Super Much

I'm so grateful for some downtime. Been spending lots of time hugging the kids. That's the best use of time EVER.

Mom to Miri:  Do you know how much I love you?

Miri to Mom:  Super much.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

It was finally time for the annual Gingerbread House making! (thank heavens for the pre-made kits). Aleaha also made a felt version earlier in the day, as a keep-'er-busy-and-quiet-during-Miri's-naptime activity.

Opportunistic photo snapped before school the other day. They insisted on pulling candy canes off the tree for posing.

More Miri

Last Friday was a hard day at school - missed her nap. Thus, she fell asleep on the way home, snack in hand.

What she said while parading around the house in this is not blog-appropriate. Hilarious, but not for public consumption!

Oh Christmas Tree

Tree is up! From this photo, it looks like we decorated three trees. Hey, does that mean we get extra credit??

Little Miri Update

She's very, fully, absolutely, in-the-midst-of Three Years Old. She's a spitfire. A wonder. A handful.

Fell asleep watching TV the other night. Aleaha said, "The beautifully classic Christmas music from the show made her fall asleep, Mom!"

She wanted to take a walk, just as it was getting dark. Mom agreed to go down the driveway with her. She ran all the way back. And still had energy left over.

She and Aleaha were playing "bathtub" in Mommy's antique toy bucket (which used to be used to feed calves).

In looking for something in her room yesterday, I came upon her secret stash. Clearly this is where she has hidden a few things of big importance to her. On the left is a toy wooden skewer that was taken away from her at one point, because she was too rough with it (running it along the banister to make noise), and she found it again. In the center is a ziplock bag of glitter glue that is about to bust out all over the place (rest assured it was REMOVED after this pic was taken!), and on the right are the 2 new chapsticks she was just given (note the "M" on the caps, to distinguish hers from her sister's). It's probably a good thing she put them out of sight from her sister, because Aleaha has lost hers within 24 hours of receipt, and she just might find a way to change that "M" to an "A" and claim it was always that way.

They are so sly. They think!

Light is a Good Thing

View when going to pick up Aleaha the other day.

Can we take a Kajuzzi?

The master bathroom has a Jacuzzi. The girls love this and beg to get in it every night. Except Miri -- who normally pronounces things properly -- has a little trouble with the word, and every time it comes out "Kajuzzi".

Miri,You're so Fashion

When Aleaha really wants to get get Miri's goat, she says, "Miri, you're so ....fashion." It doesn't even make sense to most people. But Miri can tell by the tone that whatever her sister is intending, it's not something complimentary. So of course she retorts, "I am not!"

Oh, but my dear, I think you really might be.

Darling outfit for an unusually warm mid-Fall day. Possibly the only time I will ever get her in this beautiful, custom-bade frock by my creative friend Jillian of JillyBeanVintage. (Aleaha has one too, made from reclaimed, vintage fabrics.)

Here was her choice of outfit for Thanksgiving Dinner.

My Miri, I don't know if you are Fashion or not, but I am certain that you are Three.

In the Library

We decided to set up the "formal living room" of the new house as a comfortable space for reading. A library, if you will. Miri immediately wanted to know, "Who will be our librarian?" 

The shelves are bursting with colorful, inviting books. Here's Aleaha, who was playing library with Miri....

I asked her to show me what book she was reading to her.

That's my girl!

(She was reading a recipe for mushroom sauce, she said. How ironic, as she will eat neither mushrooms nor sauce. Oh, but she can likely fix 'em!)

In the thick of the move

On our last night in the old house, GrammaBon elected to sleep on the couch. It was late and we all just wanted to crash. In order to make it a little more comfy, Purrl the Kitty pre-warmed her spot. Wasn't that sweet of her?

Aleaha was a box-making wonder and very helpful in our packing process.

While our beds are staged in the old house, our girls are comfy in their new, big shared bedroom sleeping on camping cots (thank you, Holly & Jon!). Unbelievely, Miri has actually been sleeping through the night better than before! There is something about the coziness of a sleeping bag....

Halloween!

It was not easy to work in the fun things about Halloween, because we have too much happening for the move. But we did it, even if it was fast & furious.

We carved pumpkins one night.

Looking pretty good!

Miri was a self-titled "HyperBat". Here she was at school, practicing her wing-flapping.

Aleaha wanted to be a Vampire-Witch, with scary face paint. We must have done it up right, because at one of the houses we visited that night, a little girl helping answer the door started crying in fright. Uh-Oh!! We didn't mean to be that scary! (And yes, I think it's much more adorable when little kids dress up in charming outfits, like Little Bo Peep or Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. But this is what the girls wanted, and I didn't have the energy, time, or creativity to do otherwise. We downscoped our objectives -- dressed up, got candy, had fun. There ya go!)

Lately...

Cute pic of Miri and best pal Nicholas at school.

Purrl the kitty has discovered the barn. She also learned that Spiffy the dog goes in there. Hence the look on her face.

We are gearing up to move and put our house on the market. So Aleaha was helping spruce up the bathroom with a new coat of paint. Wow, what an improvement! 

A couple of cutie-pies.

Making Applesauce

A project of homemade applesauce has been on our summer-fun-to-do list for many weeks, and we finally made it happen. We picked the apples from the trees in the back yard, quartered them, and got them cooking. Convinced we would have gobs and gobs, it cooked down a lot and provided just 5 pint jars. Dang - those will be eaten up fast! Maybe we can make more sometime soon. It was fun and has a tasty, heathy outcome.

Aleaha was so pleased with our project that she insisted on wearing her apron the rest of the day, including for our errands to Bimart and the grocery store. :) (Thanks again to Aunt Jeannie for the darling apron - the apple theme is spot on!!)

Sisters

Showing off their new pajamas while making breakfast one recent morning.

Field Trip to Marys Peak

Aleaha's school made the annual trek up Marys Peak. Mommy volunteered as a driver and chaperone. 

We made our way up the trail to the peak of the Peak.

The view was quite smokey, but pretty nonetheless.

She liked the vantage point, but we couldn't actually see to the ocean that day.

Took a short break with friends Addy, Maggie, and Finn.

Late Summer

Gotta enjoy that sunshine while we still can.....

Let'er Buck!

After missing last year's Round-Up, we were all very ready for 2012! It's a pilgrimage of sorts....

Cousins Tyler, Ella, and Hank waiting for the parade.

Miri, Ella, and Aleaha.

"It's coming, it's coming!!"

Cousins Ira, Sam, Tyler, and Hank stand for the parade of Ol' Glory, carried by the beautiful Horse-Indian team from Happy Canyon, Chinook and Bryson Bronson.

Miri loved watching the 102 American flags go by.

The animals were amazing. Here's a 6-up oxen team, which was pulling a tripple wagon. Same team later performs in Happy Canyon, negotiating a very tight turn-around. Hail to the beasts and their trainers!

Daddy spectates from our Friday seats.

It was hot, so we put up Aleaha's mop of hair.

Our Saturday seats are totally rockin'. This was the view, with a bull loaded and awaiting his cowboy. 

The cowboy is mounted and the chute-puller is ready. 

They are out of the chute!

And for a moment, he's still on!

And then suddenly, he's eating a dirt sandwich. Sorry, man.

The bull looked right at us and almost winked.

He had to be encouraged to leave the arena.

Great view for the barrel racing, too.

This shot shows just what distance these horses have to cover. Could barely get all three barrels in the same shot.

Mommy and GrammaBon took all the kids to see Happy Canyon. Aleaha had seen it, but she didn't really remember details. Their favorite part was when the outhouse blew up and the rolls of TP went sky-high and fell into the orchestra pit. They are still laughing about that days later. They also have a rudimentary understanding that the White People were "not very nice" to the Indians, and that was "very sad". They also felt the treatment of the deer and rabbits (who were, uh, expired), was notable.