Christmas memories

This afternoon, we set up the Christmas decorations. Ansley and Hailey were very excited to see the Christmas village go up on the kitchen bar. When Emberly saw it, she was also very excited. She wanted nothing more than to grab the lit up house and taste it. Seeing her so excited about the decorations reminded me of Ansley's second Christmas when she was a little more than a year. She only knew one word: Dis ( a.k.a. This). After I set up the Christmas decor that year, she would take my hand several times a day and lead me over to the village on the bar, and, pointing excitedly, say, "dis! Dis!" I would lift her up so she could get a closer look at the fascinating houses.

Emberly is crawling full force now. She is just starting to clap... although she mostly loves to bang things together and is probably imagining she is banging things together with empty hands rather than realizing the clapping hands for what they really are. She smiles at strangers in restaurants, cocking her head to one side, as if to snuggle her own shoulder. She does love to snuggle and will invariably quiet down if she's being held (unless she has an earache and can't breathe through her nose and feels downright miserable). She loves phones and remotes and combs (oh, and hair and glasses). She knows exactly what she wants and what she does not want, and will let you know in no uncertain terms, although she won't go overboard with an emotional display when a angry squawk will suffice.

Piano and other living room additions

Michael came home with a surprise tonight (well, the girls were surprised, anyway). A Young Chang ebony professional upright piano. He had championed the project all by himself, searching Craigs list for weeks, showing me links, visiting and checking out the piano, researching movers and tuners and inspectors. Our piano was built in 1985, has an almost new look to the exterior, and, according to the piano inspector, only needs routine maintenance of a felt piece replaced and post-move tuning in a few weeks.

I love the way it plays. I also think the finish looks very classy in our living room. And it is a full upright like I grew up with, just with a different finish and cleaner lines. After the girls went to bed, I played with the dampener on for an hour or so and just loved it.

Ansley took an informal piano lesson from Auntie M before she left for college, and just reveled in the experience. So we're hoping that enthusiasm holds up for real piano lessons in the near future. I haven't found a teacher yet, but now I have a strong incentive to start the search.


We also got a great photo of Emberly from her 6-month professional pictures. (forgive its sideways appearance, I am formatting challenged). I think it is my favorite; and anybody who's been to our house knows how many great pictures we have of our girls.



The Emberly photo took the place of the old living room clock, so we needed to get a new one. For some time, I've wanted one of those really really big clocks from Target. And Michael actually told me to go to Target and buy one (by myself!) and enjoy dinner out while I was at it. Isn't he wonderful?

Anyway, we put it right below that drywall window thing at the top of the stairs. It looks awesome, at least to me.

Sneaky Peas!

Emberly does not like peas. Not one little bit. She sees a spoonful of peas coming at her, and she clamps her lips shut like a gecko. Then it's like breaking into Fort Knox to get peas down her pipe. But I have a trick. And it involves a wonderful new invention, the baby safe feeder.

A baby safe feeder is a bag of netting with a plastic handle. You fill the netting with a piece of fruit, in this case Emberly's favorite bananas, and they can eat the food through the netting without choking on big chunks. Emberly likes to run the show when it comes to feeding, so she'll open her lips for that bag o bananas if she's the one holding it. And that's when...

SNEAKY PEAS ATTACK!

Mommy has been waiting in the wings patiently and furtively with a spoon full of peas. They piggyback every bite of bananas Emberly opens her mouth for. The surprising flavor of peas on top of her bananas make Emberly pull the most interesting faces, but the important part is she actually swallows some of it.

This trick also works with carrots and sweet potatoes, which she is not fond of, but likes better than peas. Who knows what her personal tastes will reveal in uncharted vegetable waters, but I have a feeling bananas-in-a-net will play a key role in getting other veggies through that well guarded door.

Ansley-isms

Ansley loves to jump rope. She does air jump roping (similar to air guitar) while she waits for me at carpool after school. She practices jumping at home in the evening counting by fives, and announces with excitement her new high number for the night. The latest is 95. She is working on memorizing all those cute poems you chant while you jump, like "Cinderella dressed in yellow, went downstairs to kiss a fellow, made a mistake and kissed a snake, how many doctors did it take? 1,2,3..." The music teacher jumps rope with Ansley and other jump rope enthusiasts at recess. Ansley and she are jump rope soul mates.

Ansley is also a nibbler. A methodical and systematic nibbler. She nibbles the breading off her chicken nuggets before the first bite into the meat. Every time, no exception. And I just noticed she did the same thing with a Butterfinger from Halloween... something eerie about a naked bar of peanut butter crunch.

Halloween

Halloween wore us out. Emberly's been teething (three teeth now and two almost here), so the parents haven't been sleeping soundly. The girls enjoyed every moment and were fully energized by candy supplements.

Right after school, we drove to Michael's work. In their cafeteria, they had carnival games, a balloon artist, a face painter, and snacks like fresh popcorn, cookies, cupcakes, and drinks. Ansley loved the games because they handed out participation prizes. She got her arm painted, but then mentioned regularly that all that paint felt funny, and washed it off before bed so it wouldn't bug her. She and Hailey both waited in a very long line with Michael to get a balloon butterfly on a straw, and barely made it in time to enjoy 60 seconds of bounce house before they deflated it.


There was so much candy at cubicle trick or treating that Ansley's Spongebob basket was overflowing. We said some hellos to Michael's coworkers who were still there. And then we went home for thirty minutes before we headed to the church.

Michael's parents met us there. This is their first year with Melissa away at school. Nice for us because Michael's dad chatted with Michael while they handed out candy, and his mom helped me manage three kids in the trunk or treat craziness.

This is also the first year our ward added activities to our trunk or treat. The chili cook off was like a pot luck gone bezerk. I have never seen so much chili in my life. Fortunately, they had every variety of chili you can imagine, so I was able to find a low-bean non-spicy version that resembled soup. The girls just ate rolls and cornbread.

We happened upon the calk walk before the people in charge even showed up. Ansley and Hailey took the last seats available, and the parents looking on asked each other who was in charge of this thing and when were they going to show up and get things started. When they did show up, the responsible adults hadn't figured out how to award the cakes yet, and took a few trial runs and a lot of debate before they settled on a method. At least I assume they settled on a method; one of those trials ended in us getting a brownie cake and making a speedy escape (they were considering a longer process of elimination, and there was already a line forming out the door). I'm sure they'll have it down next year so the cupcake rewards will come swiftly, and the whole thing will end in time.

The trick or treat portion was fun. The activity was combined with the 5th ward who shares our building, so I didn't recognize everyone, but candy speaks a universal language. The girls must have felt like trick or treating experts, because they kept running too far ahead and had to wait for us old people to catch up.

Then we went home and marveled at the mountain of candy on the dining table. It seems like a lot more than years past; maybe trick or treating takes skill, and Ansley is old enough to pick up some candy acquisition talent.

Emberly was happy just to be held and mostly behaved herself. She got a lot of compliments on her cuteness. Ansley and Hailey also behaved themselves, although they didn't have much reason to complain.

p.s. You may notice the stroller in the pictures does not have a cup holder. It drives me nuts, but it does have great off-roading capabilities and weighs less than 13 pounds with tall handles for tall parents. I would never use it for shopping but it works great for walking to the park or outdoor activities like a trunk or treat.