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While putting together a puzzle:

Eva: Mama? Do you think I'm a genius?
Mama: Of course I do!
Eva: No. I'm a kitty.

"Now it looks like Christmas in here!"

That's what Eva said when we finished decorating our house this weekend. On Saturday, we had big plans to go visit Santa Claus...BUT I screwed up and misread some information, and we missed him by a weekend. Sad.

So we decided to spend the day picking out our Christmas tree instead. We found the perfect tree, brought it home, and got it all set for decorating. On Saturday night, we surprised Eva with a bedtime drive (in her pajamas, with warm apple cider) to look at Christmas lights. She was particularly impressed by a house that had its lights coordinated with music...and kept asking her daddy why he didn't put lights on our house.

On Sunday, we got up and decorated our tree. And then re-decorated. And re-decorated. And re-decorated some more. I'm pretty sure that will be going on until we put all the decorations away.

For all we did this weekend, this is the only picture I'm going to show you. Because it cracks me up.

I hope you all had fun weekends too!

Customizing

Eva's slowly been adding accessories to Dr. Kitty Peanutbox's kitty play tower. Eva's kitties now enjoy a toilet paper tube slide, a pipe cleaner ladder, and an animal cracker box she got from her grammy. Apparently, this is for hiding in. Also, they sleep in a Silly Putty container.

Happy Friday to you!

PS: Oh! I forgot to tell you! Mike and the other cool cats at Volume One Magazine are attempting a three-hour online telethon today. In his words:

We’ve got five sets, three cameras, zero telethon experience, and three hours to fill.

It will be live today at 1 PM (cst). And it will be awesome. I'm sure of it. Um...entertaining at least. Look, all I know is last night I helped Mike construct a basketball-sized ball of yarn. If that's not a sign of good things to come...

And if any of you out there are Bon Iver fans, a little someone named Justin Vernon will be there. Yes. I'm serious. Volume One KNOWS him and stuff.

Tune in HERE.

Triptych

I: Look! Twins!

II: A very Happy Birthday goes out to our favorite two-year-old! Enjoy your day, Sebastian!

 

III: Aaaaand...drumroll please...

EVA WROTE HER NAME FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME!!! (Please make note of the "Fancy E"--her words--it's my very favorite part.)

 

This is a Big Deal, because she's always resisted writing or coloring or anything requiring her to grip a writing instrument. She'll glue and fingerpaint til the cows come home, but until now did NOT want to hold a pencil, let alone try to hold it the "right way." So excuse me while I do a little proud mama bragging about my genius of a kid who can WRITE HER OWN NAME!!! With a pencil!

I hope the Fancy E sticks around for a very, very long time.

Warms a mama's heart:

Guess which stage we're at...

Daddy joins in the baby wearing:

Big Boy!

This past weekend, we decided to see if Sully has any interest yet in the exersaucer. Boy does he!

However, he's been having to compete for time in it because his sister's decided it's a perfect duck bed.

Sully's Best Friend

We did lots of relaxing...

Father/Daughter TV watching after Thanksgiving dinner:

 

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekends as well! (Also: Happy December!)

A Very Special Message from Two Little Turkeys:

...and now I'm going to take a break from posting for the rest of the week to spend some time with my family. I'll be back here Tuesday! Safe travels and Happy Turkey Day to you all!

A Big Fan of the Bumbo Seat:

Little Houses

Whew! We're smack in the middle of a marathon of weekend trips--we've been out of town for the past three weekends, and we're looking at a bit more traveling with Thanksgiving this week and more family birthdays coming up. Which is a long-winded, fancy way of saying "Buckle up for some lame photo-heavy posts for the next while." You know, because I've otherwise been so wordy lately.

We spent this past weekend with Mike's family so he could join his dad and cousins for the opening weekend of deer hunting. (We came home deer-less for anyone wondering...which is pretty ok by me. Awww...Bambi.)

While they were all out playing in the woods, Mike's mom and I entertained the young-uns at home. And this year I brought all the makings for miniature "gingerbread" houses. I laid out packages of graham crackers, a couple scoops of good decorating candy from the bulk bins at our grocery store, and a big tub of simple buttercream frosting, and the girls went to town creating the coziest (and sweetest) little houses you've ever seen.

Of course, my kid adopted a "one for my house, one for my mouth" candy technique (she's got her mama's sweet tooth, I'm afraid) which I had to reign in more than once. At one point, she pulled the bucket of frosting over to her chin, and I caught her just AFTER she scooped a heaping (butter)knife-full of frosting into her mouth. ...Kids. I would have at least used a cracker to scoop with.

Want to see the final products? Great!

(Notice the matching jammies? Total coincidence! Also: notice my kid coveting her cousin's frosting.)

(Eva also had a thing for the sprinkles--that's a half of a bottle of red sprinkles around her house. Apparently, it's grass.)

Oh My.

Suddenly, we have a four-month-old. Anyone else totally blindsided by that fact? Seriously, how have four months already passed since we first met our little man? That's only two months shy of half a year!

Last month:

Yesterday:

 

As you can see, little Sully's a character. We're constantly amazed at what a happy little guy he is. He charms everyone he meets with that big, gummy, open mouth grin. This month held a lot of firsts for the the Sully-Man--first laugh, first roll...and his first cold, which is still hanging on a bit. Not that that's stopped him smiling all the time, everyday.

The stats:
16lbs 9oz heavy
26 3/4 inches long

Have a great weekend, everyone! We're headed up to Mike's parents' house for the weekend so Mike can go do hunterly stuff in the woods. I'll be back here Tuesday.

Sorry.

Not much to share today...this week is sort of getting away from me. (Ha. What else is new?) Anyway, to distract you from the fact that I have nothing interesting to say, I offer you a poor-quality picture of my kid in his new teddy bear coat (Thanks Grammy!)