first snowfall

We got our first snowfall of any significance last night. Not much, but enough to do a little snow play this morning. James shoveled snow to his heart's content, then made a snow angel. Then David and Laurie came out with the sled and everyone had a blast sledding down our little hill. James is old enough and big enough now that he really got into the whole sledding thing . . . then he asked me to explain snowboarding to him. Oh dear. Time to distract him with a cup of homemade hot cocoa in front of a roaring fire.

oh! tannenbaum.

This year we decided to try a Christmas tree farm about 45 minutes away in Ft. Osage, Missouri. It was a lovely drive, and when we got out there it didn't take us long to choose a hilariously chubby-but-yet-beautiful Scotch pine. It was bitterly cold, so we wasted no time cutting it down and dragging it back to the check-out area of the farm. Unfortunately, our tree was SO chubby, that it became stuck in the "bagging machine" - the device that tightly wraps fresh trees in a mesh bag to make them easier to transport. It was so very stuck that it could not be pulled back out or pushed forward. The family that operates the farm was at a loss, trying different things, nothing working. And in the meantime, about a dozen other families had all arrived and selected trees, but no one could leave, as our tree was literally stopping up the operation. It became quite a little party, with all these families standing around the bonfire to keep warm, throwing out suggestions, criticisms and encouragement. Finally some brute-force and a pickup truck pulled the tree through the machine. We assumed it would be a loss, as it had taken quite a beating, but it looked alright, and the tree farm family assured us that if it turned out to be damaged, they would bring us a replacement tree. So, we took our chances and brought it home, removed it from it's bag, and lo and behold, it was gorgeous. A little scraped up on some of it's lower limbs, but nothing broken. Of course, it is SO chubby that we had to move all the furniture out of our library to make room for the tree, but it looks lovely, and it makes us smile every time we pass it.

Thanks to Ft Osage Christmas for making this Christmas tree one to remember!

thanksgiving

We had the nicest Thanksgiving this year. My new brother-in-law invited us out to his family's farm for the afternoon, so for the first time in many, many years we did not host a family Thanksgiving supper at our house. It was so refreshing. Not that I don't love doing Thanksgiving . . . it's my favorite holiday to cook for . . . but it was a nice to do things differently this year. Of course, I still made pies. Of course. But that was all.

And it was a lovely, if a bit chilly, day. The children had a ball exploring the barn and playing in the hayloft, and it was lovely driving home that evening and seeing all the holiday lights that had already gone up.

The only drawback to our Thanksgiving was not having the big kids with us, but we made up for that by doing Thanksgiving II on Friday. Because I just couldn't get through this weekend without roasting an enormous turkey . . . so we had another very nice evening of Thanksgiving dinner and a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit . . .

afternoon walks

I've been trying to make the most of the nice weather we've been having by walking to Lucy's school to pick her up in the afternoons. It's not too far for Lucy to walk, and it is so nice to be out in the sunshine enjoying the fall colors. I know all too well that soon it will be too cold to be outdoors much at all, so we're enjoying it while we can. James rides in the stroller on the way to school, but on the return trek he walks with Lucy. They both gather handfuls of leaves and play hide-behind-tree games while Lucy tells me snippets about her day I might not hear otherwise. And of course there's the added benefit of James sleeping better at night when he has had a nice long afternoon ramble through the neighborhood!

halloween and heartbreak

James and Lucy had a marvelous Halloween, although I always think Halloween-on-Sunday seems weird. But they had a blast, especially James. This was the first time he really understood what was going on, and he really got into it. The first house or two we visited, he was very hesitant and had to be prompted to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" etc., but by the third house we visited he had figured out the protocol, and quickly became a master at selecting the best houses to visit and shouting out "Trick or Treat." Lucy enjoyed herself too, although she is a little more reserved than her brother, and a little reluctant to knock on the doors of stranger's homes.

Two days after Halloween we lost our dear bunny boy, Petey Petunia. Those of you who know us or who have visited our home will, of course, know all about Petey, and how I acquired him many, many years ago when he was just a baby, and how he has lived with me for almost twelve years. Petey had become very, very elderly and frail this past summer and fall, and was suffering, so we had to let him go. I am still shocked at how upset everyone in the family was . . . we all cried and cried. I guess he had just been a part of our lives for so long that we had a hard time getting over his loss. He was a great pet, and we'll always remember him fondly.

lucy's birthday

As I was sending Lucy off to school yesterday I realized "Oh darn" (I didn't really think "darn," more like a bad word that rhymes with "sit"!) "I have Lucy's treats for school done, I have her party for friends Saturday all planned, I have her family party on Sunday all planned, but I don't have anything for tonight!" And while one might think Lucy has an abundance of birthday fun waiting for her this weekend, when you're very small it's pretty important to make your actual birthday very special. So, good mommy that I am, I whipped up some delightful vegan chocolate cupcakes for her. We also let her open a lot of her presents, but saved a few for the family birthday party on Sunday. The hit of the evening - besides the cupcakes - was the singing birthday card James gave to Lucy. I will be hearing that singing hamster in my sleep for days, I am sure. I think she had a lovely day.

fruits of my labors

My baby and my baby's cupcakes . . . fruits of my labors indeed! These are the cupcakes James and I made for Lucy to bring to Kindergarten today for her birthday. My sweet baby girl is six!

baking extravaganza

Lucy's birthday is tomorrow, and as it will be a school day, she wants to bring cupcakes to share with her friends. We had some over-ripe bananas on hand, so James and I made some banana cupcakes that we'll ice later today with coconut icing. For Lucy's birthday party on Saturday, I'll need four (!!!) layers of chocolate cake to build her fantastic cake design, so James and I also made a double recipe of our favorite devil's food cake. For the party Saturday we'll also need Halloween cookies to decorate (gotta keep the children occupied!), so James and I went ahead and made the dough for those as well.

The photo above depicts the aftermath of our baking extravaganza.

brazen mice, or why our cats are worthless.

So we're watching T.V. Sunday night, catching up on some shows we had DVR'd, when suddenly a mouse runs out from behind the television. It runs across the living room floor to the fireplace, stops, looks up at me, I scream, and it runs back behind the television.

Now, this was not in the middle of the night, we were not being quiet, the room was not dark. The T.V. was on, lights were on, we were having an animated discussion about football, and it was only about eight o'clock at night! I am so shocked and disgusted by the brazen mice that live in my decrepit falling apart rotten old house.

Oh yeah, and where were the cats? Good question! They were all lying around, asleep somewhere. Worthless felines. If James tries to pull your tails I will not intervene.

lake weekend

I won't even comment on what a terrible "blogger" I am . . . yes, it's been months. No, I don't have an excuse.

We spent this past weekend down at the family's lake house at The Lake of the Ozarks. David's sister and her family joined us as well. We all had a lot of fun swimming, eating, swimming, drinking, swimming, boating, oh, and fishing. Lots of fishing. L caught a catfish the first afternoon, and J caught a little perch on Sunday morning, so they were both happy, and Andrew and Laurie had a blast playing with their cousins and getting teased by their aunt and uncle. Nice family weekend!

pretty, pretty tulips

We have some lovely "Angelique" tulips blooming in the front flower beds right now . . . they look like the embodiment of all things girly and fairyland and ballet tutus . . .so pink and ruffly and delicate . .. I am in love!

zoo days are here again

We've all been missing our frequent trips to the zoo, but now that warmer weather is upon us once again we've been getting to the zoo almost once a week. What's not to love about the zoo? The kids get lots of fresh air and exercise, it's relatively inexpensive since we buy a membership each year, we see lots of interesting animals, and the people-watching is endlessly fascinating. Last Sunday morning we took a jaunt to the zoo, rode the carousel, and had an encounter with a friendly goose!

easter weekend

We celebrated easter with a lovely family luncheon out on the back patio . . . homemade tomato & mozzarella calzones, grilled sausages, a big green salad (thank you Vanessa & Bo), and of course, a great big chocolate cake, since we also celebrated Laurie's birthday. James, predictably, cut his nose about ten minutes before our guests arrived, so has a giant gash on his face in all the photos (it's not dirt, it's blood, I swear!).

goodbye winter? hello spring?

Yesterday was the last day of winter, but the weather was nice enough that I was able to take the children on an outing to the zoo yesterday morning. it was a bit chilly, but not too terrible, and it was lovely to be out in the fresh air. Today is the first day of spring. It began snowing sometime in the night, and it has snowed all day long. There are about six inches on the ground, and more to come. Have I mentioned how much I dislike the weather in Missouri?

snow-day outing

A local nursery (Family Tree Nursery in Overland Park) had an "Open House" this weekend with all sorts of fun, free activities for Children, including a petting zoo, a balloon artist, an "airbrush tattoo" artist, bead bracelet making, pot-your-own plant, popcorn, doughnuts, and much more. James and Lucy had a ball, and it almost made us forget about the snow coming down outside! We've had about six inches, and it's still snowing! On the first day of Spring.

frozen-cold-snowy-icy

On Saturday it was finally warm enough to actually go outside and take some photographs of our frozen, snowy world. It has been so unbelievably cold and snowy and icy . . . I feel silly complaining, because I know much of the country has much colder, snowier and icier weather than we do, but this is more than we usually get here in KC (a LOT more!) and it's so tough with small children. If it was just the husband and I, I'm sure it'd be wonderful . . . lazy afternoons hunkered down in front of the fire, marathon cooking sessions in the kitchen, a couple of good old movies to watch . . . but with two little ones at home (and both with a stomach virus, naturally!) our snowy-day fantasies will have to wait until the children are older.

cocoa-in-the-snow

Yesterday another wave of snow began it's assault on kansas city, and the children and I decided to celebrate (?) this by making hot cocoa, getting bundled up, and going outside to have cocoa-in-the-snow. This rapidly became James using the child-sized snow shovel to scoop up snow and throw it at Lucy and I, but it was fun while it lasted. And yes, there was peppermint schnapps in my cocoa.