Christmas Goodies and Good Times

Lucky Mavys! Ben never left again once he came home for the weekend! I don't know how I could possibly have had everything ready in time without him. It would have been pretty sad if he was gone at such a fun time of year.

Here are the girls in front of our decorated Christmas tree. We got it at Rite Aide. It certainly looks nothing like the healthy, bushy tree on the package, but it's just the right size for our little place. Last year a friend gave us an enormous artificial tree that took up 25% of the living room. It was gorgeous, but we'd have to make one of the kids sleep outside if we did that again this year.

Ofcourse, the girls had a blast decorating the tree with "instruments" as they call them, and they were very excited to help me make a star out of a toliet paper roll, a Life box and tin foil. The nativity scenes are also a big hit, the girls love to play "Baby Jesus" with the ones Grandma Mavy gave them a couple years ago.

The next day, the girls put on their animal jackets, and headed next door to make goodies with Grandma Mavy. Here they are, baa-ing and roaring on Grandma's patio.

They dipped pretzels in chocolate and sprinkles while Libby worked on her own pretzel.

Then on Monday, we went to Nonna and Poppa's house (my parents), and made all kinds of Christmas goodies with my sisters, Angie, Jackie, Bernadette and Stephy and Stephy's kids, Johnnie, Sarah, Mae and Jimmy. As you can see, a good time was had by all.

That's frosting on their hands and faces, by the way.

Another favorite activity of the season is "bell-dooring" as Eve and Sadie call it. Here they are after dropping goodies at a neighbor's house, ringing the bell and running away before they got caught. Eve and Sadie tried to do it on their own this particular night, but they ran back to the car with the goodies still in hand and it's unclear if they rang the doorbell. We almost got caught making a second run.

Thank goodness Ben was home to participate. Door bell ditching just wouldn't be the same without Daddy.

A fatherless home... temporarily

The idea was to get a family Christmas picture and send it out with our Christmas cards, but Ben took off before dawn yesterday, and he won't be home to take pictures. I'm sure he's not disappointed to miss the annual family portrait-taking. He's out doing mining work (staking claims, taking soil samples...) with our friend who does that sort of thing for a living. He might come home for Sun. and then go back, but he won't be really home until the 22nd. I miss him already. My bed is freezing without him! I had to make Libby sleep with me just so I could get warm.
So last night, I dressed up the girls, pushed the table in front of our sheet-covered slider, put a white table cloth on and just about lost my mind trying to get them to stay still and look at me. Nobody got smacked around, though I have to admit I was sorely tempted. Why do I need yet another picture of the girls in matching clothes? God only knows. There must be a name for this kind of neurosis.
Here's to getting ready for Christmas without a second set of hands! I guess I'll follow Angie Andrade's policy for urgent matters. She was my vice-director in highschool. Every time she got an urgent memo she put it in her desk drawer for a few days, and when she pulled it out, the problem had miraculously solved itself. Not a bad idea.

A Long Time Coming

Well, last Saturday, we were all taking it easy. It was a cold morning and we had a nice fire going. It always takes a while to get going when you wake up cold. Then Ben suggested we finish the toddler bunk beds. They still needed to be sanded and sealed which seemed like a huge job, one I wasn't anxious to jump into with three kids on a freezing cold day. We decided we'd just get them in the house and put together, and mess with painting etc. at a later date.

It ended up being a huge pain to get them assembled, and they're not quite square. Ben blames it on Jason, I'll reserve judgment. The kids could care less about perfection, and surprisingly enough they haven't come to me with a single splinter yet.
Ben painted on a smile for the camera. He ran out of the right kind of screws and the heads kept breaking off because the wood was old and hard. Ben's parents gave him a gift card for the wood and instructions for the bunks last year for his birthday... literally one year ago.







I think the girls learned a few new words. At least Ben taught them these for a change.

Well after one last phone call and a few more screws and lowered standards, we finally got them up, and boy oh boy where the girls excited!


The girls now use the beds as a jungle gym. They're usually both on the top bunk playing together, and Sadie has given me a couple heart attacks already. I walk into her room and she'll be standing on the rail of the top bunk or leaning over the edge with that canonball head of hers. I know I'm going to be taking her to the ER soon. That's alright, I never took risks as a kid and even though I avoided broken bones I'm also the biggest clutz around. Hopefully her risk-taking will give her more confidence and and stability.

Here's her first fall about 3 minutes after her virgin climb.

December, 2007

Well, I have so much fun reading the blogs of friends and family, I decided it's about time to start our own.
Here's my latest folly. I can't resist getting the girls dressed up in matching outfits and getting their pictures done. No matter how hard I try I can't get them to all sit still and look at the camera at home. Maybe it's the extra set of hands at the studio that makes it possible.
These outfits were made for my sister's wedding. We had nine little girls dressed in matching shirts and skirts. I kept losing my kids amongst all the curly headed Huckins. My older sisters' kids all look just like mine from above.
On Thurs. after our preschool group, Ben and I decided to take a trip to Tahoe and spend the night at our friends' cabin (thanks, Sam and Joyce). We had originally hoped to leave the kids with someone and make it our anniversary trip, but Libby is still too dependent on Mommy for that, so we took all the munchkins with us. The cabin was a little crowded with all of us in it, and I worried all night that the big kids would wake up and try to come down the stairs, but for all that we had a good time. We took the kids for a walk at Sugar Pine Natl. Park in the snow, and Eve and Sadie got to play in it that evening when the snow began to stick.