A little Momma

There was a time, not too long ago, in fact, when Chloe's view of small children encompassed keeping "that baby" away from her things. She was frustrated with the inconvenience of it all, and slightly tolerant of the cuteness-until drooling or crying was involved. She's never played with baby dolls-tossing them to the side so she could give her sheepies a ride in the stroller. Until recently. Some sort of switch has seemed to go off in her brain, and a little babysitter has emerged. Full throttle. (Fortunately, I have enough friends with small children to keep her little heart satisfied.) It's a little like being a CEO, and my sweet girl likes to be in charge.

She was left to be "in charge" of her younger cousin today. So they had a foot bath, then pedicure, and finished up with a hand made craft because Annie wanted an owl. Some serious cuteness was going on here.

It's no wonder the littlest cousin kept searching the house this afternoon for his Chloe.

Family Pictures

Some friends of our visited over Thanksgiving and gave us the gift of family portraits.  And since I believe in sayin' it like it is; I especially love these because most of the time a child (or two) was expressing their individual flair.  And really, if you are going to make strange faces for the camera, then you can expect to have that immortalized on the world wide web.  It's only fair.



Thanks to Sissy Massie for perfectly capturing our quirky little crew!

A little Metal

I was googling the other day, looking for a fun idea to make a magnetic chalkboard.  I found this fun blog with just the idea that I wanted to use. (here are the original instructions)

So out came an old frame I had found at a garage sale for free and repainted white.  A trip to Home Depot netted me some metal and a can of chalkboard spray paint. 

I dug out some pin snips from Chris' toolbox to cut the metal and my glue gun to adhere the metal to the back of the frame. I know using a glue gun was not in the original instructions, but hey, Chris was out of town and I am resourceful (and possibly impatient). It might all fall apart some day and then I will need to actually adhere it properly, but until then...

New Years

I'm snuggled up inside taking a sick day with my oldest.  One of the traditions when Daddy is gone appears to be that someone is always sharing my bed.   (I personally thought our tradition was to make homemade pizza, but who can resist a little person with a sheepie under one arm tiptoeing in and whispering-'I'm cold'?)  But if you give them an inch, they will take a mile.  And soon the night visits start before it's even night, and before I'm even in bed.  The two littles race eachother to be the first to ask to sleep in Momma's bed, and erase my own dearly held personal tradition of sprawling out on the middle of the bed like I own the place.  (which I do).  Anyway, someone sleeping next to me and unselfconsciously coughing into my face shared more than the blankets.  Now I'm sipping some nasty cold care tea and waiting for my immune system to kick the intruder to the curb.

It's a perfect time to dig thru some more pictures. 

Carrie and I decorated the house for New Years Eve with a wild and festive abandon with a blue spool of ribbon.  I have to confess that it looked quite a bit like a boobytrapped scene from the cabin in "Parent Trap".  A more reasonable and logical hand relieved us (okay maybe more me) from our duties and went about redecorating (undoing) our mess beautiful work.

Carrie is the queen of little touches to make things special which resulted in all the appropriate New Years accoutrements-hats, poppers, those party blower things (is there a proper word for them?) and even a balloon drop. 

The kids weren't used to staying up so late. 

Happiest of New Years.

Some More OR Fun

I'm trying to get caught up with our Oregon pics.  It's been taking me a while because life seems to have a way of interrupting my best laid plans.  I guess that's why I do better when I don't make any plans.

We went sledding over by Mt Bachelor. It was a day full of biting winds, rosy cheeks, bum jarring bumps, and lots of gleeful squealing.

Chloe tackles sledding with intensity...

Aidan tackles sledding in typical Aidan fashion-head first...

Some of the big boys got in on the fun...

Chris helping Syd with the proper Afghani headwear for sledding...

Did I mention the girly squealing?...

And that it was cold?...

We finished with hot cocoa and pastries at BackPorch Coffee. It was just about perfect. (Except the part where they forgot to make my drink-that part was unfortunate).

Reflections

I've discovered that I become centered when I'm doing something creative.  When my days feel really full, even if it is a kind of busy joy, I start to feel a little bit thin after a while.  And I need space to sit in a corner with some crayons, tromp around taking pictures, or make something with my hands.  It fills me up in a way, almost like taking a deep breath, and settles my soul.

Driving in Portland was a little bit of an adventure.  Well, Chris was driving, I was in the passenger seat clutching my camera and occasionally hollering for him to pull over right here.  We did all of the illegal things that people who aren't used to driving in a big city do: drive in the bus only lane, ignore that the other guys has a yield sign instead of a stop, drive the wrong way into incoming traffic etc.  Pretty standard stuff. 

Some of my Portland favorites:

Some Sunriver Fun

Of course there were some (hours) long strategy games.  I did attempt to play a couple, but when I sat at the table with a few of the "Bigwigs of Strategdom", all by my little lonesome, it felt a little bit like a sweet little lamb being led to the slaughter.

There were visits with some precious friends and family whom we hadn't seen in ages.

And of course, some gingerbread house constructing thanks to Aunt Tabby who is the queen of event planning. 

 Those particular doodads were quite sour apparently. 

Not that there are any competitive members of the Hewitt family, but somehow the gingerbread house making turned into a contest.  With official judging and prizes.  The kids clomped upstairs demanding that Aunt Tabby and I decide which house was the best.  Fortunately for all of the little hearts involved, there turned out to be 10 "Best" houses, each with their own certificate of appreciation marking what was unique and special about each one.  (Certificate might be stretching the word a little bit as it was actually hastily subscribed on notebook paper, but go with it) .

Once they figured out what our gig was, they eagerly bounced around in a line waiting to hear their name called and creative brilliance applauded.  In fact, when I was unpacking Chloe's suitcase, I found a crumpled sheet of paper proclaiming "Best Door".  I can't make sure that my kids win in life all of the time (and it's best that they don't) but when Mommy is the judge...