Christmas Lights!

There is nothing that makes me feel like Christmas is Christmas than lights. Lots of them. We started the tradition the first year we were married when we haunted Peacock Lane, hunkered down in our gold subaru.

We continued it, with variations over the years. Sometimes we would drive around Portland, up and down the hills looking for sparkling light shows all through the month of December.

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Then we discovered zoo lights and decided that the best thing was to buy a year long membership since admission to zoo lights cost just about the same amount. That was the part that left me feeling just a twinge of regret, so I determined to fin a light spectacular for Christmas this year.

And lucky me...this show happens about a mile from our house in Central Park.

We did pile into the car instead of walking, but then we parked and wandered around the park enjoying the spectacle. The girls grinned from ear to ear and not a single shiver assailed us as we enjoyed a balmy 70 degrees. Actually, the website suggested that we bring a picnic.

Kindred Spirits

On Tuesday, one of my violin student's parents asked me if I ever did Black Friday shopping. I smiled, and said, "Once. And I did it by myself and had a ton of fun." Well, this Friday, I headed out with the same student's parents at midnight to brave the horde of shoppers at Toys-R-Us. We actually lined up at 11:00 and already there were severl hundred people in front of us. We were smart, though, we weren't there to browse, but to buy certain items, so when we hit the sales floor, we managed to grab all of the items in barely under 10 minutes. But, here is the thing about Black Friday: it's not hard to get in, but to get out. One of us stood in the checkout line while the others went to grab the items. Even then, it took us almost 40 minutes to check out of the store.

Some of you might be shuddering at the idea of stepping into a toy store at any time during the Christmas season. Some of you might be thinking well at least you got that done and could go home. But then, some of you might not know that it was just the first store, and that I didn't go to sleep that night. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and some caffeine to drink and then hung out at my house until 2:45am. Then we split up since Target opened at 5:00am and Kohl's opened at 4:00am. We were in and out of Kohl's in 20 minutes. Drove to Target. Waited an hour to get in, and then were in and out of Target in 15 minutes. Then we drove to Half Price Books and waited for an hour and a half, but were sustained by a quick run to grab some kolaches. By the end of the stint, I was ready to crash, so I picked Tanner up from work and came home. I made breakfast, got the girls dressed and started decorating the house for Christmas while Tanner slept.

Oh, did I mention that I had been up since 5:30am the previous morning because I made a fabulous beer turkey?

My hero brother, Jonathan, finally came to my rescue at around 10:30am and said that he would watch the kids for me so that I could sleep. I crawled into bed, and then Georgie crawled into bed with me. She downed a bottle and the proceeded to roll onto my head where she fell asleep. I finally fell asleep for about an hour or until Georgie woke up. Muddled through the afternoon with Tanner muddling right alongside me and then I grabbed another nap when Reagan and Georgie took an afternoon nap only this time I didnt' wake up when they did and slept soundly until 8:00. Aaahhh...now for some left over turkey and chocolate cream pie.

November in Texas

This morning dawned bright, clear and nippy. At least it was nippy for us because it was about 68 outside. I shivered into sweats, made the girls wear warm clothes and then we headed out for coffee, breakfast and early last minute food shopping.

When we got home, I started the turkey brine and found a recipe for apple pie and royal icing. We left the girls outside to play in the backyard. About an hour into all of this, Reagan came into the house and shouted from the back room, "Mommy, can I have a towel." That is never a good phrase. It's definitely not a good phrase before 11:00am during the month of November. I turned to see Reagan standing in her diaper with rain boots, soaked hair, wet body and goosebumps. Of course, I had to ask, "What were you doing?" Why do moms ask such silly questions? We deserve the anwers we get, like Reagan's, "I was filling my boots with water." I pointed solemnly to the backdoor, and both Tanner and I burst into laughter as we heard water sloshing about in her boots as she headed for the door.

So, I ended up dumping out a great quantity of water from her boots, discovered that Kate had changed into a bathing suit, explained that even though it was 72 outside bathing suits and water play were out of the question, dried the girls and sent them out to play with strict instructions to make mudpies not have pool parties.

Just George Again

Update.

Well, what to blog about today?  Georgie has learned how to say, "Help!"  I guess she hears that word frequently from her older sisters who play act falling off of cliffs and fighting bad guys.  I think it is so funny that she hasn't grown very much.  She just grows wider, but not taller.  Neither Kate or Reagan grow like that.  Kate has topped 46 inches and Reagan is at exactly 3 feet.

I'm not sure what to do about Kate's school clothes.  I bought them a size and a half too big.  At the beginning of the year she was 5T, so I bought size 6 pants.  Not 6X, but 6.  Now they are barely skimming the bottom third of her shoes.  In September she wore size 12 1/2, but I had to fit her into size 13 skates on Sunday.  Kate had her first crush and then her second and then her third, all within about a week.  She has several good friends at school and at church.

Reagan is officially in love with Kai-lan.  I found a Kai-lan outfit on clearance at Target.  She was rhapsodic when I took it out of the bag.  She danced around and around and around and sang out, "You make me so very happy!"  For those of you that don't know: Kai-lan says that ALL the time.  I am constantly amazed at Reagan's 2 year oldishness.  We were at the store the other day, and Tanner told her to come.  She wanted to look at this toy so badly.  She got very frustrated and stomped her foot and said "aargghh!" and then walked to Daddy.  That was it.  That was her temper tantrum.  We stopped and asked her what was wrong, and she looked up at me and said, "I am so very frustrated.  I want ALL the toys!"  A hug and kiss, a short explanation of looking and enjoying but not buying and she was all sunshine.

What other accomplishments?  Let's see...Reagan can identify all the letters of the alphabet.  She can count to 10 in chinese and spanish, and 20 in english.  She draws circles and faces.  She tried a triangle the other day, but it didn't quite work out so she threw it away.  She sings and makes up songs and tries to dance.  But her greatest accomplishment is her friendliness.  Everyone is her friend.

Potty training is progressing slowly.  Reagan actually told me once today that she had to go potty, and she managed one tiny drop into the potty chair.  Then she turned around and pooped in her diaper, then peed in her diaper and then pooped in it again even though I was putting her on the potty every hour.  I was hoping to have her potty trained before swimming lessons start in January, but it doesn't look like it will happen.  Someone suggested putting her in panties, but it doesn't work.  She just pees and poops in her panties, and then I have to clean them.  So, someone else suggested just throwing the panties away, but that would be a trifle bit to expensive, since we would probably go through about 6 panties a day.  She just doesn't care.  I've heard of boys being like this just happy to sit in poop.  Well, now I know of a girl: Reagan.

Georgie on the other hand is showing signs of early potty training.  She sits on the toilet and tells me when she needs a diaper change.  I just wish she could be a little more clear.  I just don't pick up on her babbling until it is too late.  One problem is that she doesn't make the same sound twice.  She keeps experimenting in order to find the right sounds to tell me.  Ultra frustrating that one.  Hopefully, I'll get her to a toilet in time one day.  Sure would be nice to have at least one kid out of diapers.

For the longest time, she was showing a distinct partiality to me.  She would want to snuggle with mommy, sleep with mommy, be carried by mommy.  Then last night she wanted to stay up, but I wouldn't let her.  So, currently, Mommy is not the favorite.  Like Tanner said, "I'm glad our kids have some kind of will, but..." I've been out of favor with her all day, and she only wants Daddy.  If I pick her up she starts to cry and arch her back. Ouch.  I'm not looking forward to her teenage years when she'll throw all of my mistakes in my face.

Jelly and cookies

This week I introduced Reagan to the joys of making sugar cookies.  Tonight I taught Kate how to make jelly.  At first she thought we were making jello, and she asked me what the big jars were for.  We had a lot of fun.  I just made a small batch about 4 quarts.  Kate was fascinated as we boiled the jars in hot water and then made the jelly with pectin and sugar.  She was a little skeptical that the soupy substance could ever be jelly, but tomorrow morning she is going to be in for a surprise, and maybe I'll let her open a jar and have her jelly on toast.

Georgie has a terrible cold, but she's true to form just like all my girls, and she has already figured out how to blow her nose.  I think they must really hate the nose sucker thingy because it always happens around this age.  They get a cold.  I use the nose sucker on them.  They suddenly start blowing their noses.  Unfortunately, the cold seems to making it's round, and Reagan is coming down with it as well.  It doesn't seem to effecting the adults too badly.  I had the cold, followed by a cold sore, but it only lasted a couple of days.  I feel bad for Georgie because there isn't anything I can give her to alleviate the runny nose. 

I've discovered that she loves being in the backpack.  Ever since Tanner has started school, it's been a struggle to get the food shopping done and all of my errands run because Georgie does not like the stroller or the cart, and keeping track of Reagan and Kate at the same time that Georgie is screaming next to the apples and oranges is just absolutely awful.  One day I decided to take a walk, but Georgie in the stroller wasn't working, so I grabbed the backpack.  The one that both Reagan and Kate absolutely hated.  I put Georgie in it, slung it on my back, and suddenly I had a happy baby.  There was much rejoicing in the Howell family on that great day.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

This year for our Thanksgiving Day project we are going to decorate sugar cookies and put them in cookie tins.  Then I'm going to let the girls give them to our neighbors on the weekend.  That means this week is a labor intensive cookie baking week.  Reagan and I just finished our first batch of sugar cookies.  They taste delicious, but I ruined an entire pan.  For some reason the cookies stuck.

I think Reagan really enjoyed making cookies with me.  The entire time she stood on her chair and kept asking when she could like the beaters.  She's use to me making cake.  But she helped me measure and mix and roll and cut out the cookies.  I was surprised that the project held her attention for so long.  She chatted in her very Reaganesque way about her dollies and someone named Penny.  I'm sure I will meet Penny very soon.  I wonder if it is one of her new dollies that she earned for going on the potty.

No, she's still not trained, but I've got her on a schedule so that she sits on the potty every hour.  We've only had a few accidents the last few days, but today, I wanted to see if she would remember to go on her own.  Nope.  She came running to me shouting, "Mommy, I went pee-pee on my dress!"  Oh, well.  I'll keep slogging away.