BOW

Happening this week at our house - the giant bow. Lucy picked it out. Nate loved it. I couldn't adore this little nugget more. But the bow makes her extra snuggable.

CHEESE!!!

December is here

Happy Monday and happy first day of December. I can't believe this year is drawing to a close, and that Milo will be 4 at the end of the month! EEEEEEK!

On a side note, when Lucy was born, nobody really said she looked like Nate or I. What they said was that she looked like Milo. I wholeheartedly agree.

Same face, anyone?

Breakfast in bed

Milo has had it stuck in his head for a long time now that he should be getting breakfast in bed. I think we read it in a book at one point, and he's asked for it on and off for months. I've never given in before because, let's be honest, mommies feel like servants a good deal of the time anyway.

Then Milo woke up yesterday feeling yucky. He told me he had a headache, and with Lucy up throwing up through the night before, I was concerned. When he told me the one thing that would make him feel better was breakfast in bed, I caved. Breakfast devoured, problem solved. He was chipper as can be for the rest of the day. But you tell me - could you have resisted this face?

Lucy and Lala

I would consider myself a fairly girly girl. I appreciate makeup, love fashion, and enjoy crafting and knitting and sewing and whatnot... But I also love playing soccer, running, and watching sports. I guess I'm a good mix, and when I try to think about what I played with as a kid, I'm drawing a blank. I remember cutting the hair off of Sarah's Barbies (surely I had some of my own?). I remember dragging around a stuffed dog named Brownie and using the non-working radio in his tummy to pretend like I was a spy. I remember digging for fossils in our yard and burying Tic-Tac containers filled with treasures to find later...

All that to say, I haven't done a great job of giving Lucy girly toys. Not that girls have to have girly things. But we have a super-girly little sprout here. Well, a super-girly little sprout who would jump a five-year old for her baby doll, so I'm not sure how that fares.

We did buy her a play kitchen for her birthday, but aside from that, she mostly plays with Milo's toys... Granted, we have a big bin of Little People, which I would consider gender neutral. And we have blocks. Good for us. I was fine with all of this until Lucy started carrying things around pretending to shoot people as if they were guns, and I gave in. We bought Lucy her first baby doll. She carries her around wrapped in a blanket, takes off her little diaper and tells me she has poops, and just cuddles her in general. They spent their first 20 minutes in the Target shopping cart staring deeply in to each other's eyes. In all, we should have done this long ago. Lucy and "Lala" are two peas in a pod.

For his participation in the Target trip, Nate got Milo a new Lego set. So a good time was had by all.

A Salvaged Thanksgiving

If there's something I will say about 2014, it's that everything has been hard. Nothing is ever what I expect, and if you know my personality, you know that I prefer things to go according to plan. My plan, actually... I'm working on changing this about myself...

Anyway, Nate got a horrible stomach bug Tuesday night. He was sick all night long and most of the day, and by the end of the day Wednesday he had said there was no way he could travel to Houston to Ann and Matt's for Thanksgiving. Milo, Lucy, and I would go without him, and while that felt awful, we didn't want to disappoint Ann and Matt because they were hosting for the first time this year. My brother and Diana already couldn't go because they work retail.

Cut to Thanksgiving morning. I had gotten up at 4 a.m. to start lentils and rice in the crockpot, went back to sleep for a bit, and started the day bright and early with a shower. Just as I was getting ready to put on makeup, Mom called. She was sick, too. And not only was she sick, but Sarah's little people Kaylee and Braylen were sick, too. I panicked a little. Talked to Sarah. Sarah talked to Ann... And just like that, family Thanksgiving was cancelled. I understand - who wants to cook a huge turkey for just a vegetarian and her two small children? I sat on the floor with Lucy, who had also gotten up bright and early, and cried my disappointed little eyes out. No family Thanksgiving. A husband sick in bed. A super cranky little Lucy. The day wasn't boding well.

When Milo got up, we spent some time talking about what we're thankful for and writing those things on the thankful turkey feathers. He cried when I told him we weren't going to Ann and Matt's house, but I just told him to let the disappointment out and be done with it. And then he was. And I realized that I was going to have to make Thanksgiving special for my little people. There couldn't be any sulking. If Milo could let go of his disappointment at the age of 3, I guess I could let go of mine.

Nate ended up waking up feeling a little better, and we decided to use the food I had prepared to take to Houston (lentils and rice, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin cheesecake, corn, and chocolate-dipped pretzels) and supplement it with some turkey from the store. I ran to Brookshire Brothers and found a rotisserie turkey breast. Bingo. We were in business.

And so we spent the day as a family. We ate a Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey. We made a thankful turkey craft and went to a movie (Penguins of Madagascar - I wouldn't recommend it for any sensitive little people and am regretting that we let ours watch the whole thing). Thanksgiving was far different than what I had expected, but you know what? It wasn't bad. It was different, but not at all bad. Yes, I missed my family. I don't know if I've ever had a Thanksgiving without at least some of them. But we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

I'm thankful that my little people are happy and well, despite recent obstacles.
I'm thankful for my amazing husband who manages to give me perspective, even when he's sick.
I'm thankful for my two little rays of sunshine, Milo and Lucy.
I'm thankful for my home, and the fact that I get to stay home with these little people.
I'm thankful for tough times that make me see the joy and beauty in the simplicity of life.
Happy Thanksgiving, the day after.

This is our thankful turkey. Milo and I saw the idea on Pinterest and BOTH fell in love with it. I tried to call him Henry, but Milo was insistent that his name simply be Thankful Turkey.

He literally carried this around with him all day, and when he wasn't holding it, Lucy was.

Here's Lucy planning her strategy to get that turkey...

Thanksgiving selfie 2014

Completely spontaneous perfection

Even though these pictures seem a little on the posed side, this was actually happening. My little people were watching Jungle Book (in their undies, of course), and even though Lucy is usually all over the place, she kept coming back to snuggles with Milo. Completely spontaneous perfection.