Where's Waldo?

Many of you remember the classic Halloween picture of our friend Todd (who was Waldo) and Abby...

Abby knew who Waldo was because she'd absconded with some of Grant's childhood "Where's Waldo" books that we'd found in our garage. I figured Abby would never pick that book over, say, Penelope the Princess. Yet again, the girl surprises me. She throws open the Waldo books and says, "Okay, mom. Let me know when you find him. Then, give me a hint!" She never tires of it. "It's on your side" I'll say... and she bends down, getting really close to the page... "Mom! Where?" And usually she looks until she finds him. I expect her to yell "Found him!" the way I used to yell "Yatzee!" but she just silently moves her little finger over the spot where he's hiding with a bright smile on her little lips. Simple pleasures, right?

And speaking of reading, I read this today from Mem Fox, children's author :

Q: What, in your opinion, makes a child fall in love with reading?

A: The same: reading endlessly, many books a day, often the same book over and over again. Don’t just read here or there a couple of times a week. Read my book Reading Magic and it will all fall into place; your child will not fail to learn to read easily and quickly and happily.

We have always read with Abby, multiple times a day. Before she could talk she would be "reading" in her room by herself. But I'm realizing that with Ford I just don't have the time to sit and read to him before every nap, before bed, during the day... so this is my new motivation. To make time, everyday, to read with them both. Amen.

471. dodging the bullet, so far, of sickness
472. giving away little girl things
473. our washing machine. how did they live without them?

Groundhog Day

Many days I wake up and feel like it's Groundhog Day. Well, it was Groundhog Day last week but that's not what I mean. Have you seen the movie? The same thing starts every morning when the alarm clock goes off. A complete repeat of the day before.

 Our version goes like this, sans Bill Murray. Abby comes running in (ever earlier, every morning, it seems) and snuggles (is very loud) for about half an hour. Then Fordy comes to bed for a bit and three of us get up, leaving Grant to get some shut eye since he was surely the one who got up three times to cover the dog with a blanket during the night. No kidding.

 About this time, I wish I was a coffee drinker simply because something, anything to get me motivated to make one of three breakfasts that we always make is sorely needed. Then that passes, I wake up and off we go. Pancakes/oatmeal/fruit/waffles/eggs in some order or another gets rolling. And now, we have sweet Fordy to think about. Yet another milk to buy (goat) and butter spread for yet another kind of gluten free waffle. And that's just the beginning.

 After breakfast, we all get dressed (which takes 30 minutes, 45 if you count combing Abby's hair). Inevitably, Fordy needs another diaper change as we're heading out the door to walk Red, which we need to do before Fordy's first nap -- which is always a race against the clock. Lately, he's falling asleep in the stoller toward the end and then getting them both inside, getting Ford down, keeping Abby quiet for a spell....

 When he wakes up, we usually run an errand, (deviating from Trader Joes/Ralphs/Whole Foods/Target in this hour is a real treat) are home for lunch and then play in the front yard (a little vitamin d for us all) before naps for both kids at 2ish. From here, my day gets really exciting. Shower time! That is, if I'm not cleaning something first. Or checking email. Or making a phone call. Then, showering usually waits (sorry if you stop by in this time frame...not pretty!). Ford wakes up after an hour, we play till Abby wakes up and it's almost time to start dinner at 5pm.

 Groundhog day?! Yes!

 There are moments of fun, comedy, insanity and thoughts of going to Bora Bora by myself all mixed in there. And good moments. And bad moments. And lots and lots of teaching moments, which I pray I am worthy of taking on. And I love my days, I really do.

 But once in awhile, something happens. Something magical. Something new. Today, it was the harmonica. She's had it for a year or so.... and suddenly, she gets it. Take a listen.

Our girl has been rewatching a video that her Grandmama gave her with a bunch of babies making music. It's her new favorite. And now, she can join in.

468. the perfectly high shelf for the paper cutter
469. filtered water at the sink
470. bamboo

Christmas Everyday

Today we took down our Christmas cards. Our family room is much less cheery and colorful! Boo! But instead of putting the pictures in a bag (that Abby actually likes to go through every now and again...) we decided to punch holes in them and stick 'em on a ring and voila! Instant coffee table book thing. :) Before you go thinking I'm clever, I saw it on Pinterest. It's pretty much the only reason I have any good ideas these days... just don't ask what I'm doing to do with old stuffed animals (we have a graveyard of them in the play room we have so many laying around). That's a post for another day! 

Here's our final product :

So now you know that we'll be enjoying your family and the pictures you sent all the year through. Abby especially.

Book of the week : Pride and Prejudice for kids. Amazing! Abby always wants to be Lizzie. "And you, Mom, you can be Mr. Darcy." She has no idea what a compliment that is!

565. a shower and extra time to cut/paste/stuff
566. a quite phone call
567. realizing opportunity when it knocks

Happy Hour

"Happy Hour" is usually not so very happy at our house. Fordy has had it being in his exercauser by then, I'm knee-deep in dinner and Abby has recently woken up, usually, from a late nap and isn't in the best mood. Tonight, sissy's hat livened up Ford's time...

And these? Cuties! Always juices up Abby's post-nap stupor. And she calls 'em "sweeties". If she asks for one, now you know.

And right about that time, mom and dad need a drink. Happy hour, it is!

562. Swinging, swinging and swinging

563. A successful drop off at bsf this week

564. Spontaneous pizza

Winter Warm

As we prepare for our almost 80 degree week ahead, Abby still loves to hug Frosty every day on our walk. He's positioned just up the hill from us and without fail, he gets some love. Isn't it time to start decorating for Valentine's Day? Come on, neighbors!

Just a few days ago it was pretty cool here during the day (think 50s! gasp!) and Abby put together some sweet fashion advice for all of you . What you can't see are the Hello Kitty socks and pink sparkly shoes. You can never have too many patterns working for you at once.

Meanwhile, our favorite male under one is now waking up happy and throws his pacifiers on the floor for us to find. While Abby quickly refused them post surgery, Fordy loves the things. We're gonna have a heck of a time getting those away from him once he gets some teeth. I keep picturing my friend's 3 year old who was found, after they took them away, in the middle of the night on the bathroom floor, sucking away in the fetal position. Gotta head this one off at the pass, huh?

559. navigating Abby's mood changes
560. recharging
561. Abby's hope and "it's okay, mom... it'll work out"

On The Move!

Ford is after everything these days. He really just wants to walk and screeches (and I mean, really, really screeches-- Abby's old teradactyl noises have nothing on this ear-piercing guy) whenever he's on his tummy. Here are a few action shots on our especially hard tile floors. Maybe I should look into those baby knee pads!

 Who, me? Love the new "bed head" patch he has, now...

Heading for the outlets...

Some bath toy surely made in China and not good for chewing on...

And closing in on the monitor...

In truth, this boy really wants to stand so I'm praying that he won't be an early walker. Perhaps it's all that avocado he's eating...

Book of the week : The Giving Tree

555. a safe neighborhood to take our daily walks

556. my kindle

557. purple polish

558. gift secrets

New Years Big Girls

Look at this guy! First time in the grocery cart (because his sister wasn't with us hogging the seat, leaving him to ride in the ergo)...

And his latest fascination... eating cups (yes, they are bpa free!)... and Cheerios...

Abby & Ford's cousins, Gab and Liv, came for a visit and we all enjoyed ourselves so much. Have you ever seen cuter twins in all of your life? And Faith! The sweetest dog to ever steal Red's stuffed toy. We love her for it.

Usually when we have company and Abby heads off to swing, I've got one eye on them at all times. Gab and Liv are so responsible, so communicative, so helpful... I sent them off to the swingset together with hardly a second thought. I honestly could've gone and taken a bath. Or flown to Hawaii. And they would've been fine. Every few minutes, we'd glance outside, seeing that they were fine and go right back to gabbing away about something very important (like what we were going to fix for dinner, which is about all I can talk about from 3pm on...).
They had lunch in the top part of the swing set :

Wore themselves out finger painting...

And we even saw some floats up close for the Rose Bowl Parade. This was taken at around 8:30 pm...after a full day with the big girls. Abby was beat.

And this is perhaps one of my new favorite pictures. Abby with her cousins. She's becoming quite the big girl.

551. Abby being old enough to play with the big girls

552. knowing how to pray

553. cry-free nap time

554. the hope of a future out of town trip