It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

AAA!

AAAAA!

AAAAAAAUGH!

We'll be back after we've dug ourselves out of our holiday fun...  just as soon as I can find the shovel...

Fall has fell

So this will probably be our last autumn in this house.  I'm mad at myself that I didn't take more pictures -- especially of our dogwood in the front and the oak trees in the back.  The dogwood turns a glorious red every fall.  And I just noticed this year that the oaks in the common area behind the house are especially beautiful.  I never thought much of the oaks' fall color -- they just sort of turn brown non-dramatically.  But this year I noticed it's actually more of an orangey-brown, and when the light from the fall sunrise hits them, they glow, and fill our north-facing bedroom with a mellow golden light.  It was glorious.  I loved opening the curtains in the morning.

Now the oaks and maples and dogwoods are bare and twiggy, and everything has an early winter look.  There is a major bonus to this time of year, however:

GIANT LEAF PILES!!!

Daniel almost disappeared -- he was the same color as the leaves!

There are also autumn walks in the woods.

 You can see farther, and the light is brighter (even on a gray day) when there are no leaves.

no walk is complete without a stick

My oldest baby wearing my youngest baby (see the fuzzy head peeking out?).  She lasted about 15 minutes before she got tired and had to pass him off to me.

 

yep, they're related

first class ride for tired little legs

The other great thing about this time of year: St. Nicholas' Day!

the stockings were hung by the chimney with care... except for Andrew's whose glitter glue was still drying, and didn't fit anyway. (ran out of hooks!)

*rip rip tear shred*

now Dani has a big-boy water bottle, with didars on it!

anything left?

a St. Nicholas tradition: character bandaids, since mean ol' mom won't buy them.  These usually last halfway through January.

To celebrate I made some yummy vegan gingerbread (since we thought Miriam was growing sensitive to dairy) which disappeared really quickly, even though I had run out of lite olive oil and had to use extra-virgin.  Mr. Pickles made some gluten-free too, which were also delicious.  Honestly, it's hard to go wrong with so much sugar and spices.  Just add some other stuff for texture and you're good. :)

Happy end of fall!  I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the days starting to get longer.  This sunset at 3:30 pm thing or whatever is getting old.  (disadvantage of living next to a hill)

{phfr}, Andrew edition!

It's all Andy, all the time, here. :)

 {pretty}

Miriam is very proud of her baby-wearing skilz.  The photographer is not necessarily as proud of his focusing skilz.

{happy}

{funny}

{real}

this is about the level of activity of which I am capable from 2-4 in the afternoon

One month old!

That first month went fast.  Andrew is now 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 21 1/2 ins. long.  My little baby's growing up!  *sniff*

soooooo big!

 His new talent is smiling at anything with eyeballs.

Hey!  You're a face!  I love you!

 He is still very floppy, but he's getting stronger.

he makes me think of a baby doll in this old fuzzy sleeper -- probably worn by Uncle Joe :)  (and thanks to Aunt Teresa for the wonderful blankie -- sometimes Mommy uses it for naps!)

 So, as I'm sure you've noticed, Andy has hair.  Like, a lot.  This creates a unique problem for my newborns, when the tonic neck reflex meets the palmar grasp reflex:

Ow ow ow!  Someone's pulling my hair!!

 At one month, Andy's cheeks are starting to round out and we're seeing beginnings of a second chin.  So we've been preparing him for his first meeting with his Aunt Katie:

chub chub chub

There's just something so undeniably right about having a new baby in the house.

all is well when you have a baby to snoogle

Andy's baptism

Andrew was de-paganized on the first Sunday of Advent. The first day of the new church year!

claiming him for Christ

"Andrew Karol, I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Andrew, the Christian community welcomes you with joy!

Andrew's awesome godparents, Moose and Jean

Yay! I'm a Christian! and my head smells heavenly!

written in the Book of Life

Get me out of this!  I'm tired of being pretty! (and thanks to Grandma-in-law Sweeney for the awesome blanket!)

Tons more at Flickr, for those willing to slog through them.  (I uploaded and edited and commented on them there, then was feeling too lazy to do it all over again here.) :)

Teaser post

So my latest excuse for not posting is that I've used up all my storage space on Picasa (FB friends already know this), so I'm trying to find other (free) ways to post pictures on the blog. Let's see how Flickr works!

{phfr}

Haven't done one of these in a while, although I have ideas for them all the time!

{pretty}

Miriam is a GREAT baby holder

{happy}

airing out the baby blankets before the baby was born -- getting ready for the baby makes me happy every time.  I like feathering my nest. :)

{funny}

bedtime?  teddy bear: check.  hockey stick: check.

when Dad's in charge of school...

Jojo's opinion of beer. (not sure grog rations will appeal to this one...)

{real}

hm. maybe spray painting on a windy day wasn't such a good idea.  either that or I need a larger tarp.  hope this comes off with powerwashing!

I guess Mr. Pickles' gluten-free baking mix isn't totally equivalent to flour in a snickerdoodle recipe.  housewifery FAIL.

Katie's Birthday!

Somebody turned 8 yesterday!

I warned her ahead of time that it would be a low-key celebration this year, what with having a new baby and all.  We still made the day as celebratory as possible, though.  She got to pick the menu for the day: pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast; macaroni and cheese for lunch; and tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.

Miriam decorated the cake to Katie's specifications

In the morning we took her on a Mystery Shopping Trip to pick out her birthday present.  When we pulled into the pet store parking lot, she gave us a confused look and said, "Hey, they don't have toys here!"  I think she's still happy with the pretty white gerbil she got. :)

behold Snowball!  we would have gotten a friend for him, but he was the only gerbil in the store.

She got to watch TV in the afternoon, play outside while it was nice, and then have our neighborhood friend over for dinner and cake.

All in all, a good day for an eight-year-old!

this is before the sprinkle blitz

Happy Birthday, Bearsweets.