Early Morning Photo Shoot

About the time some of you were finishing up your Christmas shopping, Joseph and I showed up at Picture People for his 18 month portraits. You may ask why I went to take pictures then, since 7:30 is way too early for anything at the mall, most days, but the poor photographers had been there for an hour and a half already and their next appointment was at about 10. We had the studio to ourselves for a fun, relaxed, hour-long session. The only down side? This:


Once he woke up, the pictures were great. This is the 10x13 that's in our hallway, now.


Here's the best of the rest. The funniest part of the whole session was that we got him to throw the ball, I'd roll it back, and he'd catch it and turn to pose for the camera. Only the car was an action shot--all the rest he held until she took the picture.

New Niece

Miss Liliana Reese made her debut by c-section at ~5:30am PST, this morning. She was 7 lb 9 oz and 20.5 inches (thanks for the reminder, Mom--I was half-asleep when you called this morning). The picture is off Craig's cell phone.

Misanthropic Malignancy

I just got back from the elementary school playground, and there are no words to properly express my rage. There were two of us: mothers, each with two children, each with one who was well under the age of two. That wasn't the problem, though. The problem was the pack (for lack of a better word) of 14-16 year-old kids (pretty evenly divided guy/girl) running around the open space next to the playscape, playing some variation on tag. As Joseph and I moved off toward the swings, the teens converged on the playscape climbing over, under and on top of the equipment. Elena was still playing in the rocks beneath them, until their play started to get rough and she came to join us. Then they started throwing rocks. These were not soft lobs, either. I saw at least four of them throwing handfuls of rocks, full force, in all directions. Handfuls of rocks are like buckshot, though--you're bound to hit something. And, indeed, the ricochets kept getting closer and closer to the six of us who had taken refuge at the swings. I was livid. "All of you!" (yes, I shouted, but it's the same shout the police use to quell riots) "No more rocks!" Did this stop them? No. They had the nerve to move to the other side of the play scape and continue on, as if the extra five feet would buffer us from their stupidity. We were trapped on the swings, and Joseph was wiggling to get down. We couldn't even leave because they were between me and the stroller. And thus, I snapped. I didn't threaten, because I had no real authority over them, but I so wanted to use their cell phones to call every one of their mothers and ask why they had lost the basic social manners that my 4-6 year-old nieces and nephews can handle just fine. One of them protested that it was a public park so I couldn't kick them out. Since when has "public" meant "I can do whatever I want and you can't do anything about it," though? And what about me? All I wanted was to let my children play without being scared for their safety. I tolerated the rough play and climbing on top of things, but I draw the line at projectiles. Furious and unable to let my children play anywhere near them, I left. And then the ringleader told me to have a nice day. Please, tell me we're raising our children to be better than this! I do my best, but it's hard not to feel defeated when faced with this sort of thing.

Mackenzie's Special Day

We got to visit Stephen and Cynthia's ward, yesterday, to see Mackenzie's blessing. She was perfectly behaved and took all the attention in stride.

Here is the sweet princess, tired out from all the paparazzi.


I like it when babies get cuddled. It brings all sorts of warm fuzzies.


And, as a bonus, proof that my daughter has learned how to climb trees. This was first I had heard of it, too.

Splashing in Puddles

It rained, the other day, and I let the kids play in the puddles--an important part of every childhood.

elenm

(and Elena typed that last bit all by herself)

Better Shot of the Haircut

So, here it is. Sigh...

Snicker-snack

A new parenting milestone has been reached. Elena got sick of pushing her hair out of her eyes and decided to do something about it. Daddy found her in the bathroom, this morning, cutting chunks from what we will now be forced to call bangs and dropping the pieces in the toilet. I had left the special hair scissors out from trimming my own fringe, the other day, I guess, and she remembered that only the special scissors can be used, but not that only Mommy can use them. I'll get a picture later when It's not rewarding her for her actions.


Photo Update: I know this isn't the best angle to see the full glory of the 'do, but she's sleeping so what can you do?

?!?

Obviously anyone can do this in a language they are intimately familiar with, but what about second or third languages? So, for those of you who know multiple languages, does your brain automatically rearrange the letters of words to make more sense in your less-familiar language, as well?

Camping

Mom called me up, last week, offering a spot at her ward's Mother/Daughter campout, and Elena jumped at the chance.


One of the families in her ward had a large plot of land, so we camped in their yard--just rural enough to feel rustic and primitive (if so desired) but with the house and the barn right there so we didn't feel worried that we'd left the kitchen sink at home. Between the setting and the weather, it was perfect. I cooled off enough to make the fire feel really nice, and we even had fog in the morning. Here, Elena is toasting her very own marshmallow. Maybe it was because it was her second time, maybe it was because the fire was up off the ground, but she seemed braver, this time, and insisted that she do all the marshmallows.


Each of us had our own flashlight, and that meant that we could find the girls anywhere they wandered--they were the only ones old enough to walk with flashlights, but not old enough to use them to light their path. We went to bed a bit late, but that's the fun of camping. Elena started in the same tent as Bridget, but ended up swapping with Gramma.


In the morning we had yummy sausage and farm-fresh scrambled eggs with our pancakes and hot chocolate. Elena, Bridget and Gramma went on a little nature hike while Regan, Tess and I relaxed, munched snacks, and helped pack up.



We had a lot of fun, the girls had a blast together, and Elena and I both got naps that afternoon. What more could you ask for?

Halloween Wrap-up

As a Wednesday, the day started with play group. I toasted my pumpkin seeds before we left, and we had a fun time playing at the playground and sharing seeds with all our friends. Jonathan decided I should be a damsel tied to the tracks (to go with his melodrama villain) and I finished pulling it together just in time to pick up Jonathan at school. We went to my oldest brother, Mike's, house for trick-or-treating. I hadn't realized half their ward would be there, but that was all for the better, because it was fun to get to know people and hang out while we watched the kids. Jonathan quoted Monty Python stuff with one of Michael's friends, and advised them to get candy while they can still get away with it. Elena and Joseph ran around and played with their cousins. I sat back and enjoyed all the fun.


When we went out Tick-or-Treating, Joseph knew immediately what we were doing and sprinted (as fast as his little legs would go) to each house, the tail of his Boots costume wagging behind him. He asked, "Pleeease!" for candy, then dropped it into his bucket, but then cried when we told him he couldn't keep asking for candy at the same house. So, I distracted him by getting him to run after Elena to the next house, where he saw the glimmer of new candy. Elena had no trouble going from one house to another, but suddenly turned shy when she encountered anyone with a candy bowl. The other groups of slightly older and more aggressive children we kept crossing paths with didn't help her case any, either. House after house we went, Joseph saying "oooh" to all the jack-o-lanterns and moaning ghosts, and Elena quietly saying her "Tick-or-Treat" from the back of the mob. After a street and a half, we started to slow down, and headed back to Mike's for snacks and the obligatory candy bag raid. Elena and Joseph both went in the moonbounce, set up in the back yard, but Joseph was tired enough by then that he didn't really like it. It was such a fun evening!

As for this weekend, Elena and are are invited to go on my mom's mother-daughter campout. Elena's really excited that she gets to go camping for my happy birthday, too.