Freestyle Baby and Trimming the Tree

Miri doing the can-can on her changing table. Obviously this is the modest angle.



She's been playing with her feet a lot whenever she gets the chance. I don't remember Aleaha doing that as much.


Over the long weekend, we got our Christmas tree and even managed to decorate it. I put on a little Joan Baez Christmas music to help get us in the mood, and then we got 'er done. Aleaha was, ahem, such a big help. She was fascinated by all the decorations and wanted to know the personal history of each one. Now I have to work hard and give lots of Santa-won't-visit threats to have her keep her hands OFF the tree and its decorations. Last year, she didn't push the limits so much. Now? Look out.


She is wearing a special Christmas necklace that lights up. Oh, the entertaining things 5 bucks can buy.


Miri was asleep the whole time. She's got plenty of Christmases to be all wired, like Aleaha.

Food, Food, Swinging, and More Food

Three girls lounging about. (Mrs. Jones was under the weather with a kitty cold, but thankfully she bounced back. Aleaha took good care of her, as you can see.)


This is why they invented the red-eye feature in Photoshop. Who would claim that baby otherwise?? hehehe


Aleaha was very helpful with Thanksgiving dinner. Here she is cutting the stems off dreen beans and chopping spuds for mashed potatoes. (Now, no need to report me -- that's a child-safe knife she's using.)


A nice Thanksgiving dinner with Gramma Patty. We have much to be thankful for.


Miri did her share of helping too. She likes to supervise from the Bjorn.


I'd been wanting to wait until Thanksgiving to start Miri on solids. If you saw last weekend's post, you know that we gave it a shot a little early, due to "Operation Bottle", and it was not successful. But oh, what a difference a few days makes! Here's Miri on the evening of Thanksgiving, gratefully sucking down her rice cereal. (Uh, yum?)


Then sucking on her chair.


Then sucking on her fingers.


But will she suck on a bottle? Hell no.



Aleaha put Christmas stockings on her horsie.


Now, don't go thinking any bad thoughts here.... Aleaha said this is Chestnut (the one in back), nursing off the other horse.


Maybe it is all about timing....here is Miri in her outdoor swing, which until now she has not really enjoyed. But she LOVED it today!


Happy grinner.


Cutie Poo.


Just a swingin'....


Having more cereal. She totally gets the game now!


Hoovering it down! Might be time to try that blasted bottle again soon. Or maybe just graduate to a sippy cup.

Thanksgiving Rehearsal, Operation Bottle, and Daddy's Birthday

Aleaha's dool (school) hosted a special lunch in celebration of Thanksgiving, and parents were invited. This was our third year attending (can't believe how fast the time goes!). Here is Aleaha showing Daddy the class turkey, on which each child in her room had decorated a few tailfeathers.


Family photo. Two parents is barely enough to wrangle two small children.


Chaos. (Good chaos, of course.)


This was Miri with her first taste of solid food. Not thrilled. Her sentiments were more due to the weekend project we called "Operation Bottle", where we withheld her favorite thing in the world (OK, two favorite things) so that she would be interested in taking a bottle. It didn't exactly work as planned. After starting this on Friday night, by Sunday afternoon -- 44 hours into the experiment -- she did take a bottle with less reluctance. The poor thing was just too hungry, I think. (Lest you think she actually went without food that entire time, know that was NOT the case. But it was a forced process, and we needed her to actively want it, not just tolerate having it squirted into her mouth.) By Monday morning, when we were supposed to report our success happily to the staff at daycare, she had regressed and refused again. Worrying she was getting weak, because she wasn't taking in as much as usual, I stopped the project and will try again later. It was a hideous experience for everyone. The girl knows what she wants, and that's that!


Aleaha and Mommy made chocolate tup-tates (cupcakes) for Daddy. Licking the bowl was the final task.


Daddy blows out the tandles.


There's that expression again. Are they related or what?


Here's Miss A vacuuming the fir needles off the floor with her Dirt Devil. I bought that second hand, and for the first 2 years she was afraid of it. Now she loves it. And Mommy loves the help! Must capitalize on this all I can! (Now, where did I put that dustrag?)

Misc. and Sundry Stuff

This is not an organized post with a topical sentence and cohesive message (how many of mine are??). Just a few pics from the last week or so.


Saw this poster in the hallway at Aleaha's school last week. Her statement caught my eye....


Aaaww. Cool. Of course, the next one's going to be for Dad. (Please remember, Sweedie, her first word was "Dada!")


Making crescent rolls on Saturday morning. She's such a big helper! (And who doesn't love those things!?)


We took a little drive as a fam up to Marys Peak on Saturday. Someone fell asleep in the back seat on the way back down. Aaahhh, peace. :)


Doing chores around the yard on Saturday. Gotta be bundled up!


Daddy put a lightbulb into the chicken house, to help them produce more eggs over the wintertime (and for warmth at night).


The light is on a timer. Here's the view from the front of the chicken house. The windows are like eyes and the door is a mouth. Almost creepy!


Aleaha likes to use Daddy's seal-a-meal in the garage. (He uses it to package clean engine parts to send back to customers.)


Not a very clear shot, but that bald spot on Miri is a good testament to the Back-to-Sleep campaign.


I took the girls for a Bob-stroll at Bald Hill on Sunday. Good workout for Mommy (and I'm feeling it in the shins on Monday!). It was good to stride out a bit and get some air. Need more of that.

What? No Halloween Photos??

We are such lame parents. There it was, Halloween. And a Saturday night at that. And somehow we let the night slip away without a real picture of our fine children in their toss-tumes (as Miss A would say). Well, at least they did get to go trick-or-treating.


This is Miri on the way home from the beg-for-candy gig. She would have been wearing the Chili Pepper costume, but it's a bunting (one-piece get-up, for the uninitiated), which means she can't go in her carseat or the BabyBjorn. Instead, I put her in a darling little pink sherpa suit with a hood that has ears on it -- BAM, she's a cute little Care Bear! Ya do what works, no?


What's this?


It's Aleaha and her glow necklace! (so handy for going down to the barn to feed in the dark!)


We've still got the goats and llama in the upper pasture. We put the last of the pig feed in with them, and they seem to think that's pretty ok. (They will not be meeting the same fate, I assure you!)


Just exactly what does Miri think of doing laundry?


Aahhh, just kidding, Mom. "Ghouls just wanna have fun!"


Cutie-Poo in her exer-gizmo.


After much consternation, we decided to put a woodstove insert into the fireplace. (Aleaha calls it the "new firestove".) Here is Chris, managing it closely. Reminds me of that line from the Tom Hanks movie, Castaway: "I have made fire!" Man, it's so nice to come home on a chilly wet weeknight to a cozy house!



GrammaBon came to visit last weekend. Her patience and fortitude were put to use trying to teach Miri to take a bottle. (Mommy's been having LOTS of stress over this, as I've been back at work for a few weeks now, and she's not getting with the program.) But Little Miss would just have no part of it. Here she is trying to gently tell GrammaBon just what to do with that bottle. Note placement of Miri's left hand -- she's pulling Gramma's hand away.


Wow, GrammaBon, you can really push Aleaha fast! Or maybe Mom can't work a camera and keep things in focus. Yeah, probably that.


GrammaBon and her Mini-Me!