Happy 6th Birthday, Eve!

Down in the wonder world, dear little heads
Drowsily raised themselves up in their beds --

Crocus and daffodil, hyacinth fair,
Stirring and whispering answered, "Who's there?"


Ah, but the calling they could not resist!
Smiling, they wakened, as babes that are kissed,
Stretching their glad little heads to the light,
Broke into blossoms, a wonderful sight.

Birthday cookies, decorated by Eve and Isaiah and distributed to her classmates.

Cupcake ice cream cones

They received the birthday girl seal of approval.

Eve with a present from Grandma and Grandpa Kluge: a spectacular pop-up book about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Books + a big fluffy bunny chair = one happy little girl.

Isaiah-isms

So, I didn't mean to let the blog lie fallow for a month there, but... oh never mind. Allons-y!

Ah, Isaiah. My platinum blonde firecracker at war with himself (and often with others). I'd write more often about him, except I'm still trying to sort him out. He doesn't make that job any easier with things like this:

- For whatever linguistic reason, he prefers to begin some of his words with "ka-". For instance, "Kefigerator" = refrigerator. Also: Ka-pleece = Police. Er, what?

- He has been diligently honing his insult-hurling skills. In particular, he seems to think that calling someone a "silly old [appliance]" is the ultimate in name-calling, as in: "You silly old...kefigerator!" "You silly old...wawnmower!" And my personal favorite: "You silly old...pwessure washer!!"

Flowers and snow

Goodness, January went fast. Without further ado, I give you the month in pictures.

Mom sent us these flowers when we were stricken with a G.I. bug. Nasty bug, pretty flowers.

Snow! Snow!! ACTUAL SNOW!!!

Eve took this picture of Samuel. (And of the snow! Which is sticking!)

Fat flakes in our backyard.

I wanna know... did you ever see the [snow]... comin' down.. onna sunny day.

The snow stuck for all of about one day before it melted, which is par for the course in our part of the Pacific NW. But the kids got to romp through it and throw snowballs, and Brian and I got to gaze out into the luminous night while it was falling, so I count myself blessed.

Christmas 2011

Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, of the many pictures I took over Christmas very few turned out to be blog-quality. Here's what made the cut:

I love having a proper mantel to hang stockings from.

Eve in her Christmas Dress (the picture doesn't do it justice, it was quite glamorous)

Samuel, channeling Donald Trump?

Isaiah, somehow managing to look three and forty-six at the same time.

Samuel hasn't fully grasped the concept of presents.

Loot

Colors that do not occur in nature (Brian surprised me with flowers! Squee!)

Belated Advent post

Before I launch into the Christmas photos, here are a couple more from this past Advent:

Samuel, this is the logical consequence of rubbing peanut butter in your hair.

Feast of Santa Lucia, Dec. 13

Eve's school Advent program (Eve is under the angel)

Isaiah helped me cut these cookies out, and Eve helped decorate them.

Gingerbread houses

Just a short post to say that I finally did it: I made my first solo gingerbread houses.

I've helped make them before, while studying under my gingerbread sensei Amy. When I got married she gave me her recipe, pattern and instructions. Every Advent for seven Advents I've looked at the recipe and thought "Now is not the time." This year, it was time.

This is the one I decorated.

I haven't gotten around to adding "snow" yet.

The kids helped with this one.

Advent update

Sorry for the dead air there on this blog: my posts are most often inspired by pictures I've taken, and for whatever reason I took almost no pictures of note over the past month. I anticipate taking quite a few pictures as Advent wears on and Christmastime loometh, so hopefully my next post will be along fairly soon. In the meantime, here's proof of life:

Our Advent wreath. New this year: a seasonally appropriate tablecloth.

Baklava! I've wanted to make this for 15 years but never got around to it until now. I'd say it was worth the wait, but what I really mean is, why didn't I make this sooner?? Drool.

Last year our front birch was quite drab. It's making up for lost time.

I'm so glad to be living in a place that gets frost in December!

Below is an impromptu photo shoot with St. Nicholas at our church. This is perfectly typical of each of the kids' photographic styles. Eve: hamming it up and trying to direct everyone else. Isaiah: trying to be simultaneously solemn and goofy. Samuel: slightly apprehensive and wondering what's going on.

St. Nick Wants You!