Happy Thanksgiving Chowie Bwown.

Well it's a few weeks late (like everything I attempt to get done these days!  I have even slowed down at work.  But that's neither here nor there.), but here are the photos from our great Thanksgiving.  This was the first time in a long time that we haven't traveled for a holiday, and it was SO NICE!  Of course the upside of traveling is that you get to see everyone together, all at once, and we do love visiting Maine and Memphis to see all the people we wish we saw more.  BUT.  Traveling with babies is such.  A.  Pain.  For us any excitement for the trip itself always ends up getting overshadowed by the painful logistics of fitting 4 people in a 9 foot space for 4 hours.  I gaze at the childless with longing when I am at the airport.  They have their nifty little roller suitcases, "Nothing to check, thanks!".  They get to read Us magazines and eat a breakfast sandwich on the plane without having to give the eggs to a certain toddler who demands all of the eggies.  We, on the otherhand have a stroller, diaper bag, book bag, computer bag, 2 carseats, 1 carseat base, a portacrib and always at least one giant suitcase to check.  Both girls do the very best they can with traveling, but frankly, ladies, mommy and daddy need you to do better.  Either that or we're going to have to start drinking on the long flights, and we don't really want to be "that family," do we?  Hmm.  Maybe we do.  It's not like we ever drive from the airport....we'll talk about this later.  This is supposed to be a post about Thanksgiving. 

The point of my rambling (this time) is that it was so so wonderful to be able to stay home this year, and it's so nice to know we'll be at home for Christmas, too!  The real upside is that we are taking trips to Maine and Memphis in January and February, after the holiday rush, and on a much more relaxed schedule.  We're also hoping to get to Indiana in the spring, so we'll see everyone soon anyway. 

So Mimi and Gaki Mike came to visit for Thanksgiving this year and we had such a nice time!  We had enough food for an army, and since Lucy woke us all up at 4:30am every day that week, we had plenty of time to eat it.  I myself gained 4 pounds, even though I jogged 4-5 miles per day all week.  It was the puppy chow.  Always the damned puppy chow.  Just like Halloween, Maddie really "got it" this year, and just like Halloween, this was so much more fun than any Thanksgiving I can remember.  She loved all of the cooking and activity, and of course all of the company.  We have a whole separate post of pre-Christmas pictures, we got the tree right up the day after Thanksgiving, but I know I won't get to that tonight.  I do love the blogging because it really makes me stop and take pictures, something I've never been good at.  We had a yummy menu that had NO STUFFING and NO SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE.  Sorry dad. 

Lucy on Thursday morning, enjoying her bottle while the rest of us look on with bleary eyes, begging her to explain why we have to be up so early.

Maddie enjoys her morning baba with Mimi. 

The other day Maddie looked right at me and told me "Tomowow I can have both Gwammies".  This kid loves a grandmother.

Maddie shows Mimi how to make the green beans, bright and early on Thanksgiving day. 

Dad worked hard all day, keeping us up to date on the latest changes in mountain lion migration and Republican ideology.  (I couldn't resist.  The Republican joke was for Grandma and Polly!)

Let's just STOP all this cooking and make some necklaces on the kitchen floor, ok Mimi?

Maddie LOVES Charlie Brown this year!  She keeps quoting Peppermint Patty lines.  We of course love him too, so we're excited about this.  And yes, she refers to him as "Chowie Bwown," hence the title of the post.

Food beginning to accumulate.  Please see the two very large trays of puppy chow and peanut butter haystacks to the right.  I wish I could say I'm not already counting the days until I can make them again for Christmas, but I don't want to lie on the blog.  Just like I don't want to drink on planes with my kids. 

This one was a little blurry, but Lucy was having such a good time playing with Maddie's new brownie set that I had to put this in!  She looks so skinny in this pic, but I always think of her as being such a chub!

A mid-morning dance party with Dad.  Nothing unusual for our house!

Break it down, Maddie.

Maddie helping dad cook during the "final countdown".  Our delicious meal included turkey, garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, brussels sprouts, corn pudding, hot rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole.  For appetizers and snacks we had peanut butter haystacks, puppy chow, homemade chex mix, yummy fish dips from Whole foods and crackers, tortilla chips with white queso (thanks Karyn!), and I swear a few other things I can no longer recall.  For dessert we had two pecan pies, Boston cream cake, pumpkin cheesecake, apple crisp, and somehow a big cupcake with a turkey on it ended up in there.  It was an amazing meal!

My sweet Lucy wakes up from her nap.  She was such a good girl for her first Thanksgiving.

Karyn loads up.

Ugh, chintzy plastic table cloth.  I sort of forgot about that detail.  It was a gametime decision at Safeway...white plastic or nothing!  We went with white plastic.  Also please note this is the only time during Thanksgiving that Maddie sat at the table--she was just NOT interested.  She did sit right down on the couch and watch Yo Gabba Gabba without making a big fuss.  She had the bowl of chex mix to entertain her.

The last few dishes still weren't on the table yet!

Lucy just loves a crowd to watch.  She sat at the table in her little high chair for over an hour.  Luke and I got to eat the whole meal, uninterrupted, at the SAME TIME!  A holiday first since we had kids.  Lucy just watched everyone and at her puffs, and gave out a good yell every now and again.  She really was a doll.

Adam, Karyn, and Dad.

Obviously my hair is having some sort of "situation", here, but this is a photo of all 4 of us and neither of the girls are crying so I thought I had better put it in.  Even though I stare after those people without kids at the airport, I wouldn't trade with them for a minute (well, except for at the airport.  I just can't lie about it.)!  We are so thankful to have our funny, sweet girls, our health, and our family!  We had so much to be grateful for this year, and we hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as we did!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I meant to have this video be a part of a larger Thanksgiving post, and I posted it to be sure the video was working, and it looks like now it is up for good because I can't figure out how to unpost it until I have time to add the rest.  We had a great day yesterday, both girls were really good so Luke and I actually got to eat dinner and relax *a little*.  I have about a million pictures to post, but for now I think this video says it all! 

Peas in a Pod

Well, we have had a pretty exciting week.  When you have your kids really close together in age, people who have done the same always tell you the same thing..."It's really hard at first, and then it will get better, because they will play together and entertain eachother."  This mythical, magical event was supposed to happen at some vaguely-described point in the future, "sometime after the baby is one".  These wisened parents usually start dangling this great event in front of you because they can see that you are exhausted, and poorly-washed.  They want to make you feel better, because they know first-hand that you are just barely hanging on.  For those of you who haven't experienced the joy of trying to keep a 2 year old happy and *quiet* while you are trying to put a 3 month old down for a nap when you've been up since 4:30am, well, let me tell you, it is...challenging.  So when someone tells you about how things are going to get better, even if 1 year from now seems like it might as well be 10 years, you hang on every.  Single.  Word. 

Luke and I are happy, no ECSTATIC, to report that our time is...now!  That's right, four months early!  Lucy and Maddie have been steadily more and more interested in each other in the past few weeks, but just this week they have become pretty much inseparable.  None of this is actually voluntary on the Moose's part, being as how she's immobile and all, but she looks pret-ty happy when we put Maddie in her crib with her to play.  Maddie insists on waking Lucy up from her nap, then they play in her crib with stuffed animals for...AT LEAST A HALF AN HOUR!  Do you know what this means?  It means they are contained.  And entertained.  Your average mother of small kids can accomplish the following in 30 minutes: Get dressed, wash face, brush teeth, make 2 beds, clean a bathroom, put away 2 loads of laundry, and gulp down 1/2 cup of coffee before you forget about it and it gets too cold to drink.  Yes, you heard me right.  Not only am I now making beds, I'm also brushing my teeth.  Things are looking up, people.

They hang out on the floor and play with blocks, they're taking a bath together at night, eating together (Maddie eats, while I surreptitiously sneak babyfood into Lucy's mouth, while Lucy stares longingly at Maddie's big girl food), everything!  If I were the kind of mother who would let her 8 month old watch TV now and again (and I AM), I would even admit that they watch the odd sketch from Sesame Street together.  Lucy has started to practice laughing, she makes this forced, cough-like "aHA, aHAHAHA." whenever Maddie is around, so Maddie starts to immitate Lucy, which just makes Lucy do it more.  Luke and I are loving this not just because it really does make our lives a little easier, but also because it's just so fun to watch!   So here are some photos of the girls together this week.

Lucy laughs at Maddie ALL day long.  She is endlessly amused by her, which Maddie finds to be...endlessly amusing.

They sit there just like this FOREVER.

Lucy has seemed so happy this week, like she's finally "in" with the cool kid:)

Yes, I do let my kids chew on Tylenol bottles.  Find me a better teether and I'll happily stop. 

You can see in these how Lucy is always watching Maddie.  Maddie has always loved an audience, so this detail is working particularly well for her.

I love seeing her so happy when she is playing with Maddie!

Maddie being a ham.

Bedtime has become so much easier, now that we can give them a bath together.  The whole process takes a little longer for Maddie, making her night go much more smoothly from event to event (i.e. "dinner, bath, computer with Luke, books, bed"), and making the hardest part of our day (we are all so tired by the time we get to bedtime!) so much more fun.  They are ADORABLE in the bath together.  Lucy just LOVES it, she laughs at Maddie when she splashes and then tries to do it, too.  She also enjoys putting her face in the water. The yellow shovel is her favorite.

I mean, really.  I have secretly been waiting for what feels like FOREVER to get some cute bathtub shots of them together.  I don't know what it is, but Lucy seems to be on more equal footing with Maddie when they are in the tub.  Maddie is great about sharing with her, and Lucy just has this look on her face like, "Yeah, we're just here.  You know.  Hanging out in the tub.  Like big kids." 

So that is our week, a really exciting one for us!  Probably the next post will be about how they've started arguing now that they are spending all of this time together:)

Twick or tweet!

Here it is!  The long-awaited Halloween post.  I have a multitude of excuses as to why this post is so late, but I think most of the blame goes to that most frustrating institution I curse every fall...Daylight Savings Time.  WHO is in charge of such things and WHEN will the madness stop?  There has to be someone I can contact about this.  Lucy wakes up at 5:30am on a good day.  We can count on her waking up at 4:30am at least once or twice a week.  Maddie is sometimes good to "sleep in" until about 6:30, but she's a 5:30 girl herself sometimes, usually on the days Lucy sleeps in until 6.  That's right, it's a pretty sweet set up we have at the Poppish house.  I don't want to make you jealous or anything, but one day a week we each get to sleep in until 7am. 

Anyways, this year Luke and I waited for the time change like we were waiting for a bomb to drop.  We switched the girls' bedrooms Halloween weekend (more on this fascinating little tidbit later, wait for it!), so Lucy was already having a tough time adjusting to the room switch.  Maddie breezed right through the whole transition...until the time change.  That's when it all fell apart.  Sunday morning Lucy woke up at 4:30am, which was really 3:30am...and Maddie, who had been sleeping late since moving into her big girl bed, was right behind her an hour later.  Neither one of them slept until a reasonable hour until Friday morning, when Lucy made it until 6am.  Anyways, I felt like I spent the whole tortured, napless weekend exchanging knowing looks with other parents who were out and about with their own whiny, overtired kids.  Ok, I guess that is the end of my rant.  I just wanted to make sure that the girls are able to look back and see how we suffered.  When is the age where we can sleep in and they can get up by themselves, pour a bowl of Honey Comb cereal, and watch the Smurfs?  Is that coming soon?

OKAY.  So.  Halloween.  It was so great!  It was the first holiday we've had where Maddie really "got it".  She was a riot.  Sue came to visit and help out that weekend, so we were able to take Maddie shopping and let her pick out her costume, and she was so not interested in this.  She didn't really get the whole concept until we were out trick or treating.  Since she is always talking about being a "bootiful pwincess," this is what we opted for.  So, here are the photos of Maddie's big night.

Luke is, for some unknown reason, is firmly opposed to the dressing up of unsuspecting, defenseless babies.  It goes something like, "When she can tell me what she wants to be, she can dress up."  Now, if I really wanted to dress Lucy up, I'm sure I could get past him.  But the thing is, I'm pretty lazy about this stuff, so I just go along with it, roll my eyes at him like it frustrates me, and walk away with my image as "detail-oriented and never lazy mother" fully intact.  Anyways, this will be Moosie's last appearance in this post.  She did pull a super-scary move of her own and projectile vomit all over Grammy while we were out trick or treating with Maddie.  Grammy had to go and answer the door for some kids right after the big event, and we have to tell you, we think the vomit-effect was pretty scary for them.  Way to go Lucy!

Here is a picture of Maddie in the pretty dress Grammy brought her to have her picture taken in.  It's not very Halloween-y, but she looks so pretty I just couldn't leave it out!

Aunt Karyn had to dress up for work at Table 6 that day, and she went super-original and dressed up as a black cat.  Let me put it to you this way.  I'm pretty sure Aunt Karyn made some good tips that day at brunch.  She did what any good Auntie would, and came to go trick-or-treating with us, determined to score Maddie some extra candy, and confident that her cat costume would do the trick.

Meeeeooooow, Aunt Karyn! 

Sue altered Maddie's little costume so it fit her perfectly!  She looked so, so, SO sweet. 

"Daddy, I da pwincess."

She was so excited about her Yo Gabba Gabba candy  bag.  We watched the Yo Gabba Halloween episode, oh, 287 THOUSAND times in the weeks before the big night.

Grammy and Maddie, before Grammy got spooked by Lucy's puking moves.

Pretty Maddie on the front porch, right before our neighbor Mary came out to give her her first candy.  I have no idea whose scantily-clad legs are there behind my sweet, innocent child.

In the car on the way to go trick or treating.  She was SO excited.  It was starting to get dark, and she could not figure out why we were going somewhere instead of going to bed.

As usual, Karyn threw a temper tantrum about being in the back seat.  Get over it, Karyn.  I'm older.  Forever. 

I wish I could explain how amazingly cute she was on the whole trick-or-treating trip.  She was SO happy and blown away by the whole thing.

Maddie, Luke, and Aunt Karyn hit the streets.

Maddie always looks so big to me, first because she just is really tall for her age, but also because she looks big compared to Lucy.  On Halloween night she looked tiny to me.  She was just prancing around in her dress, with candy bag that was as big as she was, with that little midget voice of hers.  It was so great.

Heading up for some candy.

She kept trying to go inside everyone's house.  Like, they would open the door, "Oh, hello little princess" etc. etc., and she's waving the candy bowl out of the way, pushing past them to get in the living room. 

Aunt Karyn working hard to make sure my baby gets that extra Milky Way.

Just before we finished for the night.

Maddie's favorite pumpkin of the night.

What?  Oh my.  Who IS this dark angel? 

Oh, she's a clever minx, this one. 

Careful, Karyn.  This is a family blog.

Maddie was still walking around in her little crown the next night.  Cute as can be in her Halloween jammies.

Happy belated Halloween everyone!  We hope you all had as much fun as we did, and that Daylight Savings Time was easier on you than it was on us!