A December To-Do List

I know December is particularly busy for most, but apart from the shopping and holiday festivities, things seem busier than usual around here. Between now and the end of the year:

1) Demo the basement. This falls squarely on Brian's shoulders, but I certainly feel the pinch too. Our contractor is supposed to start up after the first of the year. Brian punches out walls and saws down framing, while I offer unsolicited advice. We'll let you know how that combination pans out. 

2) Rake the leaves. This sounds lame, I know. But we really do have more leaves in our yard than anyone else in the neighborhood. It's getting so bad, as a true blue environmentalist, I am actually trying to justify cutting down trees in our yard. The next door neighbor informed me today that the tree in between our yards is not officially sick, according to their tree expert. Darn--I wasn't expecting a tree expert to get involved.

3) Chocolate making. This coming weekend is THE weekend. The women fly in Thursday. 40 pounds of solid chocolate awaits to cover mints, caramels, toffee, truffles, etc. It's our biggest planned crop yet. We'll let you know how it pans out.

4) Church parties. I play a significant role in putting these on this year. Sigh. I even converted one of them from a full dinner to just "desserts". Maybe they'll fire me. 

5) Christmas Lights. Brian, the known Christmas light guru on the street cannot disappoint the neighbors. However, it requires much time and care. 

6) Lucy's Birthday. Now that she's turning 3 I think I have to make a little bigger deal out of it. And especially since she's been talking about her birthday ever since August, when she saw how great Samantha's birthday was. Cannot disappoint.

7) Violin Performances. Ella will be playing a piece in church this year, and I picked a song that is a little above my accompaniment skills. I am actually having to put in practice time. Ella will also debut in her first orchestra concert this month. 

8) I decided I wasn't busy enough and tacked on a statistics class so I could delve into some data analysis at work. My course runs through December, which means I have to squeeze in homework, quizzes and a final exam! 

This is making me tired. I'm going to bed. 

A Day at Mt. Vernon

It matters not that I have been to Mt. Vernon a hundred times, I love it every time. Especially with Christmas decorations. And Megan loved Mt. Vernon so much, she made it back a second time before she heads back to Utah. I was grateful for her extra hands to help with the girls!

 My parents along with one brother Andrew, wife Sarah and my sister-in law Chloe.

 I didn't even get a picture of the mansion, partly because it was so blasted cold. I figure I've got plenty of those in my library. But the girls did manage to ham it up on several occasions. Samantha decided she fit in nicely with the Washington family. 

And here is Lucy Washington herself. 

Meet Cobbler and Gobbler. They are the famous turkeys pardoned by President Obama just 3 days ago. They are a type of turkey bred specifically to be eaten. However, these lucky turkeys got to spend their Thanksgiving at Mt. Vernon and will get to live long, happy lives. How did they luck out?

 We spent a considerable amount of time with them. The girls loved the turkeys. Ella said "This is the first time I've ever seen a living turkey. I've only seen them dead before."

 Lucy and Samantha had a ball in the Children's room where they dressed baby dolls in period clothing. A must stop if you have young kids... 

Hail to George Washington and Mt. Vernon!

A Thanksgiving Report

I've fallen behind on posting--but it's been a busy few days preparing and celebrating Thanksgiving. We've had family in town and beautiful weather. 

We started our Thanksgiving with the Annual Turkey Chase in Bethesda held very close to our home. Megan, Ella, Samantha, Lucy and I ventured on the 2 miler. We tried to sustain a run for as long as possible, but there are simply too many walkers in the 2 miler to run for too long. It feels great to get some exercise in the cool air before you fill yourself on heavy, rich food. 

Ella told me that this was the last race she was doing this year. I told her that was fine--we'd start up again in January. :)

And a job well done celebrated by bunny ears and bagels. Two of Ella's good friends were on the course with us. 

The 2-mile team

 And the 10K team. Brian conquered the 10K and did great! 

And then the Thanksgiving festivities occurred at my parents' home. We were lucky to have both of my brothers named Andrew, along with their wives. Sarah won the award for being most willing to clean the turkey.

I agreed to sit at the kids' table with the girls, since they were feeling a little put out that they were at a kids table. We quickly deemed it to be the "vegetarian" table and prohibited all turkey from coming our direction. I will try to remember next year that my kids really do not like the Thanksgiving meal and will feed them before hand. I just need to be realistic about it--they won't eat it and who wants to fight over food consumption at Thanksgiving dinner? 

Chloe and Drew--we are so happy she puts up with him.

You know who that is

And I had to enlarge the following pictures so you can see how tolerant Drew is of three girls pounding on him. Perhaps after his football days it just feels like a good massage. They cannot get enough of wrestling their uncle--it's like they're deprived of physical contact at home. 

And Lucy finally warmed up to the other Andrew 

And got in a good nose honk, too. 

What good, tolerant and patient uncles my girls have. 

A funny find

This morning I opened Ella's bottom dresser drawer to put away some clothes and this is what I found:

The combination of the three made me chuckle. Perhaps I do have a Katniss in the making. And it's so Ella-esque that the book is bookmarked--I'm sure she wanted to pick up right where she left off in the archery skills section, or the section that teaches how to properly skin a deer. At least this leads me to believe that I'm not raising my girls to be delicate flowers--and that brings me great satisfaction. 

Unibrow alert

Today I reflect on a past conversation with my dear friend Anne, as we discussed the necessity of eyebrow waxing. And how I carried a unibrow way too long into my childhood. It was rather scarring. Anne mentioned if one of her children developed a unibrow, it would be mighty tempting to take matters into her own hands. Not that I would subject my almost 3 year old, but there might be some difficult decisions ahead. :)

This is the picture of a good sport.

Brian's cousin Megan, who is in DC for a semester program with BYU, spent the afternoon with us today. Having only met Megan's family once before, we have relished this time getting to know her. She is darling--smart, interesting, a master puzzle do-er and just goes with the flow around here. 

You know someone is really special when they sit on the floor and play ponies with two adoring little girls.

 She's definitely a keeper--just trying to figure out how to keep her in DC!

Eat your heart out Macy's!

Apparently living in Silver Spring for 6 years was not enough to know that there is a major Thanksgiving parade that runs through it every year. It may have actually not started until after we moved, but we discovered it this year and had a great time. It was like a little slice of the Macy's Parade...right here in Maryland. The wonderful farmers market featured chocolate croissants, which was a great way to start off the morning (though Samantha picked out an apple in lieu of a croissant--where did she come from?)

Friend Leslie and I navigated 6 children through the crowd--and thank goodness I went with her because she saved Lucy from getting squashed from a fire truck. This first picture makes me laugh:

a) Lucy's ensemble choice for the day is particularly poignant in the pictures. The leopard pants and striped hat are prime. b) Samantha grumpily hiding behind her friend Ethan when she saw the camera come out. It's like a visceral reaction. 

Lucy's outfit up close.

And 2 peas in a pod.

And for you locals, if you missed the televised broadcast today, don't worry it will be re-broadcast on Thanksgiving! Here's a preview: 

The Washington Redskins' very own marching band. Maybe they thought the horrific mascot would be slightly more fitting in a Thanksgiving parade?

 The parade featured about 10 Latin/South American dancing troops. They danced a lot in very intricate outfits, but I will say they all sort of started to look the same by the end. 

And in true Macy's fashion, no Thanksgiving parade is complete without Santa bringing up the rear. 

Between going to a Thanksgiving parade today, buying my pie ingredients, and ordering my chocolate turkeys for the Thanksgiving table on-line, I'm feeling downright festive! 

Welcome Weekend

Nothing pressing around here. Just ushering in the weekend with a stop at California Tortilla. Fridays are strictly non-cooking nights arounds here. That makes me happy.

Some day...

...I will feel lonely making dinner by myself. 

I will wish for the days when I had to step over my children and their blankies in order to navigate the kitchen. 

And someday I will miss the little hands insisting that they help with dinner, even though it takes me 3x as long to get dinner on. 

Someday, I will miss this, right? 

Samantha: Age 5 years, 2.5 months

It isn't my fault that my blogging run was interrupted yesterday. Brian was rather territorial about the computer yesterday, trying to get a brief done. He did let me get on for about 35 minutes so I could submit my statistics homework on-line--and even then there was some pacing going on. But alas, here we are--another riveting Bowcut update. 

Tonight's blog is devoted to Samantha. This first year of Kindergarten has been an absolute joy. She has finally emerged from her tantrum-throwing, crying-over-every-little-thing stage and has blossomed into a delightful young girl. She is a thinker--her mind is constantly analyzing and questioning. She thinks a lot about life and death, (which freaks me out a little) and already dreads old age. The one age Samantha does NOT want to be is 69 because that will be too close to 70. And 70 is old. That kind of thing. Samantha HATES that she will be the last in her class to turn 6--and wishes everyday that it was August, her birthday month. She thinks often how her life will progress and how will she ever be a Mom when she doesn't know how to drive places like the grocery store? She loves rules, and abides by them faithfully and watches for those  who do not. She is contemplating becoming a police officer so she can enforce rules.  We often discuss how old each of her sisters will be when Samantha reaches a certain age: when Samantha is 16, Ella will be 20 and Lucy will be 14. And what each of them will be doing. 

One way Samantha stands apart from her sisters is that she likes to play in the dirt. Ella and Lucy have very little tolerance for dirt on their hands. Gloves must be worn for any possible contact with dirt. Samantha agreed to plant tulip bulbs with me yesterday, and discovered numerous worms in the dirt. She told me that she needed a jar so she could "study" some worms. So she shoveled some dirt in the jar and next thing I knew she was picking worms out of the ground with her fingers and putting them in the jar. I was astounded: this is VERY un-Bowcut.  

And as you can see we don't dress down around here for dirt digging.

Although our blog has not yet formally introduced you to the family guinea pigs, they belong in a post with Samantha, because she is their greatest fan. Meet Butterscotch and Sparkly Diamond (the latter named by Samantha). 

Having not grown up with pets, I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to animals. So Samantha helps me catch the pigs, holds their feet for me to clip their nails, complains much less than anyone else about shoveling the soiled bedding out of their cage and gives them the love and affection I cannot muster up inside me. When I think about why in the world I decided to get guinea pigs, I think of Samantha. 

Samantha has always had spunk. I will always remember her as the kid who would climb the stairs and then jump as far as she could down them forcing me to scramble to catch her. She has always had a sparkle in her eye, and although I don't want her childhood to pass too quickly, I cannot wait to see what kind of woman she will be. 

The Chicken Nugget Insult

Now that Lucy speaks fluently, mostly, she and Samantha have learned how to banter back and forth. Samantha, the family instigator, has learned exactly how to push Lucy's buttons:

Insult Lucy's chicken nuggets. 

Lucy goes to a little day care two days a week, where Liz, the provider, serves the kids lunch every day. She often serves chicken nuggets, and so I pack Lucy vegetarian nuggets so she can eat the "same" thing as the kids. This is her absolute favorite lunch and she learned the term "chicken nuggets" because that is what Liz calls it. So Lucy often mentions that she eats "chicken nuggets" at Liz's house. 

Today after church, Samantha and Lucy were peacefully, eating lunch at the kitchen table. When out of the blue, Samantha looked at Lucy and said, "Lucy, you don't really eat chicken nuggets."
Lucy: Liz house...eat chicken nuggets.
Samantha: You are a vegetarian. You don't eat chicken nuggets.
Lucy: Eat chicken nuggets.
Samantha: No you don't.
Lucy: YES--DO!
Samantha: They are vegetarian nuggets. Not chicken.
Lucy: CHICKEN NUGGETS!
Brian: Samantha, Lucy does not understand what vegetarian is. It is okay if she thinks they are chicken nuggets.
Samantha: You think you eat chicken nuggets. But Dad tricks you and they are not really chicken nuggets.


Brian and I who are trying hard to contain our laughter, then tell Samantha to lay off and finish her lunch. The girls finish their lunch, and run into the family room where we hear Samantha say, "Lucy, you do not eat chicken nuggets."

Ella on the Run

Ella did it! We made it through Ella's final 5K to end her Girls on the Run training. I can't say it was complain free, but she gave it her all. She did say half way through, "Mom...I'm just not the running type." However, she was sure proud of herself at the end. It helped immensely to run with best friend Hannah, and her Mom. 

  

And it also helped to deck out in ribbons, glittery hair extensions, and face and hair glitter. Running with pizazz is a must. Here the girls are lined up ready to start.

We were happy to see Brian, Samantha and Lucy at the end of the course. Samantha brought us in to the finish line, while Brian ran along side us with Lucy in his arms. 

It was a family affair across the finish. 

And then our efforts were rewarded with a carnival at the end with moon bounces and face paint. 

Way to go Ella and Hannah on your first "official" 5K!