Golden Thanksgiving

We had a very pleasant Thanksgiving holiday. We had my cousin, who is in his first year at Harvard Law, and the family from our old apartment (the one that had the fire) over for a casual but plentiful meal.  The boys and I found some sticks at the park to make a Thanksgiving tree where we could hang the things we are grateful for to decorate the table.  We substituted chicken breast for the obligatory turkey and survived.  (Actually, no one could tell the difference.)  And the weather was amazing.  I feel sometimes that all I talk about on this blog--besides the children--are trash day finds and the weather.  But those concerns pretty much sum up our lives! The day was deliciously warm (if mid 60s counts as warm) and the light was as golden as we could wish for but sadly I only got one good picture.  The snot running down Edward's nose is so constant these days that I do not even notice it anymore until after the fact. 

Grown-up funny of the week
Rachel:  Collin?  Collin . . . And here I thought I had married such a listening man.

Collin:  Oh, I used to listen.  Back when we were dating.  It just ran out.

Our Weekly Summary

Davy getting out of going to bed for a few minutes so he could talk to Grandma.  Here he was saying, "Grandma, do you see me standing on one leg like a flamingo?"  

I hesitate putting this out there, because people will think we're even more destitute and weird than we really are . . . We are about to transition the boys to a bunk bed (of sorts--the lowest one I could find was from IKEA where the bottom is literally on the ground, so the top is only about three feet up.  Eddy will be on the lower bunk so rolling won't be an issue for him, and I wanted a low mattress for Davy so there would be a ledge around him to prevent his rolling as well).  I was in the market for a memory-foam type mattress, but the toilet fiasco a few weeks ago made it hard for me to think of spending that kind of money.  I spotted a remarkably clean and smell-free futon on trash day, and figured that even though it was too big I should be able to cut off what I didn't need.  Collin thought I was crazy, as I'm sure most of ya'll do.  But it was actually really fun finding out what is in a futon!  It's one gigantic, multi-layered sandwich of alternating foam and heavy-duty batting.  Just in case you were curious.  My awesome scissors cut the stuffing and then I sewed up the side and voila, a twin mattress that will be flat enough for Davy to be safe from rolling and comfy enough to sleep on.  So that was was our DIY crazy craft project for the week, but probably one that won't go viral on Pinterest!

And some quick cutie shots of the boys from a spontaneous photo session.  I finally, after several tries, have found a good place in our house to create a make-shift "studio."  Right in front of our fireplace is the perfect place to hang a background sheet and get access to enough light from the windows (but only between the hour of 2:00 to 3:00 (at least in the winter)) to get some decent pictures inside.  I was in such a hurry to get the light before it left that I grabbed the top sheet off our bed without ironing it.  And I didn't realize until half way through that Edward was in the same sweater as the other "one year pictures," had a big ole' bruise on his cheek and hadn't had his face washed after lunch . . .  Ah, well.  Regardless, here are a few keepers:

Creative Spurt

Recently I've gone through a spurt of creativity.  I go through these periods sometimes, usually when the rest of my real life (being a mom and wife, a student, a Primary secretary, etc.) is crazy enough to make me want to procrastinate the things I should be doing with other things that I just want to do.  I have been sewing some things (like Christmas presents that I can't display up here right now), taking pictures (ditto about the secret present thing), rearranging furniture, and other projects that are fun but not essential! 

I had been looking all around Craig's List and children's consignment for stroller blankets.  The cost--even used--was astronomical and the design was flawed (at least to fit our stroller).  So finally I just decided to make custom blankets out of some fleece I found on sale.  I used some old blankets from around the house that had seen better days but were still functional for the "filling."  The blankets are really warm and spacious, with four layers over the boys knees and perfectly suited to our jogger.  I even added a wind and sun breaker as an afterthought.  The total cost:  $15. 

One of our favorite projects was family art for our bathroom.  I found four canvases on trash day that had ugly pictures already painted on them.  I used white spray paint to cover the existing picture then got acrylic paints that matched the colors in our shower curtain.  We did one big combined family canvas, then Collin, Davy, and I created individual masterpieces.  Total cost:  $2.50.

 

 

Stoneham Zoo

 

This week was GORGEOUS!  We had the most lovely weather and tried to take full advantage of it.  Luckily our friends invited us to go with them to the Stoneham Zoo for one morning.  So perfect.  It's a small zoo with mostly local critters.  We especially loved the otter, the porcupines, the bats.  

 

to be determined . . .

Returning a door draft-stopper at Home Depot. Collin is pushing Davy and Eddy in the shopping cart -- Eddy up front, Davy hanging on the side.

Nice HD Worker: Hi! Would you like to return something today?

Collin: Yes, but just one of them (pointing to the boys).

Nice HD Worker: Well, okay. But they're going to ring up as "priceless."

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Prayer Time with Davy

Davy: Heavenly Father, we thank thee that we could have family time tonight. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Collin: (prodding) Please bless . . . ?

Davy: No, I said amen!

Collin: (still prodding) Please bless Aunt Camilla on her mission . . . ?

Davy: Please bless Aunt Katy . . . . Umm . . . what does Aunt Katy do?

Collin: She goes to school.

Davy: Please bless Aunt Katy that she will get safely home from school. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Playing in the Leaves

Nothin' much happened this week.  We played outside when we could, went to the library, moved furniture around, watched cousin Maddie, didn't make any real dinners, hosted playgroup, danced and sang at Kindermusik, made lots of messes, cleaned up lots of messes, sang silly made-up songs around the house, bought a $10 tent and an $8 lamp from the thrift store, found a free desk on trash day, walked, watched some Bollywood (well, Mom did in her "time off").  Just the usual. The best part of the week for the boys was the crunchy leaves and the remnants of icy snow in our driveway.

Saturday we had family movie night to mixed success.  The popcorn and candy corn kept the boys there for as long and the supplies remained, but the movie did not keep their attention.  I think part of it was the fact that neither had had a nap and we had been going hard all day doing Saturday things.  We won't blame it on the movie.  We'll try Sound of Music again! I for one was entranced by the movie.  It had been a long time since I'd seen it and in my mind it had become trite and snap-shot-ish.   I'd forgotten how truly gorgeous and iconic a movie it is.  Anyway, perhaps our kids will have to be exposed a little more to real movies before family movie night lasts longer than a bowl of popcorn.