a Missouri Christmas eve stroll

the pond

the walking stick

Mark's Aunt Gayle and cousin Brittany

the runway!!! wish we could have landed on it

Nanna and Papa --Mark's mom and dad ;)

yay for baking with nanna!!!

i'm always telling my kids "i'm not an octopus"--that i don't have enough arms to do all they want me to simultaneously, but nanna's amazing--deflecting over-eager dumps of salt and letting two kids be right up next to the bowl and participating. hoorah!

on the train

happy, touristy, zooming along
no, she's not doing the peace sign, she just thinks you should always hold your hand up for "cheese"
at the end i thought we were just heading mellowly back to the station, but instead they took us through this dark tunnel full of ten or more cowboys having a shootout. simon went all pale and his lips turned blue with fright--not his idea of a pleasant ending.

a green day with Nanna

we took nanna to our favorite parks--she endulged us with pictures of us smooching and ben and jerry's ice cream ;)

"Why I like Christmas."

Simon: "Do you know why I like Christmas so much?"

Possible answers? Many.

His:

"Because you get toys without even having to pay for them!"

He said it so full of hope and unbridled joy, and free of the worries of adulthood or even the weight of childhood (you know, having to jump through all sorts of parental hoops to get an occasional $2 toy)---it was great.

I was thinking about it later and this scripture came into my head where Jesus says: Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. (2 Nephi 9:50)

Merry Christmas!!! Merry Christmas!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Here comes Santa Claus!!!

At the church Christmas party they had all the kids come and sit together while the missionaries read "Twas the night before Christmas." Then at certain opportune times during the story sounds started coming from behind the curtain on the stage (reindeer landing, bells ringing, other various thumping); then, the kids spotted Santa backing out from behind the curtain). That's what you see above. ;) You can't see it, but I was grinning like a goofball behind them; it was the perfect Santa presentation.

Simon sharing the exciting news!!!

Side note: Alli was so excited to be over there with the kids she was hugging Simon with one arm and any other kid she could reach with her other arm.

Simon discussing R2D2 with Santa.

(Alli lost her nerve during the non-moving 20 minutes in line.)

By the way, our Santa sings opera--can yours?

It's time to be two!

For two days she'd been saying "I wahn buh-day cake. Blue cake." So it was mostly joy and rapture when the time came.

Mark had too much cake. . .

Allianna blew out the candles 3-4 times. Skills . . .

She's a good mother of twins. With help from a doting "uncle" (who thinks he's going to marry his sister someday, and name all their children Simon or Alli--but that's another story).



Fun in the new ladybug tent. I got in on the fun by setting the thing up. ;)

Saturday is a special day . . .

Mark smelled something stinky in our shed. Discovered one squirrel, on the floor between two shelves--rigor mortis. He suited up with a face mask and gloves and a double trash bag and took care of it. So brave, and how gross! He sprayed the shed with kitchen cleaner (our only anti-bacterial) and air freshener. Then 25 minutes later he went back out to put things in the shed and could still smell it. Enter fluffy tail on a high shelf, also rigor mortis. Theories:

1. male territory dispute gone really bad,


2. rodents taste-testing the electric wiring,


3. and Mark's real fear, BIG poisonous spider somewhere in the shed

Conclusion: not storing ANYTHING in the shed

Conclusion 2: Emily is not attempting any projects alone in the shed, workbenches and outlets regardless . . .

Meanwhile, Emily made sugar cookies inside. the shed. Just kidding. in the house. We should have taken pictures of both (instead I had to find some on google--I still have a good action shot in my head of Mark bringing down the second squirrel).

Sure was a special day.

A night out for snow.

I heard about a holiday festival this week nearby in B*. The proclaimed 30,000 lbs of snow was divided into two piles, "6 and older" and "5 and under." Here are the kids waiting in line for about half an hour . . .

Kids exploring the white stuff and parents using the digital stuff. Each group got about 5 minutes before they had to rotate out.
Thankfully, she liked it!
Here's Simon chopping away at his contraband chunk of show.

They loved their night out after dark, looking at the lights as we drove, seeing snow, sipping hot chocolate, and getting free balloons.

I skipped going to see Santa. It had another big line, and I was on my own with the double stroller and the belly (Mark was bummed to be at work preparing a big presentation). Glad to hear that Santa will be at our ward party though--that's the way I always saw him as a kid.

Good night, and good luck, and welcome back to my blog. Sorry about the hiatus, and enjoy checking out all the other stuff I've posted below. It's good to get it off my chest.

It's the holiday season, boo da boop de boo . . .

A nostalgic, blurry, dark action shot. ;) So fun to see each different ornament. When I met Mark during the holidays in '98 I didn't think there could be a person who would love Christmas more--but Simon, wow, he loves loves loves loves it! He brings so much cheer--I imagine this is a pretty widespread talent, but I love it.

Merry Christmas!!!!!
Raking is a new relished part of our domestic bliss.


Cute, yes.

It's not cold anymore, by the way. :)

It was fun to dabble in it for a week; we like the current t-shirt weather in our yard, too.

Ah, yes, Thanksgiving.

Mark and I roasted our first bird and really liked it. Carving was his favorite part of the day, though I think he was pretty spectacular on the spice rub for the top of the turkey, too.
Our fun company. Alli, me, (bean), Simon, Jean, Ji Yeon, and Mark. Ji Yeon is our friend from one of Mark's labs (I study English with her--she's from South Korea). Jean is our friend from church and he hails from the Congo. I thought I was pretty witty to realize that their names are almost the same when I slaughteringly pronounce them, even though they couldn't be two more different people. Both wonderfully nice. A fabulous day, of course.

A pretty happenin' house

We haven't got a dryer yet, so this is fun. I like nagging the kids not to touch the clothes when they wake up in the morning. We've been trekking to the laundromat as of late, and when I'm there I actually fold the clothes right when they come out of the dryer because there are all these huge tables to do it on. This is a good thing. Do I put them away right when I get home? . . . Well, hmm, I've already worked pretty hard. Oooo, and I discovered a Value Village near the laundromat (for all you northwesterners out there a.k.a Savers) ;) I was beginning to think I'd never find good thrift stores here.
These two geckos live on our front porch. You can see through their skin and they are neat.
We're flattered to have them as neighbors.


Alli's big dose of artistic genes are really exhibiting themselves lately. She doesn't just merely demand that all of her (prolific) works are immediately displayed on the fridge; she steps flamboyantly forward and back from the easel-fridge, selecting one color at a time from her little table behind her, and muttering out loud. She turns her head at all different angles to examine her work, then gets close to squint at it, then flails an arm into the sky with a satisfied air.