Domestic Adventures

For future reference, the best way to clean gunk out of a pumpkin is with a good ice cream scoop, and the best way to carve the face is with a drywall saw. It’s also easiest to do without help, but more fun with help!

Emmaline and Micah are lucky enough to have a costume-loving super-seamstress for their Grammy. Last year’s costumes were amazingly cute. Princess Emmaline in her Cinderella get-up was just perfect, and my sleepy lion Micah - I still can’t get over the adorableness. I really thought this year’s costumes could never be as sweet, but they come pretty close. Pictures coming soon.

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And, suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Luke 2:8-14

Beginning Wednesday, November 1st Everyday Mommy is going to share some ideas to help us all Keep Christ in Christmas.

…these are “nacks”. Yes, as in s”nacks”

I’m always so impressed with Trent’s handiness. The chandelier for our new dining room arrived last week and Trent installed it on Saturday. After removing the ceiling fan, he moved the outlet so that the chandelier would be centered over the table. He also rewired the switches to put the chandelier on a three-way switch. Very handy, I tell you.
Trent is also a bit geeky with his home improvements (his description, I promise!) Take the light switch for instance. There are no screws showing. Very minimalist. They are really just plain, low-tech light switches, though. What he’d really like are these Insteon switches, “The most advanced remote-controllable dimmer”. I just smile and nod, but they really are pretty cool.

When I was a kid, we didn’t start getting ready for Christmas until I was out of school for the holiday. It was great, I loved being in on all the shopping and decorating. I figured it was kind of cheating if you started Christmas preparations before Thanksgiving. But last year I discovered Flylady’s “Cruising Through the Holidays” system. She even has a control journal to print out for keeping track of all you need and want to do. Each day she sends you on holiday missions, things like collecting all your Christmas wrapping paper and cards left over from last year, starting to plan your menu and check your pantry. I felt so on top of things last year and I’m excited to have started getting ready for this year already.
I know it sounds a little more focused on gifts and traditions than really celebrating Christ’s birth, but I think it keeps me from getting all frantic about the gifts and such and gives me time to truly celebrate.

I love pumpkin shopping. We always try to find the biggest pumpkin on the lot. Our first year of this (when Emmie was a tiny one and half month old) we came home with a 50 pounder! She looked so itty next to it. This year, most of the pumpkins were about the same size. After a bit of searching, we found a 31 pound pumpkin with a bit of character.
Emmaline and Micah’s favorite part was climbing. Pumpkin piles make great playgrounds.

The pediatrician thinks it’s time Micah be off the bottle. Micah doesn’t agree. He drinks water and juice from a sippy cup just fine. It’s milk that absolutely must come from a bottle. Other than avoiding sending him to kindergarten with a bottle of milk, I’m not sure why this is so urgent, but I’m trying. We’ve gotten past the screaming and flailing about when milk is offered in a sippy cup, but we haven’t quite gotten to the point where he’ll drink it. He just frowns and drops the cups, sadly ambling away.
Meanwhile, I’m trying to keep the dairy in his diet. Micah has never liked cheese, so we go with yogurt. What a mess! Sometimes I mistakenly think it will be easier to let him feed it to himself. Ha! Hopefully that milk in a cup will start looking good soon.

Wormy is Emmaline’s “FootPrint”. He was a gift from my grandmother before Emmaline was born and if you’ve met Emmaline, you’ve probably met Wormy. Wormy has a stunt double who lives in the linen closet in case of emergency - which isn’t all that uncommon. It also helps to have an extra Wormy on hand since he requires frequent washing. After one of Wormy’s baths, when Emmaline was toting around his double, I left the laundry basket unattended for a moment. I returned to the room to find Emmaline standing there with a Wormy under each arm. Oh, no! What will I tell her? My mind raced for an explanation that wouldn’t shatter her little world. I needn’t have bothered. “Look, Mommy!” Emmaline beamed, “Two Wormys!” I guess if one Wormy is great, two are even better. It took a while to convince her she only needed one at a time, but she’s never minded knowing that there are two of him.

Let me introduce you to FootPrint, a humble little bear who was my treasure as a child. I don’t remember when I first met FootPrint, so I must have known him forever. I took him everywhere. He stowed away in my backpack on the first day of school, and of course I couldn’t sleep without him. The only rule about FootPrint is that he only talks to me. It would irritate me to no end when someone would bounce him around and try to give him a voice. He just speaks to me in my ear very, very softly.
Once I lost FootPrint at the circus. I had a little basket to carry him in. My mom told me that I should leave him in the car, that I would loose him, but how could I loose him? I had a little basket! Of course, I lost him. I was devastated, and my very brave and very loving daddy went back and searched through the circus dumpsters to no avail. I had to get a new FootPrint, which just didn’t seem right, but I got used to him.
His ears were eaten by my cousin, though I don’t remember the details of that story. His skin is thin and sometimes when his stuffing would start to leak out he required a little mending from mom. By the way, if you fill a bear with dry rice and throw him in the washing machine, that rice will cook right up! But don’t worry, the dryer will uncook it just fine.
FootPrint currently lives in a hat on the top shelf of my closet. He used to live in a hat box, but since he’s met Emmaline, he likes to be where he can see a little bit better when she comes to visit him. High on his shelf he can smile down at her without worrying about being snatched away from his cozy home, and after enduring my childhood, I’m not sure he can handle another round.