If I Was Looking To Ride The Normal Train, I Got On At The Wrong Stop

I mean, what can I say about THIS??



This is my life.

It's Just Another Manic Church Day

Slicked back hair and all, ready for church:

The Sister, taking time out to explore the Man Toy:

And then scream a bit about her hat:

Some Festive Looking Stuff, That's What It Is

Thought you might like to see our living room, all gussied up for Christmas:

And the Memory Tree:

And had to throw the boys in for good measure, setting the nativity set up. This was one of the few things that broke during the move, but nothing a tube of super glue couldn't fix.

Deck The Halls

Considering that we sold our Ginormous Christmas Tree right before we moved, well, this year's decorating was a snap!

We pulled out our small Memory Tree, where we hang special ornaments we have collected throughout our years (10) as a family.

Campers and Zig were pretty stoked about seeing their baby pictures. Maybe "stoked" isn't the word, but whatever mood it was got Zig to do his Eye Trick for the camera.

And the best part is letting the boys hang all the ornaments themselves, all on one branch.

We won't mention which member of the family sorted it all out after the kids went to bed, but lemmeetellya, it wasn't me.

Okay, that "decorating was a snap" business really means that we had to snap our fingers a gazillion times to keep Sister Susie from eating or demolishing all the decor. Fun.

And here is the Ma and her girl, putting up Sister Susie's first ornament, which has her Chinese name and the first picture we ever saw of our daughter. Precious.

Especially when she smudged the ink that I had worked so hard at to look nice.

Puppeteering!

Took the boys to the local library for a puppet show. I thought for sure they'd be bored out of their gourd, but they surprised me!

There was singing and dancing and shaker-shaking, all the things the boys just *love* to do. But I saw them smiling, and sitting still, and they even interacted with Miss Puppet Lady after the show.

Did I ever tell you how much I love the library??!?

Because We Are Festive And Social, Dontcha Know

Made our way downtown to Pioneer Square tonight to see the lighting of the Big Seventy Five Foot Christmas Tree.

Hail, hail, the gang's all here--Zig, Susie, Ma, Campers and the Cool Dude Cousin (with Pa manning the camera):

Campers got to ride on the shoulders of the Cool Dude:

And why, you might ask? Oh, maybe just because Everyone In The Pacific Northwest was at the big shindig, as you can see from this picture:

Not that we could actually see what was going on from where we stood, mind you. We would have had to arrive at 2:30 in the afternoon, complete with campfire equipment and marshmallows to roast while we waited it out.

And most of the fun was just in getting downtown and back, via public transit. Sardines, anyone?

But we saw the tree! And they lit it! And I saw some especially big smiles on the faces of two boys as they counted down (10...9...8...) to the actual lighting. And another member of the family, who shall remain nameless, was Especially Happy to be stuck in the stroller, staring at kneecaps and knuckles.

And aren't we all just in the Christmas spirit now, dontcha know.

He's Mommy's Little Helper

My six-year-old is becoming quite the helper around the house. Here he is pictured with some bread cutouts he made for our Thanksgiving feast. Course, he has learned the Cook's Art of sampling about half of what should have ended up on the serving plate. That's my boy!

And he really wanted to help decorate the table, as well:

And completely off topic, let's get a close-up of that face! That little "dimple" you see on his right cheek is where the bruise was just a week ago, from him falling face-first onto the bottom step. I am wondering if this mark is going to stick around forever, or not? Readers, weigh in! I need you to (lie to me if necessary) tell me that All Will Be Well With My Baby's Face!

And if you didn't catch the title of this post, it is a reference to a song, an oldie for sure, sung by Cheri Keaggy, "Little Boy On His Knees."

Which I guess is an appropriate title, since that is where he landed when he took his tumble onto the step.

These Movies, You See, They Do A Body Good

You know, it's just so great on Thanksgiving to rush to the theater to catch the first showing of the latest flick to come out.

And don't we all remember those days, with fondness.

But there is just something! About your own house! And your own couch! And your own john! That makes watching a video at home so much better.

So we checked out Meet the Robinsons, which was a fine movie to digest our Thanksgiving dinner to.

On one end of the couch is the Campers:

And on the other is the Zig:

And not pictured, but sandwiched in between, with drool coming out her mouth, was the Sleeping Ma.

It was a good movie, really. What I caught of it, anyway. Which I'm guessing was the last half hour. But it was a good half hour! And so dreadfully tear-jerking, with the "orphan" theme and "adoption" theme running throughout the story. I wasn't quite prepared for that, especially this day as we think back to a tiny little girl, alone in her bed at the orphanage. And now this Thanksgiving, our Sister Susie has a family to call her own.

Pretty crazy. Pretty thankful. Pretty good.

Who knew a movie could be so refreshing, both to the body and the soul.

Just Thankful, That's All

So I tortured my kids and made them do the Thankfulness Journal again this year, where each person in the family has to write down or draw what s/he is most thankful for.

That little act of parenting might be why *my* name did not appear on Campers' list, and everyone else's did.

But I've got broad shoulders, yep, and a set of hips to match.

Campers helped Sister Susie write down what she was thankful for, and that happened to be "grapes."

I think that food items should have topped my list as well.

And who knows what the Zig is thankful for, but here he is, drawing a "leaf."

Then Sister Susie takes a turn at writing down her own list, or maybe she was just waxing philosophical about which crayon tasted better, the green or the orange.

And there's the gang, working so hard to be thankful.

And behind the camera are two parents, who are thankful as well, for the faces they see on the screen.

And In Case You Haven't Lost Your Appetite Already

Here are some shots of us eating.

Mmmmm, lima beans. Very Traditional.

I don't know about you, but I find this picture of me very scary.

Sticking out between the decorations and the vital bottle of ketchup, is the Zig.

And Miss Susie, who is so enthralled with signing the word for "more" these days that I think she has put on 10 pounds.