November is Coat Season

Little Suri Cruise never has a coat on.  Hello!  Its freezing outside and Katie and Tom have coats on, and here's Suri in a short sleeved silk dress or whatever - in November, in New York.  I've never been to New York, but unlike a certain vice presidential candidate, I like to think I'm fairly geographically savvy so, New York is NORTH of Colorado, where we wear coats in November . . . and October . . . and December, too.  I totally know what the deal is . . . Suri refuses to put on her coat and Tom and Katie would rather not argue.  But this amounts to teaching our children that they don't have to wear a coat outside when we know, as parents, that its too cold to not wear a coat. 

Here's the section of my blog where I toot my horn:

Francesca and Cecilia do the same thing - they'll say, "I don't want to wear a coat."  And I simply say, "Well then, you can't go outside.  Its wintertime and in the wintertime, we wear coats."  Their winter parkas hang on the coat hooks by the front door.  Francesca's purple parka and Cecilia's blue parka.  They put on their coats.  Toot!  Toot!  As for hats, I had them both trained early.  As infants, they ALWAYS had a hat on.  Summer hats, winter hats, fall and springtime hats, hats for all occasions, we wear hats.  So before the girls go out, they go to the hat box and put on a hat.  Cecilia is IN LOVE with her green sun hat, so for now, the green sun hat has disappeared.  Now she chooses a warm hat and puts it on her head.  Toot!  Toot!  Then they choose boots.  When the weather first began to get cold, they would choose the wrong shoes - sandals - so the sandals have disappeared.  Now they always choose the right boots.  Toot!  Toot!  I think that because we've always done this, they don't like being cold.  They're never cold, so when they ARE cold, they know it and they know that they're not dressed appropriately.  (No such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices.)

So while I'm tooting my horn about the girls making good clothing choices, I'd also like to take a minute to give thanks for all my lovely friends and family.  Its been an interesting fall and I feel like my family has crossed into some new, beautiful territory, spiritually.  I feel like Andrew is my soul mate again and that life is wonderful.  I am so thankful for him doing the hard work to get our relationship back on track.  Being married is definitely the most challenging and rewarding adventure I've ever had.  And thanks to my mom and dad, for setting such a shining example of what the rewards are for sticking it out through the tough times.  We are so fortunate to have, not only roofs over our heads, but really nice ones!  I wanted to slap myself today, because I said (again,) when explaining that I don't work anymore, "I just stay home with the girls.  We rent our (big expensive) house out and we live in my parents' rental house in Palisade.  We downsized.  We're poor, but we make it work."  We're not poor.  I hope I never say that again.  Its embarrassing!  We are so rich!  We have everything!  Globally, we live in the top 10% of the socioeconomic pyramid, so . . . although we don't drive a new car, we live in a less than 1500 square foot house, and we won't be shopping on Black Friday, we are far, far, far from poor!  I'm also thankful that my sister and Damon made it over to spend some time with us.  Its always interesting, when they're around.  And I'm thankful for my friends, because friends make life even sweeter!  And for my family who all live far away.  I cherish the days when we all lived close and spent the holidays together . . . I hope that we can do that again some day.  It was such a blast.

One last toot of the horn . . . I'm hungry!!!  I tried to out-eat Andrew and gave myself a stomach ache and then lost the eating competition.  We both weighed-in before eating (Doug and Hayley style) and then weighed out post-eating.  I don't know why I thought I could out-eat him.  What was I thinking?  But now that my stomachache is gone . . . I have room for that chocolate cake.  Toot!  Toot!  I got up early and went for a run.  I'm really proud of myself for finally being a morning runner.  I made a rule with myself that if I don't run in the morning, then I won't run at all and that did it!  And I'm not one of these ultra disciplined people that can just pop awake at 4:30 am for a quick run my whole life.  I have to drag myself up an hour before I'm awake enough to run, and just now, at 34 years old.  So, anyway . . . I run in the mornings, Toot!  Toot!

And now, some teachings from the Buddha . . . which is what helps me get through this visit with my sister and Damon:

Love yourself and be awake -

Today, tomorrow, always.

First establish yourself in the way.

Then teach others,

And so defeat sorrow.

To straighten the crooked

You must first do the harder thing -

Straighten yourself.

You are your only master.

Who else?

Subdue yourself,

And discover your master.

(Adapted from Dhammapada, translated by Thomas Byrom.)

I think that is my new mantra . . . "Straighten yourself."  And when I feel anger flaring, "Subdue yourself."    

New Addictions

Hiking pictures from Monday:


New Addictions:  Dad, Damon and Andrew spent the weekend, a couple of weeks ago, cutting down the gigantic dead tree in our backyard.  They hauled off most of the wood, but our backyard is a wreck of tree bark and sticks and twigs.  Its a perfect disaster for children to play.  So far, we've made various concoctions mixing sawdust (we saved a 5 gallon bucket of it) and water, grass, dirt, sand and berries from neighboring trees and shrubbery.  "Poop soup" is a current favorite, as is "Chamomile smoothies."  The girls have also been building birds nests and little animal homes out of the twigs and bark, and don't even touch their stick horses.  Last week, when we went to see Dr. Motz, Francesca wanted to bring her stick horse and what the heck?  I let her.  And it was a clydesdale, not a pony.  It was pretty funny.  Anyway, Andrew threw a bunch of the bark/stick mess onto a tarp, but its so heavy that I can't move it.  I've raked some of it into a huge area, but I was a bit perplexed about what to do with it.  So, I dug a hole in the back corner of the yard and did what any freezing cold person would do and made a fire pit.  Francesca thought she died and went to heaven.  We roasted marshmallows and warmed up by the fire for most of the day.  I know what we'll be doing every day from now until the mess is burned up!  Hopefully our neighbors won't get sick of the smell of campfire.  I kind of like it.

We're planning on riding the Polar Express with Francesca's FAVORITE friend, Zenon, on the 20th, so I googled "Polar Express" and found www.storylineonline.net.  Its actors reading stories . . . (its totally cute - I just stayed up listening to Al Gore read me a story and actually, I could listen to Elijha Wood read me a story EVERY night, he's adorable.  My favorite so far might be "The Counting Rope," but Stellaluna and the spider one are also faves.  But I digress)  Francesca thought she died and went to heaven for the second time in a day.  Remember, this is the kid that gets NO media, whatsoever.  So she's totally stoked.  I sat with her while she listened to Lou Diamond Philips read "The Polar Express."  In one part, it says that on the train, they drank hot chocolate and ate candies and Francesca turned to me and asked if we would eat candies on the Polar Express.  Yes!  "Real candies?"  she asked.  "Real candies," I replied.  "It will keep me up allll night!" My poor sheltered babe!  So I guess she's more excited about the hot chocolate and candies than the train?  Oh well.  Come to think of it, she was more excited about the marshmallows than the campfire today, too.  

Cecilia is talking like crazy now.  Its so cute.  Her latest is saying, "Actually, it's mine, actually."  And she really rolls her tongue on the "actually."  It sounds like Acsh-alllley - I should record it.  Mom got the girls a tape recorder so they can listen to books on tape.  We've been trying to record them singing songs.  

Charlie and Patty stopped by yesterday on their way for a hike, so we went hiking at the Wild Horse Refuge, just outside of Palisade.  Francesca hiked 1.3 miles straight up and Cecilia hiked about 1 mile down.  I bet their little bodies are so tired.  I carried BOTH of them part way down, until Cecilia decided she wanted to walk.  The brought home pockets full of rocks but we didn't see any horses.  We'll try again when the road is closed.  Pics!

 

Caught up on Pictures!

We hiked "Mountain Garfield" yesterday with the girls.  They are so proud of themselves.  Its a hard hike because its straight up and loose, dusty, "make your hands soft" dirt.  
My little hiking machines -
we didn't make it to the top, but we made it to the second big rock, which is about twice as far as last time.  Francesca slid down on her buns and Cecilia skied down with me holding her hands.  What a beautiful fall day.  

I've been having the girls 'wash dishes' (play in the sink and make a huge mess) while I cook dinner.  Its great because they're wildly entertained and sometimes they even manage to wash a few dishes - win, win!  Cecilia always ends up getting her clothes soaking wet and stripping down.  Sometimes they get so soaked and chilled that we get straight into the bathtub while dinner cooks.  The only bad thing is that all the water dripping on the floor, probably isn't too good for the carpet in our kitchen . . . yuck.            Francesca and Star taking a nap.  Well, Francesca taking a nap while star tolerates the death grip headlock.  Poor cat. 

Magic or The Temple of Mary

Some days, I feel like I'm doing everything wrong, but then some days it all just clicks.  I've been having more click days lately than not and I owe it all to play.  Francesca is moving into a more independent phase and doesn't always listen to me.  I try the less dictatorial ways of getting her to do something, like begging or the "may" trick, but it doesn't work.  What works like a charm is singing and pretending like she is Luke.  I can say, "Francesca let's put away these blocks before we move on to the instruments," and she either acts like I just said that in french, or she says, "You put them away."  But if I say, "Luke, let's put away these blocks."  CLICK!  She is suddenly putting away the blocks with a goofy grin on her face, like its the most fun she's had all day.  I can't help humming Mary Poppins tunes in my head all day long.  Right!

"It depends on your point of view.  You see . . . 

There is an element of fun

You find the fun and snap!

The job's a game

And every task you take

Becomes a piece of cake

A lark!  A spree!

Its very clear to see that . . .  

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

The medicine go down

Medicine go down

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

In the most delightful way

(Robin starts to whistle)

A robin feathering his nest, has very little time to rest

While gathering his bits of twine and twig.

Thought quite intent in his pursuit

He has a merry tune to toot

He knows a song, will move the job along!

Dinnertime is always a crap shoot with the girls.  My sister gets frustrated with the whole deal, but I've read somewhere, that its just how it is with toddlers, so I don't feel too badly about it. Andrew works late, so dinner is usually just the girls and I and most the time I spend a large part of it trying to coax them into eating.  I made green beans and potatoes with bacon and steamed sweet potatoes and sweet potato pie for desert (Francesca's specialty is whipped cream.)  They were just eating the sweet potatoes so I started singing:

(To the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot) 

Don't forget to eat your green beans too, 

Because I made you green bean stew.  

Here let me show you what to do . . . 

Open your mouth and put one through.  

It was so awesome - they giggled through their dinner and ate it all . . . I am so channeling Mary Poppins over here!  Whenever I feel like I'm being not so fun . . . I'm just going to think - What would Mary do?

OH - and speaking of Mary's . . . Why do I love Palisade?  Let me count the ways . . . MARY LINCOLN . . . I LOVE YOU!  The day after Obama won the election and the entire world was singing praises and doing dances of love and hope and joy . . . Mesa County goes out and stocks up on its assault weapons.  Mary was so appalled that she decided to make fun of those jack*sses and sell hand gun shaped sugar cookies with a sign that said, "JOIN THE CROWD!  No background checks, no waiting lines . . ."  Oh - I love it.  And when a reporter tried to punk her about Sam's criminal history and selling hand gun cookies, she said, "Oh, we sell to felons, too.  And we don't check i.d.'s."  

Trying to catch up on pics

Here's a photo from the day Cecilia and Francesca got a birthday package from Auntie Kathie. Cecilia is holding her purse and Francesca is wearing her "high heels" and fairy wings. She has walked to and from the grocery store in those high heels countless times now. She especially likes them because they clip and clop really loudly, so she sounds like a horse.

So we have a habit of opening our mail and packages outside the post office, on the park bench. When we get magazines, like Ladybug or Thomas the Train or Animal Baby, we sit on the park bench outside the P.O. and read it. So when we received this huge box from Auntie Kathie and Uncle Steve on a windy day, Francesca heaved it outside to open it right then and there. I'm thinking, "Okay - this will be okay - its a present, right?" Well, it wasn't A present, it was about 10 presents, each wrapped in pretty tissue paper and bows. The girls used their teamwork to open each one and play with it, or put it on, while I chased tissue paper into the street or parking lot. At one point, I gave up and let a small piece of tissue paper fly into the parking lot and Cecilia chased after it yelling, "Litterbug! Litterbut!" The paper got caught in a whirlwind and Cecilia chased it in circles until it blew into her and stuck to her chest. So, Auntie Kathie and Uncle Steve's package contained two fairy outfits, complete with wings and wands. That night, my parents and sister and Damon were sitting around the dinner table eating when Cecilia came in and went all around the table with her wand, saying, "Mama - Zoop! You're a horse! Desiree, Zoop! You're a cow! Damon, Zoop! You're a chicken! Granny - Zoop! You're a pig!" It was hilarious. So - that was just the top layer of presents. There were also bristle blocks, which we raced home to play with asap, farm animal magnets, two horsey finger puppets (which were really cute, but also funny because the finger goes in the bum) a super soft stuffed cow, and on the bottom layer, two fancy lady packages with silky purses, pearls, feather boas and high heels. Francesca threw off her boots and put them on straight away and wears them every chance she gets. Cecilia can't quite walk in them very well, so she doesn't wear them very long, but she still gets the gist of it. Tanks a million, Auntie Kathie and Uncle Boppa! We love you guys!

On Cecilia's birthday, forced ourselves into a nature walk at the park. Francesca was really excited that she climbed this tree all by herself. Its the coolest tree, down at Riverbend Park.

I think this is her TaDA! I'm so happy face.

Here's my little Halloween witch. She had planned on being an elephant, so we had a homemade elephant costume from when Desiree was little, but Granny, shopaholic that she is, bought about six costumes on clearance somewhere. So the day of Halloween, Francesca was a elephant in the morning, then a fairy later on in the day, and then a witch at night. She might have been a princess somewhere in there, too. I think Cecilia was a fairy for awhile, but at night, she refused to put on her panda bear or dog or princess or fairy or pig costumes. Oh well. I tried.

Tree Huggers

We have been meeting friends at Riverbend Park for a nature walk every Thursday at 10:30am.  It is so much fun.  When the girls are a little older, I think we'll do it every day.  

Cecilia's new gig is saying stuff like, "Heck yeah." and "Yes ma'am!"  Or "Yeah Ma'am."  She is so hilarious.  I wanted to post a funny post about something, but my brain isn't working yet . . . its too early in the am.  Pictures will have to suffice!

Obama Baby!

Cecilia says, "Obama, baby," whenever she sees me in my Obama gear.  I'm so happy I can still wear my 2 Obama sweatshirts and t-shirts with giddy pride!  Yippee!  America - you aren't the headless monster that I thought you were in the past two elections!  Good job, America.  And Colorado . . . you're blue!  Oh - you!  Now this, I'm having a hard time even believing because while the day after the election, the entire world was dancing a collective celebration jig because Obama will be our newly elected president, in Mesa County, people rushed out and stocked up on their assault weapons.  No - its no joke.  I'm not kidding.  Check it out if you're down there in Florida and want some comic relief.  I can't fit the while article address, but its at www.gjfreepress.com/article/20081106/COMMUNITY_NEWS  What is wrong with these people?  What are they so afraid of? This is GJ, not L.A..

My Auntie Kathie sent me an e-mail about her friend that flew to Ghana and that the news there predicted Obama was going to win by a landslide . . . go figure.  Meanwhile, we were here sweating bullets.  Or at least I was.  

Today was Cecilia's Birthday . . . she's two years old now.  Ah - where does the time go?  We had a completely delightful day.  She woke up and opened her new doll, some play silks, a baby sling, a blanket and a baklava.  She loves the doll, I love the baklava.  Its this wool hood thing that she can pull over her head and just her little face shows through the face hole.  I'll have to post a picture, but alas, she hasn't worn it for very long before taking it off.  She LOVES her green sun hat so this is perfect because she can wear her sun hat over it and still stay warm this winter. I like to think that there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices, right?  The girls are always bundled to the hilt and people in t-shirts are always like, "Geez!  You're all bundled up!  haha!"  And I'm thinking, "Geez is right, buddy, your arms are bright red with goose bumps all over them and you're probably going to have a cold next week.  Put a coat on.  Its 35 degrees.  How cold does it have to be for peeps to wear a dang coat?"  

So after breakfast, we walked down to Riverbend park for a nature walk.  Francesca wanted to ride her big wheel, so she rode that about 1/2 way and then walked with Auntie Desi and Uncle Damon.  Cecilia was already tired, so we came back to the house for sandwiches and cake and tea.  That's all Cecilia wanted for her birthday . . . cake and tea.  Ohmygod - Mary Lincoln's cakes from Slice O'Life bakery are to die for.  Peeps at our wedding - you know what I'm talkin' 'bout.  

Both girls took naps and then we went to Granny's for dinner, more presents, a bonfire, the Travel Around the Sun ritual (Sharon, you rule) and a lantern walk at Granny's house, with Francesca leading the way.  It was beautiful and peaceful and I'm so glad that I didn't fry my babes out.  I guess the Birthday theme was under-stimulation and it was just perfect for Cecilia.  Even with the under-stim plan, by the end of the night, we were sitting around the campfire singing and Cecilia was mumbling, "Go home now.  Me go home now."  And when I kissed her tonight and said "Happy Birthday," (for the 100th time) she said, "No.  Stop it."  I said, "Are you tired of us smothering you?"  And she said, "Yes."  And that was the end of that.  Particular little thing.    

Give me a break!

Andrew and I NEVER do anything alone.  Well, I run in the mornings and he runs during his lunch break at work, but we don't ever make time to go on dates or anything.  I felt like I was being super short with the girls this weekend so on Sunday, I told my parents that I needed a break so that we could go out.  So Andrew and I just went out for pizza and then scooted down to the Avalon to see "Tell No One," which was a French movie and was AWESOME - I highly recommend it.  We usually don't go for that sort of movie, but going to the Avalon is more appealing than going to the megaplex/mall dealiegig.  Plus, I really want to support anything at the Avalon.  

Anyway - I feel SO much better since I just got a break away from the girls!  ARGH!  And the girls are happier, because mommy is happier and everybody is happy!  Yippee!  We need to do that every weekend.  

Its been awhile since I've blogged, so I'll attach some photos tonight.  Francesca had a BLAST on Halloween, running from house to house in Palisade (I love Palisade!)  And Cecilia rebelled on wearing a costume of any sort, so she went from house to house with her purse on her shoulder as herself with a candy filled purse on her shoulder.  More later!