Babies, Books, and Butter Making a home with little ones

smile back

Missy Doodah is traveling faster each day, which has been great for her amusing herself, but certainly is starting to change things. The living room trash can is up on the desk right now because her hobby is shredding tissue to 1/8 inch smidges.

when I said this was "Jubilee reading to Thomas" Jubilee added a clarification* that she was actually "describing the pictures to Thomas"

You can also see, there, the two pillow covers I made last week during the snow. The embroidered one was a vintage** table cloth that was stained and ripped, but still had lovely embroidery. I think I got it for about 25 cents. And the other, indeed, has some Amoretti fabric on it, and, incidentally, Bekah is having a giveaway for some of her gorgeous fabric. So go comment and try for it!

*Jubilee was having a problem with correcting us when we were talking, so we told her she has to ask “may I add a clarification” which, trust me, is as adorable hearing a 4 year old say as you’d imagine.

**Vintage, or, you know, old. That word makes me laugh.

So the snow comes down and down and down. Mighty pretty. I saw a fellow skiing on the sidewalk yesterday on my way to the grocery store, which made my day. Jubilee is having a wonderful time playing in it. Thomas is reluctant to go out. He likes to watch her play from the window and shout at her. One conversation with her went like this:
Thomas: “Jubilee, can you hear me!?”
Thomas: “JUBILEE, can you HEAR me??!!”
Thomas: “JUBILEE, CAN YOU HEAR ME???!!”
Me: “Thomas, I don’t think she can hear you.”
Thomas: “…oh. Yeah.”

snow!

Tomorrow we’re supposed to have rain, which I don’t like. Are we talking freezing rain? (Which is pretty, but troublesome.) Melting-the-snow rain? (Boo.) I want to go sledding, but I can’t see how that would be possible till Saturday. I did think about asking my husband to take me on a sledding date.

Jubilee playing with her toys.

There’s been a lot of Housebound Amusement round these parts, many’a tea party. The Christmas present tea set has been popular.

This picture below? What do you think they’re watching. A movie? A game? Nope. They’re watching Jake do math for fun. Really.

what are y and x?

And yesterday, Rosie the Reluctant CRAWLED. She has been, by far and away, our least motivated to crawl, least motivated to roll, least motivated to travel. But she finally did actually move the hands and the knees and get somewhere.

checked out

She finds it all exhausting.

“There is a STORM going on, Mama!” is what Jubilee keeps saying.

I must admit, it looks a lot more outside what I pictured Northern Idaho in January than it did a week or two ago. We’ve got 4 inches on the ground now (maybe? I’m guessing.) and our current prediction* is 3 more inches today, 4 inches tonight, and 4 to 8 inches tomorrow.

Four to EIGHT inches tomorrow.

Also, I bought my kids winter boots last night. We don’t procrastinate or anything. (It’s been a crazy saga starting in August. I believe we’ve had 5 pairs of boots for the two kids, none of which ever ended up fitting. However, we just marched into a store and bought a them each boots that fit. What a novel concept. Turns out, if you wait till mid January, the kids boots are on sale.)

Jake is reading the Narnia books aloud to us. Thomas has trouble listening but Jubilee is riveted. However, she keeps interrupting at exciting moments to ask what will happen. It’s kind of hilarious.

I shall finished with an old picture from 2007.

Baby Jubilee

*Such as THAT is.

A pic that's pleading for a good caption.

*Wean.

And don’t worry, Rosie, given that it hasn’t occurred to you that food can be swallowed, your doom is not nigh.

If the idea of not-moving to a new place isn’t exciting to you, you’re taking the calmness for granted.

little fellow was shorn*

I bought some Ziplock tupperware (does that even work? Is that like saying I bought some Sniffles kleenex or I bought some Oaty O’s cheerios?) and now I’m wondering why I waited 6 1/2 years to buy tupperware that I love.

Thomas has a face that lends itself to looking like people. I think he looks like Jake and Chris. But here he's the splittin' image of Nathan.

Man, that boy is cute.

Jubilee has a red, sparkly dress in her dress up box, and I'm just about ready to hide it. If she's wearing anything else, it's because I told her to put something else on.

The Joiner forehead is emerging.

*And, if you must have the guard fall off the buzzers, it’s better to happen to the 3 year old and not the 30 year old. Fortunately it’s in the back and his hair grows fast and furious.

Courtesy of my new camera.

Merry Christmas!

I have a little sewing left to finish. If I don’t get it finished, no biggie. It’s something for me and something for Rose, and if I fail, we’ll forgive me.

And I cannot wait to have my present.

I mean, if, to say, I was to know what it is.

Which I don’t. Well, I haven’t seen it in person yet.

Let’s just say it’s a little something that would hopefully pick up clarity in this lovely light better than my beloved powershot did.

she likes to blow bubbles

cheery

Isn’t it sad those are blurry? Still, cute kiddo.

And I love this pic.

Rose looks awesome. I also love the way I look craning my head away from my own shoulder.

Christmas and Advent time! When I was younger, and the sum of Christmas excitement was buying presents for my siblings and being shuttled around to Christmas events by others, I wondered why people snarled** and said it was an insane time of insane insanity that was crazy.

my family's Advent candles from 2009

Well, I get it a little, now. I still love Christmas shopping (at least in theory) and Christmas tree and cookies is all boo-yah good. But there have definitely been moments, like laying awake at night, pondering how to rewrite the Christmas letter to some sort of satisfaction. And driving past the post office multiple times until I found the right moment to stand in line for 40 minutes. (To buy Madonna and Child stamps. Only to be told they’re out of Christmas stamps. All of ‘em. They gave me some hideous ‘celebrate’ stamps which I declared^ “that’ll do, unfortunately.”)

my grandma made this stained-glass years ago

But I think I’ve actually got almost everything done now. And I got some things done (like sending out letters with a picture of our family) that I didn’t think would happen. Happiness.

*Yeah, I’ve used that before. This is the blu-ray edition.

**Not my family. People; generic.

^To myself, not the postal worker. To a postal worker in Christmas week, the only thing you do is smile and be nice.

Here we are, not waiting to arrive anymore. That’s still a weird thing to realize. As briefly as, what, 5 weeks ago? We still weren’t sure where we’d end up living or exactly what Jake would be working on (CPA license?) and where we’d be doing it. (Seattle? A ubiquitous Washington Place of Employment?) But nope. Here we are, where we wanted to be, and he’s a Software Engineering Tech.
Trust me, there are no words for how ironic yet delicious this career and these career-future-options are. Imagine having a general career area desire. Ok, now give it totally up and work for something else because you have a family to take care of who have limitations in what they can bear. Ok, done that? Right-frightfully-oh, now move across the country and have a job in the direction you gave up on given to you with the intent to train you in it, never-mind-that-accounting-degree-but-thanks-for-getting-it-all-the-same.

Yeah. Wowzers.

this is life, coming at us. also, this is Rosie

The kiddos? They are doing mighty fine.

Jubilee is stoic and artsy.
Thomas is merry and enthusiastic.
Rosie is curious and calm.

Now you know them.

Unfortunately, though Rose has retained much cuteness, her hair-retention department was fired.

I need no hair. I have the Eyebrows.

She’s not bald, but she’s lost the glorious shock of hair she was born with. Darn the naysayers who were right. (We had a multitude come up when she was born to tell us how the hair they gave birth to fell out/lightened/just didn’t stay awesome, and, darn ‘em, it happened to us, too. Rose now has merely present hair, instead of intrusive Chinese-baby hair.)

We picked apples in October and that was fun. The apples were tart and small, but we easily ate all of them. This will be our Christmas card picture, if I ever achieve that.

Ha.

at the apple orchard

A Christmas letter needs only to be completed by Dec. 24th at 11pm, right? Maybe we’re talkin’ a Christmas email, here.