Caroline (edited)

Caroline has been more adorable than usual lately. I'm thinking it has something to do with her birthday approaching. I always thought four-year-old kids were the funniest when it came to my nieces and nephews.

The best way to describe her is enthusiastic. Everything is either the most wonderful or the most terrible. Tonight, we hung up Christmas lights (one single strand) and she patted my face and declared, "These are the most beautiful lights ever! You made our house so beautiful! Thank you! I love them so much!!"

She is eager to help, especially with Miriam. Miriam sometimes has other ideas.

She falls asleep to music most nights. She really loves dance parties (her words) and has incredible balance. I'm thinking this summer would be a good time to put her in a trial gymnastics or dance class. As far as her vocal ability, Josh says she gets it from him. She is...less likely to hit the correct note than her siblings. Even Miriam has better pitch. I love her sweet little voice, though. Three years of Let's Play Music will do wonders. Besides the fact that Josh sells himself short. I've heard him sing, and he's not bad.

Totally unprompted, she is learning her letters. It's not that I don't love her enough to teach her, it's that we really don't push academics this young at our house. Somehow, though, she can spell her name (more or less) and recognizes most of the alphabet.

Another thing she loves is skirts, specifically twirly skirts. She likes to dance and spin and watch her skirt spin around. In the absence of a twirly skirt (or when mean old Mommy puts her in a dress with a straighter cut), a belt or necklace that spins around will still do.

And of course, she loves shoes. I sometimes think it was a passing fancy, but then we go shopping. Any time there are shoes her size, she tries them all on and starts loading up my cart with her new shoes.

Edited to add:

She has funny names for food. Pork chops and ham are pig, as in, "Can I have some more pig, please?" Cocoa Puffs is one of her favorite kinds of cereal. When she wants to eat them, she might say, "Can I have some more Puffs: the chocolate kind?"

today I learned...

...that an instant breakfast (made with whole milk, no less) only lasts me about 2 1/2 hours.
...that I don't love kids other than my own (and family/friends) sitting on my lap.
...that Christmas music is my very favorite part of the season.
...that I much prefer trees with the leaves on them.
...that pie for breakfast the weekend after Thanksgiving feels acceptable, but pie for dinner on Sunday night does not.
...that a wicker basket can mold.

Christmas cards are on their way

I love Christmas cards. I also limit the likelihood of receiving said cards because we keep moving. I'm hoping to get cards out quickly this year so that people will send some back. Taking a picture for the card was not for the faint of heart, however.

I could just do a combination of pictures from the year. That's what I've done in years where there just isn't a good picture of all of us. I even think it's what I did last year. I was determined this year, however, because we have three family pictures hanging in our house, and Miriam is not in any of them. Sorry, Mim.

So two weeks from now when I finally get my cards, address them, and mail them to you, remember that the process was a hard-fought one. Need proof? This was the picture taken just minutes before the final (and mercifully, best) picture. Family pictures are fun for everyone!

(After this, the post-photograph bribery turned to mid-photograph bribery. That will explain why Miriam and Caroline have suckers in the picture that finally made the Christmas card cut. Don't judge.)

fuzzy, maybe?

We interrupt this regularly scheduled hiatus (Guests are fun! Colds are not. Both are distracting.) for the following public opinion poll:

Is this picture sort of fuzzy?

invaded (as dictated by Jonah)

Yesterday, on Thursday, we had about three festivals of ladybugs come over to our house. When we first saw them, they seemed to be everlasting on the flag. And then they were all over our roof, and our porch, and our stairs. And sometimes they were on my window and Caroline's window. We had a lot of fun with them. We would make them climb on us (all except Caroline, who would run away whenever a ladybug came close to her). They are mostly going away today, which is Friday.

We also have a new tire swing we like to play on. After this, I am going to go play on the tire swing.

topics about which I have unusually strong opinions

The thing is, I can recognize that my reaction is disproportionate to the question, but I can't help myself. Here are four things that I feel so strongly about that I will risk getting myself labeled as "that one woman" at a party.*

1. Vegetables in pot roast: do they belong? I say yes. I would almost rather not make pot roast at all if there aren't any delicious potatoes and onions. Until a few years ago, I only included (and then forced myself to consume) a single carrot as a nod to the fact that I was trying to be a responsible adult (I loathe cooked carrots). The pot roast that's in the oven right now, though, has FIVE gigantic carrots in the vegetable mix because not once in the last two years have I made a pot roast and had any carrots left over at the end of the meal. Caroline specifically requests this meal by the name, "the one with my yummy carrots."

2. When does Christmas season start? I'm an adamant day-after-Thanksgiving person. I don't mind my friends who want to listen to music or even deck out their houses, or even the decorations showing up at Michael's I suppose (I mean, I saw some women buying Christmas fabric in September this year. I can only assume that is because handmade Christmas things take time), but here is my personal reasoning: First, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I'd rather it not be completely eclipsed. Second, my mother was always a proponent for waiting until after Thanksgiving. Some things, once learned as a child, can never be fully forgotten. Third, I get really grumpy when I see "top Christmas gifts of the season" ads popping up on November 1. I'm not ready to spend all my money at your store, thank you very much.

I consider Christmas music acceptable year-round. Maybe my exception for music comes from the fact that, as anyone who has performed in a Christmas concert knows, choirs and bands and orchestras likely started working on their Christmas music around September.

3. Any book-turned-movie: I try so hard not to be "that person"--the one who sits in the theater and grumbles about how much better the book was. But seriously.** I do try to keep my mouth shut, but I also insist that the kids read (or listen to me read) a book before they see the movie. This hasn't worked for every single movie out there (Since once you exclude movies made from books, nearly all children's movies pre-Pixar are out. Because books rock.) but I try.

4. Baked goods: should they include nuts? Do I get that some people don't like/can't eat nuts? Yes. Do I get mad if someone makes me cookies without nuts in them? No way! Who gets mad at cookies? Will I ever make chocolate chip cookies, banana muffins, or brownies without them? No. Not unless I'm out of walnuts or the person is allergic. In fact, if I'm out of walnuts/feeding someone with a nut allergy, we'll just have ice cream or rice krispie treats for dessert and call it good. A chocolate chip cookie/brownie/banana muffin with no nut is almost not worth eating. Almost.

Edited to add: And because who knows you better than your own mother? (No one.) My mom sent me a box of chocolate for my birthday. What kind? The nutty kind. Thanks, Mom.

*Which is saying something, since I am very careful about what I wear the first week in a new ward and very careful about a) what I say about a book and b) which book I pick when I'm in a new book club. I just don't want to get myself labeled before I've had a chance to figure out who I want to be friends with.

**Shout out to Shanté for curing my unhealthy rage at why Daniel Radcliffe's eyes were not green in the Harry Potter movies. Do we not live in the era of colored contacts, people?! The green eyes are a significant plot detail and mentioned at least once each book. (It's because he was allergic, apparently. That's acceptable.)

little scientists

Maybe next year I'll be thinking clearly, and I'll convince someone (maybe myself?!) to dress up as a mad scientist for Halloween. I keep forgetting we have all the gear, because the resident scientist is so modest about his scientific self. (Those of you who know him well might laugh. Josh? Modest? He has been blessed with a healthy confidence and often appears to be very self-assured, but in this area, he undersells his abilities.) He looks at the insanely successful and genius researchers he worked with and met in his time in the PhD program and fails to give himself credit for his own success.

Sometimes he comes home between labs and runs experiments with the kids, though, because he's wonderful. On the schedule this week: starches.