christmas

Christmas morning is still magical. Santa left some cookie crumbs and five stockings full of fun.

Lucy's stocking is bigger than she is (thanks Nana).

Santa heard Liam's request for a stuffed snake. (A stuffed snake? I guess it chases away the bad dreams.)
Lucy got some felt pens which she immediately used to draw all over the rug.
But her favorite gift was a cardboard box.

Joel gave me a lovely, lovely ring. Three pearls, one for each child. We said we weren't doing gifts, just stockings, but this conveniently fit in the toe of mine. I love it.

My dad drove down from Portland in time for dutch babies (oven pancakes) and bacon. Gramma and the Davises came over for dinner and it was total remote-control-car-ski-helmet-new-books-lego-sets-DS-and-Wii-games-twirly-skirt madness. The best kind.

busy busy

There's nothing quite like the days before christmas around here. We've been busy elves: crafting, baking, shopping, and making endless lists just so we can cross things off.

We decorated cookies for our local friends and neighbors...

We packed up cookies and jars of last fall's applesauce and tied them up with ribbons. Last night we bundled into the minivan with a thermos of hot chocolate and delivered the gifts to our friends while checking out the streets with the best lights.

Last night we also delivered a minivan-load of food and gifts for the family we adopted with our MICE friends. Our five families adopted a family from El Salvador, the Monjaras. Last weekend we spent a Saturday morning at Fred Meyer, buying everything from toothbrushes to pies to winter coats for the three kids. Just a few of us drove to their apartment last night, and it was truly the highlight of our holiday season to sit in their home and talk with them (in bad spanish) about their lives, and maybe make their holiday a little brighter. (No pictures of that adventure - it seemed kind of irreverent to document it.)

Tonight we finished our wrapping and sat around by the fire with some of the treats our friends have brought us. We read some of the christmas and solstice books we've collected over the years. The boys talked about whether Santa is real, and made an inventory of what christmastime means to them.
Liam's faith in Santa is very strong, but he's also practical about it: I think no one really knows, and it just matters what you believe. Milo is pretty sure the tooth fairy is us (probably due to the time we forgot about it...), but isn't ready to say he doesn't believe in Santa. Some excerpts from their musings on the meaning of christmastime:

Being together with family. -liam

Presents! - milo

Having dutch babies on christmas morning. - liam

Eggnog. - milo

Helping people who don't have very much. - liam

Sitting by the fire with cookies and hot chocolate. - liam

Cutting down and then decorating the tree together. - milo

We hope all our family and friends are happy and warm this holiday season!

advent

n [Lat., = coming] Definition: Beginning or arrival of something anticipated.

Turns out, three really is a charm. I got our advent calendar done this year in time for the kids to wake up on December 1 and find a shiny gold $1 coin apiece in the first pocket. I started this project two christmases ago. I'm glad the kids finally get to use it, but more glad that I don't have to look at it in my sewing basket anymore.
It's made from wool felt. Each numbered pocket contains two little gifts, one for each boy, and an ornament. The ornaments come out of the pockets and hang on the big star using tiny little hooks. The ornaments are little felted balls I ordered from someone in Italy via etsy.
We filled the pockets with dollar coins, chocolates, tiny little toys, and other sweets. We left Lucy out of it this year, but next year I'll be hard-pressed to find things tiny enough to fit three in a pocket!

Some pockets contain messages about activities we'll to together as a family:

bundle up and let's take a ride to see sparkly christmas lights

shop for a gift for a family who needs help this christmas

family game night by the fire with hot chocolate and marshmallows

chess

Milo and Liam have been going to chess club every Thursday after school. I have to say, I was skeptical that this was going to hold their interest, but to my surprise chess has become a big part of their lives. Milo entered a tournament a couple of weekends ago. He ended up in the top 10 (out of 48 in his age group). The boys challenge each other, their dad, their friends... I have never liked the game myself - too frustrating. But I hope they keep playing - it seems like a good balance to the soccer universe they live in.

my (un)glamorous life

Someday I will figure out a coherent to tell all my people about what I do for work, in a way that doesn't make everyone's eyes glaze over.

For now, a photo essay.

Me, in front of the Montana State Capitol in Helena. I was there last week working with the Montana State Department of Public Health and Human Services....

...with Kirsten. We are working on a project to help update the state's Immunization Registry System. Kirsten is my good friend from graduate school who I am lucky to work with now at Public Knowledge.

We visited immunization clinics in Helena, Great Falls and Bozeman. We used a lot of purell. There were 2 feet of snow in Kirsten's front yard in Bozeman. I flew there and back in a tiny prop plane. The day I left was lovely - clear and bright. The pilot said we had a view for 300 miles. We flew over the Bridger Mountains toward Seattle.

Next stop, Salem, Oregon!

growing boys

I took the boys to see Dr. Marks for their well-child checks last week. I'm not sure it was the smartest move to take two healthy children to a pediatrician's office during swine flu season. But I think Liam has already had it, and we're all feeling pretty healthy. (So far, no symptoms...)

Anyway, they're growing boys! Milo weighs 99 pounds and stands 4 feet 7 inches - to Liam's 76 pounds and 4 feet 5.5 inches. Liam doesn't seem to mind that his little brother is bigger - his response is, yeah, well, I'm smarter. (Hmmm...) Dr. Marks gave Liam a hard time for his picky eating habits, but pronounced both boys healthy, smart and well-adjusted.

We didn't get a flu shot or the H1N1 vaccine. Stay tuned for more on this topic in a later post.

Afterwards we went to Michael Jackson's This Is It movie. The boys were riveted, and I was nostalgic.

family dinner

When I was at U of O I lived in a giant old house with three other girls. We spent a lot of weekends cooking huge messy meals and feeding an assortment of boyfriends (including Joel) and other hangers-on. I lived with (the other) Melissa, who was the mastermind behind these dinners. When she comes to town now, we re-live the old days drinking copious amounts of wine while putting together a late-night meal.

Last night we made green chili corn chowder. (OK, I'll honest, my major contribution to the meal was in the area of wine drinking.) It was a much needed comfort meal for all of us: I was gearing up for a long business trip to MT this week, Rohanna was exhausted from a long weekend getting our littlest sister off to Australia, Jess starts chemo this morning, and Melis is heading north to deal with some family drama. The soup, and everything that went into making it together, was therapeutic for us all.
The little girls (Lucy and Lulu) helped by being extremely cute.