Christmas Lists

My sister wrote about our strange family tradition of hanging our letters to Santa outside on Thanksgiving weekend for the elves to pick up, and it reminded me that I needed to get the girls going on their lists. We're lucky in that the girls have yet to figure out that they're supposed to get lots of loot for Christmas. In past years, they've each gotten two or three presents from us and a few presents from Santa, plus some easy stocking stuffers like tape, which is usually their favorite gift each year.

They just brought me their Christmas lists, and they're very funny.

Here's Ella's

Harry Potter CD
Pogo Stick
Nancy Drew costume
Nancy Drew books
Harry Potter clue game
Math for Smarty Pants book
The Dangerous Book for Boys

I love that she mostly wants books for Christmas - not video games or Hannah Ray Cyrus clothing or movies.

Here's Lily's list; it's a bit more varied

Dorothy shoes
Belle costume
Christmas dress
Two-wheeled scooter
Toy computer
Remote-controlled car

Santa will pick two or three items from each list and be done with it. I've already got some presents stashed away. I think I'll be doing most of shopping online this year to avoid having to drag the baby to the store.

Tonight we'll hang these lists out for Santa's elves along with a piece of bread - in case the elves are hungry.

Yarn Snob

It's official - I'm a yarn snob.

Thursday evening, after everyone had finished Thanksgiving dinner and we were all sitting around chatting and eating dessert, I pulled out the scarf I'm knitting for Aunt A as a thank you gift for hosting the meal. I've been knitting every chance I get on this thing, trying to get it finished before Thanksgiving, but I wasn't successful. I can't imagine why not.

Anyway, as I was knitting, one of the women at the table asked what kind of yarn I was using. I told her it was a brand called called "Wool of the Andes" from a place called KnitPicks, and it was Peruvian wool. Another woman asked, "Don't you just get your yarn from Hobby Lobby with a half-off coupon?"

I'm not proud of this, but I actually gasped and said, "Oh goodness, no."

Then I tried to recover and sound not quite so snobby, but everything I said just made it worse.

And while I'm talking about knitting - I was watching "Pushing Daisies" the other night and burst out laughing. One of the characters - Emmerson Cod - is a knitter, and he had an automatic swift and ball winder going in the corner. It was a nice little touch that only a knitter would understand. Someone on the show's staff is obviously a knitter.

Such a good Thanksgiving

For the first time in four years we didn't host Thanksgiving, and it was lovely. We lolled around in our jammies until noon; the kids all took rest time/nap; we only had to make a ham and a pecan pie.

B's cousin and his wife, otherwise known as Uncle T and Aunt A to the kids, invited us to their house for Thanksgiving, along with B's parents, who are divorced. It can be a wee bit uncomfortable to have them in the same room together, like they are at our house during the holidays. But with almost 30 people at dinner, the level of discomfort was greatly reduced.

Aunt A went above and beyond with the meal. She had tables for 30 set up, with flowers and centerpieces and linens on all. She spent the whole week cooking in preparation, and the food was amazing. I went back for seconds on everything except sweet potatoes - because ewww.

B's other cousin was there with her family, and the girls were beyond thrilled to have cousins to play with. They learned the basics of touch football, and Ella upset her 7-year-old boy cousin by being able to outrun him.

We hung out long after the meal, visiting with B's dad's side of the family, whom we don't get to see very often. I found out that B's girl cousin has her own jewelry company - Bright Eyed Designs. I think I'll be ordering some Christmas presents from her this year.

While enjoying the good food and good company, I did take time to think about all the things for which I am grateful:

• Elizabeth - After a shaky start, Elizabeth is positively thriving. She's eating and sleeping like a champ, and if you watch her for long enough, you can see her grow.
• Ella, Lily and Campbell - I have three happy, healthy kids who make me laugh, when they're not making me tear my hair out in frustration.
• B - I feel so lucky to have found him. Things aren't always perfect, but there's no one I'd rather be married to.
• My family - I have wonderful, helpful, supportive parents and a cool sister who help keep me sane. I just wish they lived closer.
• Our friends - We've built a network of good friends here who are a large part of why we love our life here. It really does take a village to raise a family, and we've found ours.
• My work - Given the current job market, I'm glad I've been able to maintain my little freelance career. It's just enough work to let me focus on something other than kids for a few hours a day, which helps me maintain my sanity.
• No Thanksgiving ER visit - Unlike last year, no one was injured.
• Uncle T and Aunt A - They're really cool people whom we love, AND they hosted Thanksgiving, which gives them double points.

Happy Love Thursday, a day late. I hope you all had a good day with your loved ones.

Follow me!

So I've taken my little adsense widgets off the side column because in the 18 months I've had them there, I've earned a whopping $38. Google ads only sends a check when you reach $100, and at the rate I'm going, Elizabeth will be in kindergarten before I see a check.

In place of the ads I've installed this little Following widget. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but blogger keeps telling me I should have it. And since I tend to follow directions, I signed up. It's over there on the left, below the NaBloPoMo image - only three more posts to go, thank the baby jeebus. If you click on the links, blogger will tell you how to get all signed up.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Tomorrow I'll do my post of thanks. I'm too tired and stuffed with pecan pie to write anything that would do justice to all the the things I'm thankful for.

Not quite a post

Any other month I wouldn't be posting today, but there are only 4 more days until the end of NaBloPoMo, and I hate to give up now. I have a blinding migraine and feel like someone has driven an ice pick through my right eye AND hit me in the side of my head with a shovel. I'm out of Imitrex and can't get any until I see my new neurologist on Monday. Fortunately, I had a refill of the pain meds my OB gave me for migraines when I was pregnant.

Now that I've written my post, such as it is, I'm going back to bed.

Just put on your pants

Most of the time I take a pretty relaxed attitude about what the girls wear to school each day. I buy all their clothing, and I don't buy them anything that isn't appropriate for school. Ella doesn't really care about what she wears, as long as she can hang upside down from trees and monkey bars without showing her panties. Lily likes skirts and things with ruffles. But that's about the extent of their clothing preferences.

So on the mornings when Ella comes out with plaid shorts and a striped shirt, I shrug and figure that at least she's dressed. There are bigger battles to fight than whether her clothing matches.

Some days, though, I do put my foot down. Today was one of those days. Ella's class is going on a field trip to the San Antonio Zoo, which is a big deal for the kids. They're even riding on charter buses.

This morning the temperatures were in the low 40s, and today's high is supposed to be in the mid 60s. Ella came out dressed in shorts with her required "field trip shirt." I sent her back in to put on long pants. Five minutes later I found her on the floor in her room sobbing because she wanted to wear shorts.

Now, on a normal school day I would have let her wear shorts because they don't spend much time outside. But today she'll be outside all day long, and I didn't want her to be cold.

I tried reasoning with her, but I wasn't successful. So I resorted to yelling, "Just put on your pants!" Probably not my finest parenting moment. But I was willing to have her be angry at me if it meant she wouldn't spend the day freezing at the zoo.

Fortunately, by the time she left for school the excitement about the trip had helped her forget her clothing woes. She and her best buddy from next door were excitedly talking about who was going to sit where.

I just hope it doesn't get too warm. If she ends up being hot wearing her pants, I'll never hear the end of it.

Crashing to a halt

I had an incredibly productive morning, a surprisingly productive morning considering my allergies and lack of sleep.

I got the big girls up, fed, dressed and out the door on time. Then I got a wild hair and cleaned out and reorganized the entire pantry. I hate our pantry - actually, I hate our whole kitchen - and it's been driving me especially insane lately. It doesn't have a door, so my disorganization is on display for anyone who is in the kitchen. Also, when we moved in, Ella was in full-blown toddlerhood, so things like snack food and cereal got put on the top shelf, where they have stayed ever since. I've been meaning to move them into reach for the kids so that they can help themselves, and today I finally did it.

I pulled everything out of the pantry, cleaned the shelves, sorted out the old/expired/disgusting foods, and put everything back neatly in new places. It looks beautiful.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed the house, did some laundry, went to a work meeting, and went to the grocery store. Phew.

Campbell and Elizabeth both fell asleep in the car on the way home from the store, so I tucked them into their bed and crashed into mine. Three hours later I woke up. Fortunately, B was home, so the girls didn't end up sitting on the porch waiting for someone to let them in after school.

As my mom would say, I guess I needed the sleep.

Book blog

Amazingly, I've been managing to read before passing out asleep each night, and I've actually finished a number of books since Elizabeth's arrival. I've written about them over on my book blog at Plenty More Books Inside.

And now I need to stop reading and concentrate on my knitting. I've set myself an ambitious list of projects to finish before Christmas.

It's not FAIR!

As the girls and I walked home from school on Wednesday, Lily asked if she could eat a lollipop she had gotten from her music teacher. Normally I don't allow candy until they've had a healthy snack after school, but the day was beautiful and I was in a surprisingly good mood, so I said yes.

When we got home, the girls left immediately for a playdate at a friend's house, so Ella didn't have a chance to get a piece of her Halloween candy. That night, after the girls cleaned up the kitchen, Ella asked B if she could have a piece of candy since she didn't get one after school. B told her that she and Lily could both have a piece of candy.

"But that's not fair!" wailed Ella. "Lily had a piece after school, and if she gets another one now, then she got two and I only had one." B told her the choice was up to her - either they both got a piece of candy or no one got candy.

"But that's not fair! If we don't get any candy that means Lily got one after school and I didn't!"

B again told her the choice was up to her - either they both had a piece or no one did. The stress of making that decision turned out to be too much for Ella. She lost.her.sh*t - all over the house.

After giving her several opportunities to stop screaming and settle down, B declared that Lily got a piece of candy and Ella didn't. More hysterics ensued.

I was in the bedroom listening to all of this, staying out of the fray. I knew Ella wouldn't like either of the options because of the unfairness of it. Ever since Lily came on the scene, Ella's main goal in life is to make sure everything between them is exactly even. She doesn't get upset like this with any other person in her life - just her sister.

Another example? Several weekends ago, Ella had a playdate at a friend's house. She spent four hours at this friend's house while Lily had to stay home and play with me and her brother. Later in the day, after Ella was home, a friend dropped by with her daughter, who is a year younger than Lily. Lily and M took off into the back yard to play, leaving Ella behind. Ella promptly started pouting, and I knew exactly what the problem was - Lily was playing with a friend and she wasn't.

When I pointed out that she had played with her friend all morning, she said, "Yes but Lily wasn't there watching me have fun with H. I'm here having to watch her play, and it's not fair."

My friend and I cracked up at that - she was really having to search hard to find the injustice. I told her to go climb a tree or something, which she did, pouting the whole time.

Poor, poor Ella.

Melt my heart

I handed Elizabeth to B yesterday morning so I could get dressed. I came back five minutes later to find this.

Happy Love Thursday, a day late.