Little bit o' craftiness

Forgot to mention the little sweater I made for Regina.  Baby sweaters are such a great kitting project b/c they're so small and quick!  And the Baby Surprise Jacket is a pattern I've used before, so I was able to avoid the mistakes I made last time, and make a whole set of new ones instead.

I thought Rie might be a leetle overwhelmed with pink, so I went with a purpley self-striping baby yarn.  It was such a joy to work with.

I actually added some crochet ties to the front, and then didn' take a pic of the finished product.  Natch.

There was oodles of yarn left over (better to buy too much than too little!) so Miriam made a little baby cap to match.  She whipped that thing out in record time -- started it a day or so before we left, and finished it AT the baptism party.  (I didn't get a picture of it either.)

We have no idea if either of the items actually fit. (*cough*photographicevidence*cough*)  But they were sure fun to make.  I hope Regina feels how much she's loved.

In which we breathe deeply

I solemnly swear I will publish this today or perish in the attempt.


So back in March our newest niece was baptized.  My darling baby brother gave us less than a month's notice, probably thinking there was No Way we would be coming.  But I had promised Miriam ages ago that if they ever had another baby and I went to the baptism that I would bring her along -- and she remembered, so I had to make good on my promise.  Thankfully it was just enough time to find and purchase tickets and otherwise prepare for several days' absence.  Mr. Pickles is an admirable Lord-and-Master of the Household, but still there are lots of detail-type-thingies that the Queen-and-Domestic-Goddess is just better about remembering.

Basically, I had to make sure they weren't running around naked and eating nothing but berries and nuts while I was gone.

In Which We Begin to Catch Up

Holy crap, has it really been that long since the last time I wrote?  Sorry guys!

Soooo....  February, huh.  You know, every day I'm thinking of things I want to share with you all.  And then I do stuff to keep this family machine thing going and next thing I know it's 10:30 and there's no way my brain is functioning well enough to compose a coherent post.  (Actually, a post then might be pretty funny.  Or not.  Half of my nouns would be "thingy" and most of my children would be "that one kid who did that thing.")  But all that goes to say that I often think about all of you family and friends and passing acquaintances who read this blog, and want to share a little bit of our personal 3-ring circus with you, if for no other reason than to make you glad you're living your life and not ours.  But it's mostly because we love you all and miss you all and this is our way of bringing you closer.

Group hug.

Okay, bring on the clowns.  Gosh, what have we been doing?  The biggest two things since the last post were a last-minute trip to California (you better be hearing that in Uncle Arnie's voice -- it's THE only way to say the state's name now, you know) and Birthday Week.  Lemme poke around in the pictures and see if there's anything else I missed before we get to the really good stuff.

More pictures of snow?  Hmmm...  maybe later. :)  I know!  How about the laundry room on a snow day when friends come to visit!

Not pictured are the several pairs of snow pants hanging on the closet doors.

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The National Gallery of Art was hosting an exhibit of Byzantine art until last month.  Because we are us, we waited until one of the last few days to go before it moved on.  I confess I wasn't able to pay attention to very much of it, since someone thought it would be a good idea to take the whole family and some of the family just aren't into ancient Byzantine art.

The fountain was the favorite part of the museum for certain family members.

 We brought paper and pencils for the kids, and had the older ones copy their favorite piece.  The museum security kept watching us suspiciously, especially after Joseph leaned against a wall to keep out of the way.  The guard warned him to keep off the walls, since he would set off alarms (seriously?  the WALLS are alarmed?), and then barked at us just not to touch anything.

I think in order to get the job of museum guard you have to prove that you hate people and assume that everyone who comes to appreciate the art is really an art thief or vandal.  Sheesh.

In between boy-wrangling, I was struck once again with how much human emotion is often written into an icon.  The Virgin Hodegetria was especially moving.  The image doesn't nearly do it justice; it's much more vibrant and beautiful in real life.

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Sometimes after Andy eats, its just easier to give him a bath than try to clean him off with a little washcloth.

heyyyyyyy...

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Andy has also discovered the toddler camera face.

Andy's chosen bedtime reading?  "Great Issues in American History: From the Revolution to the Civil War, 1765-1865."

Wow, these Lincoln-Douglas debates are fascinating!

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This was probably the most awesome double rainbow I have ever seen.  It was HUGE -- it stretched across half the sky and couldn't fit into one shot.

"When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." -- Gen. 9:16.

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Finally, a preview of things to come: a St. Patrick's Day sketch prepared by the girls! (once I figure out how to edit video on this here new-fangled compooter thingy)

Winter Wonderlandiness

I should probably just subtitle every post with "Wait, I didn't publish this yet?"

Am I allowed to talk about weather?  Please?  I promise I won't complain about it...

This is actually the first February that I haven't loathed in a while.  Look!  It's so pretty!

reason number zillion to be grateful to the previous owners who moved to Texas

And we have a snowblower now!  That makes a HUGE difference.  Even when the snow is so wet and heavy that it occasionally has to be scooped out of the blower with a giant metal cooking spoon.

Sorry for the tree -- this was the best shot from the living room window.

I love the look of snow on the ground, even several days later when it's no longer fluffy.  Of course, I'm not the one who spent 3 hours shoveling it -- I got to stay inside with the baby and make hot chocolate and run the dryer.

 I only wish Virginia snow plow operators knew how to clear a street -- their favorite way of plowing seems to be 1 1/2 lanes -- or plowing a lane completely, until an intersection, at which point they will dump all their snow on the corners.  This effectively blocks all turn lanes and half the through lanes with what become impenetrable ice blocks a couple days later.

But I'm not complaining!  I'd much rather it were white and icy and difficult to get around than brown and dead everywhere.

Everyone's been getting as much outside time as possible -- and I think this is a first, but at least one child has admitted to me that she is about ready for spring.

Andy prefers riding in style, as opposed to having to walk in his Evil Snow Boots.

I think some people might also be tired of being cold.

And she wonders why she's always running out of socks...  well, wearing FIVE PAIRS at a time might do that!

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Since I first wrote this post, it warmed up and thawed most of the snow (except for hardiest ice blocks).  It was lovely and spring-like this past weekend -- we had windows open and some small people were running around in short sleeves.  I drew the line at sandals, though.

And then it snowed again today. 

It's melting quickly, though.  Yay for mud!

I feel a real kinship with the Dennistons from That Hideous Strength -- I love weather of all kinds.  And not just to complain about it, either.

Bargain Post! Three Holidays for the Price of One!

To wit: St. Nicholas' Day, Christmas, and New Year's, all in one!

It was fun going through these pictures.  Even though it's only been a month or two since they were taken, it feels like ages.

St. Nicholas' Day

So, just to recap: in the Pickle Jar, St. Nicholas comes around midnight on his feast day and fills stockings, taking wish lists with him back to heaven/the North Pole.  Then he returns Christmas night with something (when possible) from the wish lists.

old computer tower positioned to prevent babby from climbing into gas pilot light

Aaaaaaaand that appears to be all I have from St. Nicholas' Day.  Everyone enjoyed their stocking stuffers, as I remember.

Okay, so on to Advent.  You know you have a big family when....

(I didn't realize this would be necessary until a week into Advent.  Hence the missing dates.)

 ...you have to make a chart of whose turn it is to do what: blow candles, open doors, add felt figures.  This MOSTLY eliminated bickering.  Everyone was actually respectful of everyone else's turns, since everyone got to do something every day.  Next Advent I'm going to have to get another calendar or something so Andy gets an equal turn.

Speaking of felt, isn't this Advent calendar adorbs?  Thanks to Katie B's mommy!  (ahem, belated thank-you note still forthcoming!)

Christmas

Christmas Eve is busy busy busy in our house.  We do all our decorating and baking this day.  I may need to rethink that -- there were several decorations that got missed because the only person who remembered them was busy in the kitchen.

I don't mind that the kids have taken over decorating the tree, though.  We did this when we were kids, and it was fun.  It really made it OURS.

It's especially fun when they decorate the tree in costume.

 Of course, what's Christmas Eve without Pulla?

Everybody who was old enough got to help shape!

Joseph gets a lesson in the fine art of Pulla shaping.

We opted for a Christmas star this year -- so pretty!

 For Mass, we chickened out on Midnight Mass, and went to the vigil.  Afterwards we drove around and looked at neighborhood Christmas lights.  It appears giant inflated carousels are the thing this year.

Our display was much more modest.

We also had lights on our railings outside, but I seem not to have taken any pictures of the outside of our house.  Silly me.

Christmas morning dawned bright and early, as it always does when you have small people in the house.

Daniel and his lion :)

Dr. Joseph, paging Dr. Joseph...

Katie is most proficient at making paper food, but this is a bit hardier.  She set up a sandwich shop later.

Andy enjoys his Christmas morning too

Yay!  A noisemaker!

I'll bet you didn't realize there were TWO stars of Bethlehem!

Organizing the rest of The Loot

This next one is entitled "Grandma's Revenge."

One super-neat thing Mr. Pickles got for us was a 3-D TV.  It's pretty cool.  We have a couple 3D movies, and they actually look awesome.

We had a good Christmas -- very low-key.  Lots of present-opening and jammie-wearing and good-food-eating.

And then Mommy collapsed.  I don't know about anyone else, but I'm useless the day after Christmas. 

I don't want to be an elf!

New Year's Eve

We've been trying out a New Year's tradition of making a gingerbread house. (There's no tradition like a new tradition!)  This year Mr. Pickles did all the hard work -- I just got to purchase the candy.

note the hand saying: stop eating the candy!!

the royal icing was something of an adventure this year -- you know, when you make something complicated only once a year, you're bound to forget how to do it

artists at work

one for the house, one for me, one for the house, two for me...

the allergy-free side!

the boys' side: most decidedly not allergen-free

ummm, ta-da?  (note the snowturkey)  We found our house greatly amusing this year.

and delicious.

Gingerbread men were also made.

yes, that is a gingerbread pirate.  and headless gingerbread man.  Mr. Pickles and Joseph made these, why do you ask?

Happy New Year from the Pickles!

NOT goin' in the update letter

The End.

A Bit More Stuff & Nonsense

I knew I was forgetting something!!

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Why is it that pictures of other people's kids smeared with spaghetti sauce are just gross, but when it's your own kid, it's adorable?

Oompa-loompa, doompity-doo...

Ha!  They think they're actually going to get me clean after this!  *scoffs*

He smelled like oregano for several hours.

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Ahhhhh, meat...

Look!  Beef bones for making broth!  So exciting!

That's 1/12 of a cow and 1/6 of a hog, pasture-fed, free-range, hormone-free and all things delicious right there in our very own freezer, all for an average of $2.50/lb. This is the way to go, people.  If you offer to bring a nice red we might invite you over for dinner.

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Okay, NOW that's all.  Still due for a Christmas post -- stay tuned!  (But, like, don't hold your breaths or anything.)

Stuff and nonsense

Good night, haven't I posted this yet??  Time to stop overthinking and overediting already!

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So.  First picture.

Here are about 32 bags of leaves that we gathered from the yard. (There were actually still a couple more that were frozen to the driveway and had to thaw out before they could be dragged to the street.)  I felt really sorry for the trash collection guys -- our pile there was by no means extraordinary for our neighborhood.  I don't get why our county doesn't just send out a vacuum-thingy truck to suck up all the leaves from the curbside, instead of going through the hassle of putting everything in plastic bags.  Sort of defeats the purpose of having a "green waste" collection day, imho.  But what do I know?  I'm just a humble housewife who's got nothing better to do than improve the world from my living room window.


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(This next section is written for the benefit of the SoCal relatives -- y'know, those who don't have any experience with REAL weather.  The rest of you may feel free to just move along.)

So, the thing about winter in Virgnia is that it's not quite cold enough to be really, you know, all winter-y and stuff.  At least, not for long periods of time.  We get some snow, usually really wet (great for snowballs and forts!) then it melts.

Exhibit A: wet snow

See that bush thingy overhanging the deck?  It's usually tall enough to block our view of the evergreens.

 Often the melted snow doesn't melt quite fast enough and then freezes overnight and causes two-hour-delays for all the schools and government agencies in the area the next day until VDOT finally looks at a thermometer and decides to send out the salt trucks.  (See "what do I know," above.)

The rest of the time, winter here is pretty much a combination of November and February (think dead, chilly, wet, and dark), with a few glorious days of brisk and bright January weather thrown in just to make your blood flow and to affirm that life is indeed beautiful, and to keep everyone from moving to Key West for 4 months out of the year.

But the last couple weeks have been really truly winter-ish.  For example, it snowed and then didn't rain immediately 2 days later!  There was totally all this fluffy (not slushy!) white stuff on the ground and then MORE white stuff came, before the first stuff was gone!  Of course, because it thawed just a teensy bit during the days (hey, 35 is above freezing!) and then refroze at night, it got all pitted and crusty.  Perfect for sledding!  The kids have been in heaven.  My dryer has been working overtime. In between my usual 3-4 loads per day, I've also been drying multiple loads of mittens, hats, scarves, and snow pants.  Maybe it will break soon and then I can get a new one!  Happy thoughts!

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Hey, speaking of dryers, have you ever noticed how much cold air comes IN your dryer vent when it's freezing outside?  (Sometimes if I've left a load in the dryer for a short period of time, I can't tell if it's actually completely dry b/c all the clothes are so dang cold!)  Is there something I should be doing about this, besides running the dryer all day?

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The kids have discovered how to use the voice note feature on our old defunct cell phone.  (by-the-bye, a disconnected flip phone is one of the best. toys. ever.)  This has led to much auditory hilarity the last few days.  For your reading pleasure, I here reproduce, verbatim, Daniel's latest recording:

"Oh yeah, oh yeah, wock and woll!
Oh yeah, oh yeah, baby,
oh yeah, oh yeah, baby,
oh yeah, oh yeah, baby,
oh yeah, oh yeah, baby,
oh yeah, oh yeah, baby,
oh yeah, oh yeah, baby,
oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah!"

He then went on to record several more songs, some wock and woll, others that sounded like "Deck the Halls" punctuated with "yeah, yeah, yeah"s.

Most of Joseph's recordings involve gorilla sounds.

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After we removed the tree, we arranged the living room, so now we can use the actual "fireplace"!

Mmmm, nothing like glowing fake logs to warm up a room!

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And speaking of warm, we got new windows!!!!1!!  And the heavens opened, and all the angelic choirs sang together in praise of rooms without noticeable drafts running along the floors.  Thankfully the windows were installed on a day that was in between two huge freezes, so the house only chilled down to the 50s while the old ones were being knocked out and the new ones put in.  These guys were awesome -- they had a whole crew working simultaneously so the removal and installation of our 20+ windows took only 2 hours.  (All the caulking and external sealing took a few more hours, but meanwhile the house was able to warm back up.)

It has made SUCH a difference.  We put a thermometer in the north-facing back bedroom (currently the Playroom) to see just how cold it got down there at night before we replaced the windows.  Our thermostat is always set to 67 -- the Playroom registered at a cool 50 degrees.  That's WITH storm windows.  I knew it always felt cold in there!  The girls' room wasn't much better -- they woke up in a 56 degree room -- and I think that's only b/c their body heat warmed up the room!  They had to use every extra blanket in the house at night.  After the new windows, the back rooms are still colder than the rest of the house (58 in the Playroom), so we'll need to get a space heater to make them truly cozy.  But still!  The curtains don't flutter in the breeze on windy days any more, so it's a vast improvement.

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Despite all my commenting about how freezing cold it's been, I really do like winter.  Probably only because I haven't experienced any pipes bursting yet.  That might change my perspective.

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Sorry, another snippet having to do with the cold, but at least the cold is the backdrop to the real story:

We had a pet bird for 10 minutes.

I noticed a bird floundering around under the crepe myrtles the other day.  It looked like it had hurt its wing, so I left it alone, figuring that one of the neighbor's cats would find it and put it out of its misery pretty soon.  (Is that really cruel of me?)  A couple hours later, Katie informed me she had caught a bird by putting a little plastic pail over it.  I didn't have high hopes for the bird's future with us, since I figured it was not long for this earth.  But I fixed up a cardboard box with some water and bird seed, and we brought the bird inside.  It did not look good.  Its wing looked back to normal, but it mostly scrunched itself into a corner and huddled there with its eyes closed.

We got out a bird book to figure out what kind it was -- it was really pretty, yellow with dark striped wings.  It was either a kind of flycatcher or goldfinch or warbler.  The kids were fascinated.   I don't think any of them had ever been this close to a wild bird before.  I tried to warn them to leave the poor thing alone, so they wouldn't terrify it to death.  They were respectful enough not to be reaching into the box to pet it, at least, but after a few minutes Joseph inevitably kicked the box and the bird was up and away!

Hilarity ensued.

It flew into the den, repeatedly bonking its head on the ceiling -- I chased it around -- finally caught it -- accidentally released it -- chased it around the den -- caught it again and released it outside.  It flew into a tree and commenced cheeping, so it was fine.

My guess was that it was stupefied from the cold that morning (I think it was one of those lows-in-the-single-digits nights), and just needed to warm up for a bit.  I haven't seen any more like him, so I'm wondering if he missed the migration boat.

Isn't he pretty?  I wish I had taken more close-up pictures, before Joseph kicked his box.

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I joined a women's Bible Study called "Walking With Purpose."  Now, I tend to approach all female-oriented spiritual groups with mild suspicion, half-expecting the usual slip-shod, sugary female thinking typical of such groups, for which I have no patience.  But I signed up, thinking, "Eh, what the heck, it'll only be 6 evenings out of my life, if it's horrible, and I might get some independent benefit out of it from reading the Bible more during that time."  But it is so, so good. The actual Bible reading is in little snippets, and you really dig deep down, finding the meaning of the selected verses for your own life.  It is so beautiful and affirming and challenging in a non-threatening and non-depressing way.  It's helping to give me a little clarity about several things I was struggling with lately and didn't even know how to begin to address.

The program we're doing at this parish is only 6 weeks long, but I think they also produce an 8- or 9-month long series.  I'm definitely signing up.  I highly recommend this study, if you can find a group near you!

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Our parish priests are from Denver.  The pastor wore a bright orange shirt under his chasuble at Mass this morning.

I'm beginning to question their intercessory power.