In Praise of the Beve

This year, the kids' school decided to have their Christmas program on the feast of the Epiphany, on a Thursday...a school night for us and for my brother the teacher, who nonetheless schlepped his family out to support his nieces as they performed their crucial roles as innkeeper and choir member.
Sweet little Abby sat quietly on my lap for the entire lower school's performance.

We've been so lucky to have Nona and others from Luke's family living in town during our seven years here in Phoenix, but there is just something wonderful about sitting waiting for the show to start and looking up to see my brother and his lovely family walking in. I guess I never really expected to have any of the Birds actually move here. It is such an blessing to know that he is around. So Steve, I may not have started a viral video campaign to get you to move here...but I sure am glad you did.

Christmas Vacation

has come and gone. The kids are back in school, the tree is stripped and bare and lying by the side of our house like the sad, crispy fire hazard that it is. Our mantle will stay the way it is until the 6th. I love the way it looks with a fire crackling away underneath it. It reminds me of how lovely the last couple of weeks were.

Santa did indeed come and eat his cookies and drink his milk, leaving gifts in their place.

There was a lot of this.

And this.

And a good amount of goofiness.

Speaking of goofiness, Luke cleaned out our garage and discovered in the process that Kateri still fits in her old baby sling...and apparently still loves it.

There was a lot of snuggling on the couch and staying in PJs half the day and plenty of time to read and play games together and watch movies without having to worry about homework or carpools or any of that. It was heavenly. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if we could have seen all of our absent family, but it seems like they all had lovely Christmases of their own, and we had a great time with Nona and Travis and Cole, so we are grateful for that.

There was even a snowy adventure at the end, but that needs its own post.

So, we are starting the new year feeling recharged and refreshed and excited for 2011, despite the obscenely large pile of laundry that I am ignoring to type this post.

Happy New Year everyone!

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!