Eve

The children are nestled all snug in their beds...
And the coffee cake is rising....
And the ham dinner at noon today was delicious....
And the playhouse is all ready for the girls in the morning.

This is by far the most laid back and easy Christmas Eve I remember. Jilli told me several times today that Santa doesn't need to come because we already have Christmas presents under the tree, but she is going to listen very hard for the reindeer on the rooftop.

Snow!

It was supposed to start coming down at 4 today but this was about 1230 and the flakes are swirling still now. This is one of my last working Fridays at home with the girls and we are about to make cookies and build a fire and maybe sing a few rounds of Christmas carols

Mufflers are the new scarf

A good friend of mine knit this scarf for jilli and offered it up for whatever Jilli might use it for...scarf, baby blanket, whatever. Some holidayish book we have been reading has all the characters wearing mufflers so we were all very excited when Jilli embraced her very own.

Home

We returned Saturday evevning from a weeklong trip to Florida that included all grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in seven short days. It was a great trip and both girls loved playing with new toys and fun cousins. I feel like we have finally reached the point where we can make a long car trip without too much trepidation that its going to be all screaming all the time. Rory reached her limit at about 5 on Saturday but we all had, so all little scream in the last hour wasn't too bad.

One of the funny things about the trip is that when I thought about coming home I would picture us pulling up to our new house, calling Josh and Erin to see if they wanted to meet in the driveway and getting back settled in to our old rooms. But we pulled into the new driveway instead and when we walked back in it felt like, maybe, this house is home. Its progress.

Future is so bright...

This year's state fair was all about the shades.

Corn!

A few weeks back we went to our very first ever corn maze. It was incredible. They have a spooky version at night that I have no doubt would have scared my socks off, but we opted for the tamer family-friendly daytime version. Even with three scientists, a lawyer, and four kids who (it goes without saying) are brilliant beyond their years, we never managed to find our way out the exit. We did however find the entrance again and it worked just fine. While there Jeff made up the following song for practice and use by the family band...

I like corn.
















I like corn.

















It grows in fields.....
















On the moon.

Telepathy

What? You can't see all the awesome posts in my head? That's a shame because some of them are BRILLIANT.

Its been a long month. The tally is as follows:

Functional rooms: all of them
Bathrooms with new tile: two
Cabinets delievered for kitchen island: two
Countertops delivered for kitchen island: zero
Boxes remaining in garage: let's say fifteen
Birthday parties planned for almost four year old: one
Hearings in which I was lead counsel: four
Grant applications submitted: one
Overnight guests at new house: eleven
Number of triplets having visited new house: three
YMCAs joined: one
Number of times lost in a corn maze: let's call it three
Pumpkins carved: zero
Visits to state fair: one
Fried items consumed at state fair: not nearly enough
Blog posts to be composed regarding months activities: umm, lots.