November Wrap-up

It astounds me that November is almost over. That we will be officially kicking off the holiday season this week. So although not a particularly fascinating post, I make up for it with lots of pictures. Here are some November occurrences that I wish to document:

We have a boat load of leaves here in Maryland. I love autumn right up to the point where all the leaves fall and I have to clean them up. And in the spring time I gaze up at the massive trees in our area and think about how all of those fresh little leaf buds will be my nemesis in about 6 months. We have yet to truly tackle the backyard. We just close the gate and hope it will all disappear.

But raking leaves does usually lead to some cute pictures.

Samantha has hit some developmental milestones this month. She has improved her skills of getting her slimey little paws into everything.

She is obsessed with putting things on her head.

(If you find yourself enamored of my faux brick kitchen floor and lace kitchen curtains, don't worry you're not alone. They are the new thing. You see, we Bowcuts are trend setters. We're sometimes met with raised eyebrows when we introduce such radical new styles, but others come around. You'll see.)

And Samantha is perfecting the art of talking on the phone--I assisted her in getting the phone in kitchen. When she picked up the phone and put it to her ear, she said "Da Da". I thought that was rather darling--she knows her Dad is often on the other end of the phone during the day.

And she actually took her first steps last week! (Walking pictures will follow in a future post.) Crawling is by far the preferred mode of travel, but I'm slightly relieved that her legs do work properly and I won't be carrying my child on my hip indefinitely.

We also had a fun package arrive in the mail--this beautiful bouquet of exotic flowers! Brian's parents recently spent 3 weeks in Hawaii and ordered this gorgeous bouquet of proteas which will be gracing my Thanksgiving table. I've never seen anything like them.

Also gracing my Thanksgiving table will be Brian's parents! They arrived on Saturday and we get them for the whole week!

And finally, Ella's first violin recital. I surprised her with a new dress and the combination of getting to play on a stage in a new dress was a dream come true.

She had both sets of her grandparents in attendance.

She performed with the other students in her level and also did a solo. I was unsuccessful in downloading the video (I'll try again later), but take my word for it, she was a star.

"Gearing Up" for Christmas

I need some advice. With the Christmas season approaching, my five-year old is fully aware that she will soon be receiving a plethora of gifts. As much as I love Christmas, part of me is dreading the stuff that will accumulate in my house and the fleeting manners of my child. I feel like we just brought her down off her birthday-gift high, and now Christmas is around the corner. She has spouted off a VERY long list of things she would like. When toy catalogues arrive in the mail, I try to quickly hide them, but with our mail slot in our door, I can’t intercept them all. And she rarely sees toy commercials on TV since the few shows she watches are generally Tivo’ed (is that a word now, like “Googled?”). But we just received our 4th American Girl catalog in the mail this weekend—she spent a long time on the floor, carefully studying what outfits she would like to go with “Felicity” (whom she likes because of her “purple princess dress”. I like her because her purple princess dress is actually her American Revolutionary garb. Historical dolls are definitely something I can live with.) But there is an endless list consisting of various Barbie toys and accessories, My Little Ponies, room décor, a sleeping bag, a bean bag chair, a purple and pink pogo stick (to go with the blue and red one she got for her birthday)…it goes on and on and on and on. I mean, really, does this look like a deprived child???

And the whole Santa Claus complicates things even more. She pointed out the other day that “Mom and Dad don’t have to buy me very many things because Santa will bring things, too”. She has requested that Santa bring her “Felicity” with brown eyes, because she has brown eyes. When I said Felicity only comes with blue eyes, I was quickly corrected that Santa makes the toys, and Santa can do anything. When I suggested we start thinking of ways we can serve other people during the holidays, perhaps giving toys to children in families who don’t have a lot of money, it didn’t make sense to her—Santa brings toys to everyone. It is indeed a major hole in the Santa Claus story—why would he be inequitable? Brian and I feel a little uncomfortable with the Santa tradition—we play into it, but cautiously. We want our kids to feel the magic that comes from Santa, but we don’t want to weave a web of lies to protect it.

So yesterday I sat her down and we talked about the true meaning of Christmas. That it’s a time to focus on Christ and try extra hard to serve and love other people, and giving gifts is only part of that. We should be more concerned about what we can do for others than what gifts we’re going to receive. She listened, but judging how difficult it was to keep her focused, the 5-year old brain still appears to be impermeable to “bigger picture” concepts.

I am hoping that once the decorations come out, the Christmas lights are up, the nativity set is on the table, the baking begins, the Christmas lessons start, that the Spirit of Christmas will shine through a little more. But I am curious, and I know this is not an original question, I ask you, what have you done to give your kids a memorable, magical Christmas without the emphasis being on receiving gifts?

Families and Chicken Heads

I run the afternoon shift of the pre-school carpool. I often take 1-2 additional kids home each day. Although logistically it’s a little difficult sometimes-- gathering the belongings and art projects of three pre-schoolers with Samantha in arm—I have learned a lot about the five-year old psyche. Topics of discussion often range from who brought what in for show-and-tell, indecipherable knock-knock jokes that everyone including Samantha seems to get, who has the greatest number of chicken heads at their house and which “monsters” did the chasing on the playground that day.

Yesterday we had an additional friend in the car. Ella’s friend Oliver came home with us for a play date. We therefore maxed out the number of seats that can be occupied by kids in our 7-passenger van—five kids in the back. After a few token knock-knock jokes, they all giggled at how many kids were in the van. Ella pointed out that if her Dad was sitting in the front with me, then the van would be officially full. At which point the conversation turned towards their families. It turned out to be such a sweet exchange of four kids, interested and accepting of each other’s different family dynamics.

It went something like this:

Aaron: My Dad usually drives our car, but he’s at work. My Mom is at work, too. Katie, you don’t have a Dad, right?

Katie: No, I don’t have a Dad. Just a Mom, silly! (Katie and her sister were adopted by their mom, a single woman).

Aaron: Is your Mom going to pick you up from Ella’s house, Oliver?

Oliver: No, my Dad is picking me up.

Ella: Isn’t your Dad at work?

Oliver: No! My Mom is at work! (Oliver’s Dad is a stay-at-home Dad)

Ella: Oh, my Dad goes to work. But he’s in Idaho right now.

Aaron: That’s cool.

Oliver: My Dad has five chicken heads at our house.

I just thought it was interesting that all four families functioned differently: a child with both parents working, one who is raised by a single, working mom, one whose mom works and dad stays home, and one whose dad works and mom stays home. And it all works. All of them are smart, happy, super kids.

Oh, What a Night

Here at the Bowcut Bulletin, we strive to remain politically neutral.

However, on this election night, we wish to pause and take a deep breath of fresh air.

Brian and I have popped open our bubbly (the non-alcoholic version, of course)--celebrating the light at the end of a very long, dark 8-year tunnel. History has been made and we're thrilled to have a president we can believe in.

Who's Cool?

My little brother, Drew mocks my blog. And that's okay. I am quite confident in my coolness. But really, how worried should I be about the criticism of a young man in a tightly fitted, baby blue tuxedo?
Good thing you have a cool girlfriend.

Love ya, Drew.

Halloween Magic

Brian mentioned yesterday how relieved he was that October is now over. With a bit of an unpredictable travel schedule for work nowadays, he successfully navigated the numerous October events--Ella's and my birthdays, our wedding anniversary and Halloween. It is a bit of a demanding month for him, it's true. In fact, he has designated October as "Jana's" month because it is really about me. I am a little disappointed to see October end--I love the fall and the aforementioned holidays.

With the combination of a school parade, party, after-school playdate and Trick-or-Treating, it was a non-stop day of fun for Ella. The Dads on our block took the 5-year old age group trick-or-treating. Ella was delighted to go with her friends and Samantha took it all in from her stroller. When I asked a neighbor several days ago how many kids tend to come through our block, she said, "oh, not that many" since there is a particular block that tends to attract most of the traffic. However, I'm guessing we had at least 70 kids come to our door--that sure seemed like a lot to me. The neighborhood was swarming with kids--it was truly a sight to behold. I do love getting the kids ready and sending them out the door--they are SO excited:

Samantha antsy to get out there with the big kids:
Congregating in front of our house:

In action:

Given that this was our first Halloween in our new neighborhood a few funny things struck us:

1) I happened to have a bunch of festive pencils in my bowl of candy--I allowed each kid to pick out two treats. And I was surprised how quickly the pencils were taken. When I commented to one of the kids my amazement at how much they liked the pencils, he said, "well, we need them for school." My heart swelled with pride that the kids were opting for the pencils over candy.

2) We need to remember the houses next year who pass out money instead of candy.

3) The highlight of the neighborhood is a couple of houses two blocks up from us. Rumor has it that one of the home owners is involved in the movie production business and has access to some "special" effects. Brian snapped several pictures of the kids in front--and really the pictures don't do it justice. The whole scene involved two real, MONSTER trucks parked on lawn (Ella and I drove by on the day they were delivered to his house--very strange), lots of lights and music, and random decorations. This block has been deemed "Ground Zero" by the neighborhood and most everyone congregates there. It seemed that many people even drive in to witness the spectacle. It is impressive. I do love the holiday, but I have to wonder about those who take it to that extreme...

You'll see the monster truck parked on the lawn better, if you blow this picture up:

And the highlight of the evening was trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Kensington. Grandma was at a football game at her school so Ella was greeted by Grandpa, Grandma Spring and Miriam (Samantha was sound asleep in bed). It's pretty special to get to knock on your Grandparents' door on Halloween.

Another Halloween success on the record. I'll wait patiently for the next one.

A Full-filling Weekend

I don’t know about you, but at about 8:15pm on a Friday night, my mind starts racing. I start thinking about all the things I want to do/accomplish on Saturday. It drives Brian a little crazy, because my list is far longer than the hours of the day can accommodate. It’s our one day of the week where we can be productive or have any kind of substantial outing. We had a packed, event-filled weekend. And even though we didn’t get everything done I wanted (Samantha’s room is still unpainted and the family room wall is still not sanded), I still had a sense of accomplishment.

Saturday:
8:30am- I take off for a morning run. Given how much we had to do that day, I decided it would be most efficient to run the 2 ½ miles to the grocery store, pick up the few ingredients I needed for a dessert I needed to make and then run home. You know how it goes, you always see additional things you need at the store. So I packed an additional 6 pounds on my back for the 2 ½ mile run home. Good training strategy, right? Next time, I’ll forgo the bananas—they don’t travel so well.

10-am our home teacher (friend from our church who pops in once a month to make sure we’re doing well) visits before he jets off to Hawaii tomorrow.

11am- Brian and Ella go birthday shopping for my birthday festivities on Sunday. I make dessert for Ward Halloween party, Sam goes down for a nap.

1pm- I leave for a baby shower

3:30pm- We prepare for Halloween party. Ella dons nail polish, lip gloss and blush. She is floating.

5pm- Ward Halloween party. We were a little bummed because the party is traditionally held on a farm in Potomac, owned by a family in the ward. It got rained out and moved to the church. However, it was complete with costume parade (we contributed the ballerina and the flower)

and piñata breaking.

All the kids were darling, well-behaved and had a great time.

Sunday:

Ella starred in the Primary program at church and we celebrated my 31st (!!!???)birthday. Brian treated us to a fabulous dinner of broiled salmon, feta/tomato pasta, steamed carrots and apple cider. My parents, grandma and friends Kimberlee (visiting my Mom from CA) and Leslie also joined us. It also happened to be Leslie’s birthday, too! I insisted she blow out the candles with me. My Mom came through with the PERFECT cake. It’s the only type of birthday cake I’ve ever had since childhood. Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting and mellowcreme pumpkins. My only requirements for cake. Yes, I know, those pumpkins are disgusting, but it’s all about tradition.

I was spoiled with gifts—two lovely tablecloths from my Grandmother (I’ve been in desperate need for a long time and have never done anything about it--see sad looking tablecloth above), a new outfit from my parents, jewelry hand-picked by Ella

and an iTunes giftcard and iPod sensor to track my mileage while I run. I'll be looking like this woman on the back of the package in no time!

All the right things to take me into my next year!

PS- Thanks, Gary and Rhonda for the wonderful bulbs--Ella and I got them in the ground on Friday! I'm excited for my Fritillaria next spring!