Sheer Randomness

Tiffany: 'Splain yourself! Of course we can still be friends, but you can't just leave an "I disagree" comment like that without giving me something to argue about! I never imagined you as a shopper . . . . 

Heather: Love the website sharing! I meant to ask people to share, so thanks for reading my mind. 

I have so many little mental and written notes of recent happenings and stuff going on with the kids that I just HAVE to get them down before I turn around and find everyone has suddenly moved onto another stage and everything is different. (This seems to happen way too fast!) 

Kate has started coming to choir practice with Brandon and I, and is preparing to play a harp solo at church on Christmas day ("Greensleeves" per Brandon's request) as well as accompanying the choir on Mack Wilberg's gorgeous "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need". Here's what I've decided: It's fun to watch kids grow up! Case in point, yesterday I babysat a little 1-year-old who demolished the bottom of my Christmas tree and the nativity set in about 10 unfortunate and unsupervised minutes. I can't believe how quickly I'd forgotten what life was like with a true toddler in the house, and I think I like the stage our family is in! If you take it in the shorts and do the hard but important work of a mother as best as you can when they are little, there are definite paybacks as they get older. It's really satisfying to watch my kids succeed and find happiness in their own unique ways as the years roll on. Here are a few "Nightmare Before Christmas" harp recital pics from November:

She's actually much better on the piano than she is on the harp, but it seems everyone plays the piano, so the harp becomes the interesting instrument to get invited to the party. (I'm thinking of the Christmas day program.) 

Sometimes I am nearly overwhelmed by the thought of how many years' worth of school projects still lie in my future. Luckily, Kate disappeared into the basement for about an hour re-emerging with this catapult project that I didn't know anything about: 

Kate still can't get in bed before 10:30 every night, is endlessly reading all kinds of books (from Jane Austen to dark and mysterious), quoting Napolean Dynamite, and teasing William mercilessly. He loves it and gives it right back to her. They always want to hang out together in one or the other's room right around bedtime.

I've also been feeling grateful for Kate's health teacher who sends home lists of "sensitive" questions to discuss with a parent after every unit, requiring a parent's signature. We've had some great discussions because of this! Kate doesn't always like it (so she says) but I milk it to the bitter end. After talking about relationships and hormones last night, I glanced over the list of vocabulary words (every embarrassing body part and function imaginable) and noticed "gynecologist" was also listed. I thought it interesting that "urologist" wasn't listed considering they deal with more of the stuff on the list than the gynos do. Kate was mortified when I forcefully suggested she tell her teacher that her dad is a urologist and would be happy to come in as an "expert" to talk about whatever the teacher would like. Doesn't that just make you laugh thinking about her reaction to that suggestion?

Will is way into sneaking up on and scaring everyone in the family. It can really make me mad sometimes if I'm not in the right mood, but he's always laughing so hard it's hard to stay upset! He's also into drawing really creative and funky creatures (Kate too), as well as creating a mutant gummi bear army by biting them apart and then sticking them back together with spit. Her took these pics:

 Other creations:

Orchestra concert:

5th grade monthly book report projects will be the death of me. Don't think I just had this "wax museum costume" lying around. Oh no, we had to track it down on a school night during the dinner hour. Ridiculous!

Kate challenged Will to try and walk up and down the stairs in her high heeled boots just so he could know what girls have to go through. (Like she's being forced to wear them.)

I get a real kick out of working with these 10-year-old cub scouts. On this day we took them for a tour of the high school, a bunch of them were rocking out to Sponge Bob's "I'm a Goofy Goober" in the back of my car all the way. Unfortunately, I only have pictures of our stop in the gym:

Elizabeth and I went to breakfast together at IHOP on a Saturday morning a few weeks back. (Brandon and I try to squeeze in one-on-one "dates" with the kids every once in awhile when we can.) The day we went there just happened to be this "balloon guy" making and giving away pretty much whatever you wanted (he took tips, of course, and handed out his card for birthday parties) so Elizabeth asked for Winnie-the-Pooh. She had her own Pooh with her (the one she bought at Disneyland last summer with her own money) so we had to get a picture of the two of them. I've been surprised by how much she is suddenly into Winnie-the-Pooh:  

She's also into taking pictures of her favorite plush animal toys with my little purse camera:

I found this the other day while cleaning up. Elizabeth's picked up my to-do list habit, but not in the way I had quite imagined:

Elizabeth is at the magical age of losing lots and lots of teeth. We were hoping she would lose her two front teeth before Christmas so she could sing the classic song, and what do you know:

One of the funnier things I've heard in awhile came from a "Bug Club" meeting many months ago. Elizabeth and her friend Ellie across the street were taking turns bringing "refreshments" to the regularly scheduled meetings. I can hardly remember now what they would do at these "meetings" under the deck behind Ellie's house, but one day she came home saying it was "Dead Bug Appreciation Day" and explained, "Where we especially appreciate the bug that was murdered by a spider." You can't make this stuff up!

More camera work by Elizabeth showing what our family was doing every Monday night for a couple of months--watching The Sing-Off:

Elizabeth continues with her photography session, commanding me to sit and pose with Will's laundry basket:

 
Sometimes the best pictures come from the kids. It's always fun to see what shows up when I upload the pictures to my computer. Rachael told me I was her "favoritest mom" the other day:

After meeting new baby cousin Liv this past summer and seeing Aunt Shauna 9 months pregnant during the same trip, Rachael has given birth to this little African American baby about 50 times over now:

Another picture taken by Elizabeth of something that happens at least once a week: Kneader's drive-thru!

I have masses of fall nature pictures taken up in these mountains behind our home, but I fear the craziness of December may doom them to a life in the abyss of iphoto. Only time will tell, but for now, I leave you with a couple recent evening pics. Late fall/early winter does have a unique beauty:

Oh yeah. 

Brandon's current nighttime reading is a book that contains everything interesting to him all in one place: Gods of Myth & Stone: Phallicism in Japanese Folk Religion. Yep. That's my husband. 

I've been spending a half hour each morning on the treadmill generating "happy juice" while laughing/crying my way through the Larkrise to Candleford series. SO excellent!