entry in November. I had hopes of printing off entries as I typed them and putting them into a blank book so we would have a family journal to look back at in future years. I will try to do much better this month.

It’s hard to believe this was only last week, but Kevin’s parents were here visiting. They were able to take some time off to spend a few days with us. They took the train here the Thursday before Thanksgiving and got in very late. We spent three days together before they left again early Monday morning.

Chloe was very surprised to see them when she woke up Friday morning. We hadn’t told her they were coming because we thought it would be a fun surprise for her. She was a bit startled and hid her face in my legs for awhile. Once she got over her initial bashfulness, she was all over Grandma and Grandpa for the remainder of the weekend.

Julia was not too happy with having visitors in her house at first either. She sat on the floor and cried at the sight of them. Eventually she managed to warm up to them too (at least, as much as she warms up to anybody). She is still in her stage of wanting to be with me if she sees me, but if I recall right she did spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa without crying.

We were very happy to have family visiting, and it was sad to see them leave. They should come more often! I was very disappointed in myself when I realized I didn’t take a single picture while they were here. I won’t let that happen again.