Trim up the tree

We finally went to get our tree last week. We wanted to go out and cut one but with Ken's arm still in a sling and some very cold temps last week it just didn't work out. So we picked a pre-cut tree from a local tree farm. Funny thing is when the trees are outside on a lot, surround by even bigger trees they don't look nearly as big as they do when you bring them home to your small, already overcrowded apartment. This tree is right to the ceiling and takes up about one quarter of our living room. And that is only a very slight exaggeration. I love the way the spruce trees look - more spaces in the branches means you can see the ornaments better. But I think every year as we put the tree up and I got stuck repeatedly by the sharp needles I swear it will be the last time I get a spruce tree. But the tree is up, the kids had fun decorating it and it looks nice (even if we can't see the tv anymore).

Snoopy-doo Christmas

A little over a week ago Owen and Zora got in their pjs right after dinner and when Ken came home from work, we popped popcorn and watched Snoopy-doo Christmas (or Merry Christmas Charlie Brown as it's more commonly known). Owen had been wanting to watch it for weeks and it finally seemed close enough to Christmas to do it. I remember waiting for the Christmas specials to be on when I was a kid - of course they were on tv and each one played only once so you had to watch it that night or not at all (and I remember Merry Christmas Charlie Brown was always "brought to you by Dolly Madison"). So even though Owen would watch it year round, I like to wait until it is almost Christmas to pull out the DVD and make an event out of it. And we had a great time - Owen was laughing hysterically, as you can see. And Zora just couldn't get enough popcorn.

Talking on the phone

If you've ever talked on the phone with Owen you know this kid can really talk. And talk and talk. It can be exhausting listening to him. But unless you've seen him while he's talking on the phone you might not realize that his body is moving just as much as his mouth. He paces around the house, climbs on the furniture and never stays still. Here are a few pictures from a recent call with Grandma and Papa.

Snow Day!

We woke up to about 14 or 15 inches of snow on Wednesday morning (the TV station reported 17 inches at the station but I don't think we had quite that much at our house). Definitely a

winter wonderland out there.

The birds were happy that we had recently filled the feeders and were busy at the feeders all day. Our neighborhood wild turkeys were back again and having difficulties with all the snow. They were walking along the fence and staying up in the trees to stay out of the deep snow.

Owen took the first 2 pictures of our bird feeders out of our back window early in the morning.

Owen was beside himself with excitement. And I was pretty excited too to have the day off. Owen got outside to play in the big snow banks left by the plows right after breakfast and I did some shoveling (with Ken's arm still in a sling all the shoveling is left to me).

Then Owen and I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things. And just in time because most of the stores were closing at noon in anticipation of the high winds, blowing and drifting snow and low visibility predicted for the rest of the day. At that point many of the roads had been plowed and we actually saw more people walking than driving so it wasn't too bad on the roads. It was a little too cold with the wind for Zora to get out so Owen and I headed to the sledding hill near our house while Ken and Zora stayed warm inside. With all of the kids out of school, the sledding hill was busy. Owen had a great time, though we didn't stay too long because

I was so cold!

Owen on his way up the hill...

and on his way back down.

We also took advantage of the day off to bake a loaf of pumpkin bread and skype with several different family members including Grammy; Cath, Seth and Rayna; and Ginney and Cade. We didn't getting anything done around the house and the place looked like it had been hit by, well, a blizzard, by the end of the day, but it was a very productive snow day.

Since We've No Place to Go

Our first snow storm of the year is here. There is a blizzard warning here until sometime tomorrow. We've had light snow all day but it has really been coming down since around 5 pm. We've gotten 6 inches so far and they are forecasting 10-14 inches total. I love a good winter storm! Needless to say, Owen is excited. Like me, he loves snow. He has been dying to go sledding and build a snowman since we got a dusting of snow late last week. Zora is fascinated with the snow - her first real winter (last winter she was too young to be out much or be aware of the snow). I was home most of the day today since Ken still is in the sling from his surgery so I got to bundle Owen and Zora up and go outside and play.

We only had a couple of inches at the time but Owen pulled Zora around in her little sled and then we went over to a little hill near our house and did a little sledding. It was the perfect size hill for Zora and she was all smiles and laughter going down. It wasn't really a hill for Owen so he tried his hand at sledding standing up. He wasn't too successful but he didn't care - he was just happy to be out playing in the snow.

And then later while Zora took a nap, Owen and I did some shoveling and had a snowball fight. The University is closed tomorrow so I get to stay home all day. If the wind isn't too bad (they are saying 25-30 mph gusts) maybe we'll get out to play some more. Otherwise we will turn on some Christmas music, read "Snowy Day" and "When it Starts to Snow", drink hot chocolate and tea and watch the snow come down.

Book baby

Zora has taken quite a liking to her books lately, which is a bit of relief for me. I have worried off and on that we have not spent nearly as much time reading books to her as we did with Owen and I was afraid she might not love books like he does. But maybe just watching us read to Owen and Owen flip through books on his own hour after hour has peaked her interest. Whatever the reason, her books are currently one of her favorite toys. She has a basket full of board books in the living room and she will often crawl over there and just start pulling the books out until everyone of them is on the floor. And she will sit and turn the pages, back and forth, pointing at pictures. And of course she loves to eat them.

When she wants us to read her a book she will take one from her basket and bring it to us, insisting that we read it as she points and says "ah! ah!". And if we don't start reading quite fast enough or turn the pages quickly enough she will let us know by yelling. Loud. Owen likes to "read" to her too. He has most of the books memorized so he can sit with her and read the books to her which I absolutely love.

Her current favorites include "Bear on Bike", "Peekaboo Morning", "Where is the Green Sheep", "Everywhere Babies" and "Good Night Gorilla"

I love her newfound love of books and hope it will last her a lifetime.

Turkeys

Now that Thanksgiving has passed apparently the wild turkeys that sometimes visit our yard feel it is safe to show themselves again (maybe it also had something to do with the fact that we finally filled our bird feeders while Grammy was here). We hadn't seen them for quite some time. In fact after always seeing three turkeys together since we moved here, last spring we were seeing only two and then just one and then none and I was starting to think they had all met some unfortunate end. But then over the last week all 3 turkeys (or I suppose it is possible it is 3 entirely new turkeys) have been back making the rounds around here. Needless to say they provide lots of entertainment for Owen and Zora.

Here they are glued to the window yesterday morning.

And 2 of the 3 turkeys (the other one was hiding in the bush) enjoying a snack under our bird feeders.

What a weeks it was

Thanksgiving week was a long one here at our house. I had taken the whole week off because Ken was having shoulder surgery on Tuesday. Monday the kids go to Red Caboose so I had planned to get shopping done and get some things done around the house to get ready for the week. But instead, Zora woke up Monday morning with a horrible cough so we spent yet another morning at the doctor. I feel like I have been living at the doctor's office this fall. Tuesday Ken had his surgery which went well (even though when I talked to the surgeon after the surgery he said as soon as he got in there and saw it he "knew it was going to be a project"). He will be in a sling for 3 weeks which he is not happy about and he has been sleeping in a chair but hopefully in the long run it will be worth it. Fortunately my Mom came for Thanksgiving and to help out after Ken's surgery because by Thanksgiving day I was sick. So I was pretty much in bed all day and Ken was one armed and still in pain from his surgery. Thanks for coming for Thanksgiving Mom - would you mind fixing the whole dinner by yourself? Oh, and can you help with the kids while you're at it? So this Thanksgiving I was especially thankful for my Mom. Thanks Mom - I don't know what we would have done without you here! I did make it down for dinner but didn't each much - other than the pumpkin pie my Mom and Owen made totally from scratch. We got a pie pumpkin in our last CSA box and Owen has been waiting ever since to make a pumpkin pie with it. So they cooked the pumpkin, cranked it through the Foley food mill (which apparently Gram was going to throw out until my Mom said she would take it) and then made it into a pie.

I've never really been a huge fan of pumpkin pie but this one was delicious. So much better than one made from canned pumpkin. I still wasn't feeling great on friday but did rally on Saturday (my Mom's birthday) to make her a birthday dinner and a chocolate birthday cake (though she did have to take the cake out of the oven and run to the store to buy ice cream for the cake).

Aunt Manji visits and art is cool

Joanna came to hang out with the kids for a couple of days a couple weeks ago while I tried to get some cleaning and organizing done that was long overdue. There was lots of book reading, some walks and even a visit to the zoo. Of course, I didn't get done nearly as much as I hoped - mainly because that kind of stuff always takes longer than you think it will.

One of the things Joanna and Owen did was make a wooden ore boat. This is something we did as kids (well, apparently Joanna never did but Rob, Mike and I did) when we were at Birch Point in the summer. It was my Mom's idea for Joanna to do it with Owen while she was here and my Mom provided all the necessary supplies. Owen was so excited to make the boat, which he named the Frigate. He sanded it, glued it and then after waiting for it to dry (which to Owen took an eternity) he painted it. He was more slow, careful and patient with his painting than I've ever seen him be with anything.

Owen and Aunt Manji building the boat.

The finished project.

Until very recently Owen has always had sort of a limited interest in things like drawing and painting. But recently he has been spending a lot more time working on art projects. Just this week he told me he had started an artists club (which consists of Owen and Ken). Here is one of his latest pictures - a picture of himself playing in the grass that he drew for me:

I think part of the reason he has more interest now is that his fine motor skills have developed more so he doesn't get so frustrated. But I also think a lot of it is because his very favorite teacher at school, Leigh, is an artist. And pretty much anything Leigh does, Owen thinks is cool so suddenly Owen is digging art more than ever before. Which I think is pretty cool.

Catching up: Fall leaves

We sort of fell of the blogosphere since Zora's birthday. Things have been busy here with visits from Joanna (aka Aunt Manji) and my Mom and shoulder surgery for Ken. I'm hoping to catch up a little and post several pictures and thoughts over the next few days.

You may remember that at the end of October I posted some pictures form October 2008 of Owen playing in the leaves and commented that we really hadn't gotten out to jump in the leaves yet this year. Well, shortly after that, on an unseasonably warm Saturday morning, Owen finally got out to jump in the leaves. And now that there is snow on the ground here I'm finally posting the video (and yes, he is wearing his pjs).