Kateri on Santa

A little conversation with Kateri.

We need Joe!

Sometimes I like to sneak up on my kids when they are playing...I thought Audrey and Kateri singing the "Come Back Joe Bird" theme song was pretty funny.

Audrey on belief systems

Our conversation in the car last night while listening to Christmas carols on the radio:

Audrey: "Mom, what does 'merry' mean?"

Me: "It means 'happy'."

Lili chimes in: "Yeah, and some people say 'Happy Holidays' because they believe in different things than us."

Audrey (dryly): "Yeah, and some people believe in unicorns."

Lately

we've had a lot of deliveries. Usually the UPS man comes after Audrey gets home from school, but before Lili does. After I empty the box (and hide its contents) this is invariably the sight I find...Audrey and Kateri squished in it together "decorating" it with crayons. The smaller boxes make me laugh...

A great gift for a toddler...

Yesterday, this arrived in the mail with Nanny's voice recorded on it. Kateri has listened to it approximately 37 times since then. Good thing you have such a lovely voice, Nanny...otherwise I might have to invest in some earplugs. I thought to myself, "Maybe Kateri will memorize some of the poem," only to walk past her happily snuggled on the couch with the book and hear her giggle and repeat in her toddler accent: "To record, move switch to unlock position" (which is what the book says when you press the button on the bottom.) Thanks, Nanny and Papa!

Too much Food Network...

So...Christmas is coming up, and I guess I've been overindulging on the Martha Stewart Show and the cooking channel...I was making some pizza crusts ahead of time for a visit from some of the Dallas Birds, and I gave both Audrey and Kateri some dough to keep them busy. I was concentrating on my own task when I realized there were two separate but different monologues coming from either side of me...so of course I grabbed my camera and consequently over-cooked one of the crusts. "Shoot," I said, "I think this is a little more than par-baked." Audrey replied, "Don't worry, Mom. Aunt Katie's coming. She'll fix it. She knows a lot about pizza."

Happy St. Nicholas' Day!

We put our tree up last weekend. Kateri redeemed herself for last year's bungling of the Speier family tree-topping ceremony.

Do you want to know why Luke looks so happy? Okay, I'll tell you. It's because he once again used his arsenal of luck, determination, and Jedi mind tricks to get a ridiculously good deal. This time it was for our tree. Also, I was convinced it was too tall for our house, and he was convinced it would fit. It fits, as you see, but our poor little Angel is going to have a serious crick in her neck after having her head jammed up against the ceiling for the next three weeks.

The girls left their shoes outside for St. Nicholas last night...

...and found some surprises in them this morning: chocoalte coins and ornaments!

Happy St. Nicholas' Day!

Audrey my animal lover...

Yesterday we drove out to Mesa for brunch with Nona and some friends who happen to have a big beautiful property with horses and dogs. I think Audrey thought she had died and gone to heaven.

Lili was pretty happy, too.

What little girl doesn't love horses, right?

It was a treat for everyone, but Audrey especially. She has always had an affinity for animals. Lili loves them too, but Lili has always been first and foremost a baby lover. If there is a baby in the vicinity, then chances are she will try to steal it from its parents. If that fails and she can't actually hold said baby, she will violate the baby's personal space by talking/bouncing as close to the baby as she can while the parents slowly inch backwards.

Audrey is similarly obsessed whenever there is an animal nearby. So she was in heaven on Sunday.

There was only one moment when her gigantic smile faded: Lili, being older and more capable, got to use a bridle and ride without an adult leading the horse. When Audrey saw this, her face dropped and she walked slowly back to a corner to quietly wrestle with some jealous tears... sometimes it's hard being the younger sister.

Anyway, the experience made me think back on how Audrey has always loved animals so much, even as a baby when she had such a strong bond to our dear departed Sam.

She used to crawl over to him and use him to pull to stand.

I'm sure her little fingers pinched, but he always patiently stood firm.

Oh, Sam...there will never be another dog like you...

but I better stop digressing before I start weeping uncontrollably.

I love the fact that Audrey is a born animal lover. Hopefully we can have animals as part of our family again sometime in the future, but for now, we'll just have to enjoy moments like these as they come.

Contrary to popular belief

Disneyland is NOT the happiest place on earth. Rose's Donuts (Or as Kateri now calls it; "Rosary Donuts") isn't either...although it has got to be in the top ten.

It's the beach!!!!

I've said it before and I'll say it again...we love the beach!

Atlantic, Pacific, we could stay here forever.

Especially when there are Aunts and Uncles and Cousins to play with.

Till next time...

Grandpa's Wedding

We all ventured out to California to celebrate Grandpa's nuptials. It was great to see the Speier clan again...

...the highlights included playing with cousins and beating up on poor Uncle Justin.

It was so nice getting to catch up with the Speier side of the family; we really don't get to see enough of them.

We were so happy we were able to be there and wish Grandpa and Katie well on their wedding day!

What we're reading:

Because I forget about books like I forget about Baby milestones, I am going to start posting the girls' current favorites.

Lili: The Enchanted Forest Chronicles and D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths I am SO happy she is loving D'Aulaires. This book was a favorite of mine and my brothers' and I think that it is so helpful for anyone pursuing an education with an emphasis on the classics. I must admit, however, that her butchering of the pronunciation of all the Greek names is hilarious.

Audrey: The Princess and the Goblin. C.S. Lewis is one of my top favorite authors, and he gives George MacDonald a lot of credit for his influence. I am reading this for the first time as we read it together, but Audrey loves it and always is begging for an extra chapter. Some of the chapters are very easy for her to follow, but others need a good bit of paraphrasing and explanation. Lili has been eavesdropping on us with interest on more than one occasion, so maybe she'll read it next.

Kateri : Where the Wild things Are. I guess Kateri's posts are not going to be too interesting, since she just loves reading the same books over and over again, but that is a two year old for you.

Our Halloween in Wonderland

We had an Alice in Wonderland Halloween this year...it was a blast. If you want to see more photos, check out this adorable post from my lovely and talented friend Emily.

All Saints' Day Preview

Audrey and Lili are gearing up for their school's All Saints' Day presentation on Friday. Audrey has chosen the Blessed Mother. Here is her dress rehearsal.

New Sleeping Arrangements

A couple of weeks ago we finally got some bunk beds for the girls so we could move Kateri into their room and out of what us attachment-parenting folks call "the family bed." You would have thought it was Christmas morning based on the level of excitement in the house. We had to assemble the bed ourselves, so I forbade the girls to set foot in their room until construction was finished. They wedged themselves in the doorway to watch what turned out to be a long and frustrating process of assembling the bunk bed almost completely, realizing that the instructions were terrible and we had put a crucial piece in wrong, disassembling the beds almost completely, than reassembling them properly. There were a few tense moments in there brought on by the fact that Luke thinks I am just as strong as he is despite the fact that he is twice my size and I have carried three of his Luke-sized babies to term (and then some,) which did not exactly work wonders for the strength of my core muscle groups. Anyway, to make a long story short, I dropped something I was supposed to be holding steady, there was a horrible, ominous splintering sound, Luke contemplated divorcing me, the damage turned out to be negligible, Luke decided he'd keep me around, and the bunk beds were finished! Hooray! The girls are happily squished together in one room now...sort of.

Kateri mainly enjoys pretending to sleep in her new bed.

She spends the first half of the night there before I hear her fat little feet slap-slapping on the tile in the hallway right back to the family bed.

Lili and Audrey, however, couldn't be happier with the new arrangements.

Audrey...

Audrey had a bit of a rocky week in school. She has yet to have actually had her card turned from green, thank goodness, but on Tuesday, she was stripped of the coveted title of "line-leader" after goofing off in Chapel. Under questioning, she confessed to me that she lost the privilege because she "Accidentally put a Rosary on John Paul's head." Right. Then, yesterday, her class received sad faces on their charts. If there is a punishment worse than living with the knowledge that you have made your sweet and saintly kindergarten teacher sad, let me know. Seriously, Mrs. Hundelt is probably the kindest, most patient person I have ever met. True story: when Lili was in kindergarten I once had a terrifying vivid nightmare in which I said the f-word (a word I'm pretty sure I've never said in my life) in front of Mrs. Hundelt. It was awful. I woke up in a cold sweat, completely horrified, telling myself over and over again, "It was just a dream. It didn't really happen."

So anyway, I was a bit frustrated at Audrey for becoming a repeat offender this week, so it did my heart good to find her snuggled up with Kateri on her own initiative. She has actually rocked her little sister to sleep a couple of times. I guess I'll keep her around, repeat offender or not.

Sometimes it's hard to wake up...

Kateri usually needs a little snuggling session on the rocking chair when she wakes up from her nap. It helps her ease back into being fully awake and after a few minutes of rocking she can greet the world with a smile instead of a whine. A couple of days ago she took a late nap and so I was making dinner when she woke up. Audrey saw I had my hands full and volunteered to rock her sister. I was surprised when Kateri accepted her as a substitute and buried her little face in Audrey's neck for a good five minutes.

The little episode of sweet sisterly love made my day.

The Pillar of the Cloud

In honor of Cardinal John Henry Newman's beatification, Lili's third grade teacher had them memorize " The Pillar of the Cloud" as homework. Have I mentioned how much I love her school?

Kateri

Kateri has been getting toddler lessons in Religion from Lili.

Goodbye Summer

Going...

...going...

...gone...

Goodbye to summer! It sure was a great one...

...but the school year is off to a great start. Audrey is already absorbing a lot in Kindergarten. Last night Luke caught her out of bed kneeling in front of her nightlight. Upon questioning, she revealed she was out of bed praying to her nightlight because, "Mrs. Hundelt told me Jesus is the light of the world."

There's just something about their Dad...

...that inspires confidence in my girls. The last two times I have tried to take Kateri on a carousel she has flat our refused and clung to me (or Nanny) as she watched the terrifying horses whirl by. Yet on one afternoon during our Newport trip, she didn't even bat an eye when Luke asked her if she wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel with him. (If you scrutinize the orange car in the picture above, you might glimpse a portion of a tiny blond pigtail sticking up next to Luke.)
Anyway, it reminded me of this summer in Boston, where Audrey was not keen on trying to boogie board until the week Luke came, after which she had no problem face-planting in the gravel every other wave. It makes me wonder whether this is some virtue inherent in his big strong dependable persona. Maybe said persona just overshadows my worrying, neurotic one....

...you know the one that wouldn't let them hang over the rail because when they leaned over I had visions of them toppling off of this pier into the heaving swells below: that neurotic persona. Thank the good Lord I have Luke to balance me out with his confidence. It's just one of the many qualities I am grateful for in my dear husband. When he's with us, we all feel as though the dangers of the world don't really stand a chance.

Plus, he buys us ice cream.

Cousin time

I just wanted to post some more pictures of our time in Newport. The girls loved getting to spend some time with their little cousins.

Viv had a little bit of stranger danger which happily didn't apply to Lili.

Tolton was a little shy, but he warmed up in the end. Audrey and Tolton continue to have a special little affinity for each other which warms my heart, especially when I remember how she used to call him "my big boy" when he was a baby...

...and this little dynamo right here on the right kept us all entertained.

Gianna and Kateri showing off their yellow swimsuits.

We miss you little Winterings!