How Many People Can you Fit At One Table?

Chris and I have great families and holidays are always a blast. Celebrations with his family are especially fun because there are so many kids around. Sadly, I completely forgot to take pictures of the kids. Chris got a lot of photos of the table, though.

There are actually a few tables shoved together there and covered over with a nice cloth and decorations. There really wasn't a full house this year, but there were six kids and I can't remember how many adults.

The women all had exceptional taste though . . .

Chris' sister (Emily), myself, and Chris' cousin (Anna) all had on the exact same sweater in different colors (we love Ann Taylor). I must say, we all looked amazingly beautiful--even if it wasn't planned.

Adeline (being held by my niece) decided to put on lipstick. I swear the child colors herself everytime she gets hold of a marker. Usually she decorates her legs and hands--today it was her face. Thank Crayola for Washable Markers.

Can you also tell that the poor girl didn't have a nap ALL day?


All in all, it was a fabulous day. We ate a lot and laughed even more. I hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours.

I Am Thankful for These Guys, Too

They Make my life more chaotic, and I have to vacuum and mop a LOT more, but I still love them.


Kallie, Pi, Wicket, Lottie. If anyone ever tried to break into my house, they would take them down with vicious defense tactics. Or just kiss them to death. It's a toss up.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is what I am thankful for. Now more than ever.

Lil Bits We are Thankful For (Day 3)

We are thankful for . . . .




Sisterly affection



(This photo is from a family photo session that we travelled to my parents' for. The photographer was great--catching many real life, silly moments as well as posed shots. Click here for his website.)

Lil Bits We Are Thankful For (Day 2)

Morgan's hair--which NEVER stays in place (kind of like her Mommy's).




Just a quick insight into Morgan:
Last night she had trouble going to sleep for some reason. She came down the stairs rather teary after about an hour or so. Her explanation for why she couldn't sleep?

"I don't think I got enough math today."

Seriously?? Math???

So, I gave her a mug of warm milk and honey while Chris set her up with about ten different addition and subtraction problems. (She is doing relatively complicated addition now--up to the hundreds place with "carrying" and everything. 'Cause that is perfectly normal for a five year old.) Afterward, she went straight upstairs and fell asleep.
Guess she did need a little more math.

Lil Bits We are Thankful For (Day 1)

Adeline and her "why are you taking my picture again?" face. Also known as "I am merely tolerating you/this."

Frivolous Friday

I am sleep deprived and my creativity skills are pretty much nil. Many would say that the wise thing to do would be to not blog today, but as I can be rather stubborn, and I am too tired to be wise, I am blogging anyway. Aren't you glad? I thought so.

Christmas is fast approaching and I am not even close to getting my shopping done this year. Not that I ever have it done this early.
But I did find my Christmas cards! Ok, so I am not really sending those out--but they are SO funny!!! I think there are some people on our Christmas card list that would have a heart attack if they received one of those from me. (Speaking of mailing lists--mine was lost when my computer crashed and died, so if you want a Christmas card from me, please email me your address again! Thank you.)

And I also found this beautiful rendition of Ode To Joy. Gotta love Beaker.

Orchard

Growing up in Florida, my adventures were very different from what my girls will experience. Some of my best memories involve my mom checking my little sister and I out of school for "mental break" days. We would drive to St Augustine, or to the beach, or to the local tea house and just enjoy time together as a family. To this day I am still incredibly close to my mom and I think a lot of it has to do with those special adventures we shared.


When Chris and I take the girls on adventures, they are very different than what I had growing up. Sometimes there are historical locations, but most often it is a hike or some other outdoor adventure. Most recently, we took the girls to the apple orchard.


There is nothing like picking the apples right off the tree, especially when we are enjoying the time together.


And then there is all the special cooking time Morgan and I get to spend together making things with the apples.


Apple sauce, apple butter, apple pie, fried apples. Adeline likes to help, too, of course, but usually she is strapped into the high chair munching on slices in order to save her from herself (she hasn't figured out that climbing onto the stove could be hazardous to her health--and I can only rescue her so many times in a 5 minute period and still get other things done!).

Really, at the end of the day, the apple orchard is no more about apples than the tea house was about tea or St Augustine was about clam shell bracelets. And I will treasure these memories as much as, if not more than, I do the ones from my own childhood.

We're Official!!

We now have our own domain! So bookmark us at www.our2bits.com

You can also find Chris' blog at www.hikingwithcroc.com

FrankenLottie

Remember that adorable, sweet white dog from yesterday's post? Remember how I said she has been plagued with minor health problems her whole life?

Did I also mention that Lottie costs me more in one year than all the other dogs combined cost me in their lifetimes? (Ok, maybe not quite--but pretty close)

Like the time when Lottie managed to, not only locate Chris' fishing pole, but get part of the double lure hooked through her nose. And the other part stuck in her paw. Chris still makes fun of the way I ran outside, holding my poor puppy (she was only about 15 weeks old at the time) screaming my head off for help. In my defense, he was mowing the lawn and couldn't hear me unless I yelled. (Of course, that doesn't excuse the hyperventilating I am accused of.) We had to take her to the emergency vet because she wouldn't stay still enough for us to safely remove them (the vet had to tranquilize her to get the hooks out).

Well, this year was no different.

Lottie has had a few small cysts for a while. Since they didn't seem to really bother her and they weren't growing, we decided to not spend the money to remove them. Until she got one on her head that just kept growing. Poor girl was going to look like a cyclops soon. And because of the way it was developing we had to have it removed quickly.


The vet was very generous and removed two others free of charge. I really appreciate this, but poor Lottie girl looks a bit like Dr Frankenstein's pet.
Still, Lottie is an amazingly sweet dog. She still whines with happiness when you come home and wiggles like crazy when you pet her. I am sure she isn't entirely comfortable--there are a lot of stitches on her head, neck and side--but you would never know it.

And we are glad she doesn't understand what "FrankenLottie" refers to, or she might get indignant and sulk until the stitches are gone and her hair grows back.

Lottie

First, I must apologize for the above photo. No Pekingese were injured in the making of that photo. Insulted maybe, but not injured.
Doesn't it just bring a smile to your Monday, though? I thought so.

Lotus Moon, or "Lottie", is our almost-nine year old female pekingese. She is also known as "wiggle bottom" because her whole back half wiggles when she gets happy. She is a complete alpha-female (bossy) to other dogs, which is always humorous when the other dog is something like a German Shepherd. (Generally, Lottie loses in those situations--but she doesn't admit it.) She views all young dogs as her puppies and will mother (boss) them to no end. She had five puppies before we spayed her and she still gets to see (boss) her son regularly. (Scooter is twice as big as her, so it is pretty cute watching him listen to his mama.)

With people, Lottie is the sweetest, cuddliest thing in the world. She will snuggle in your lap for hours, or curl up next to you in the bed at night and barely move till morning. She loves to give kisses and will actually whine and "talk" from happiness when you pet her.

I cannot imagine a sweeter dog. (Although I am sure there are canines who would disagree with me.)

Sadly, Lottie has always been plagued with health problems. Mostly minor issues--but there seems to be always something. She comes from a line of show dogs and there was a lot of inbreeding. Lottie has had back problems since she was two. Due to her (many) allergies, we have her on a special diet--which works well most of the time. But sometimes Adeline feeds her cat foot and Lottie gets ear infections.

And then there are the bizarre injuries--like when she ruptured a jugular vein last year. She was the "mystery of the week" at the vet because there were no other signs of trauma to indicate how the injury occurred. And, quite a lot of money later, she was just fine.

Recently, Lottie had some other health issues--which I will write about tomorrow. But I wanted you to see her "pretty" first, as at this moment she looks a bit like "Franken-lottie". Poor sweet girl.

PS don't forget to look at Chris' blog about hiking the AT

THE Hike

As I have mentioned before, Chris recently went on a week-long backpacking trip. What I didn't mention is that it was the first leg of many such trips. He and our brother-in-law, Joe, are planning on doing the entire Appalachian Trail over the next however-many-years-it-takes. To chronicle this adventure, Chris has started his own blog: Hiking with Croc. (If you want to know the stories behind the nicknames, you will have to ask him.)
I am sure there will be a few funny stories and numerous scenic photos that will be posted.

Lazy Bums

I guess cold rainy days make us all feel kind of lazy.


I think I disturbed the happy "couple" (Annie on the left, Chivalry on the right, Ming was standing guard in the first photo).
But the overcast skies immediately start lulling them back to dreamland.



and I apologize for the saddle marks that are still on Annie's side. I did groom her after the ride--apparently not well enough, though. Shame on me!

Something In Common

It is wonderful watching my two girls grow. I love seeing how their distinct personalities are taking shape.


I love how their interests are forming. Morgan loves talking and reading and talking and learning and talking.
Adeline is an observer and perceives much and holds back until she is sure of a situation. She has incredible balance and grace.


I don't want either of my girls to be me. They aren't me. And they aren't Chris. And they are not like each other.


Which means that the things we have in common are all the more precious. And the bonding I have with my girls as we all ride together is wonderful. I have always said that I don't care if they love horses, as long as they are comfortable around them. And that is true. I don't want them to be carbon copies of me, I want them to be their own people with their own interests. And if they find that they love other things and not horses, that will be fine and I will enjoy helping them pursue their own dreams.


But if they also love galloping across fields and exploring new trails. If their favorite sounds include the snort of a horse and they love it when their horse is clean and they are dirty. If they whisper all their secrets into a pony's ear and never take boys too seriously because they would rather gaze into their horse's big brown eyes.
If they do all those, well, maybe they are a little like me after all. And I will cherish the shared moments. And maybe we will get to race each other across a field.

And Chris will rest a little easier knowing the horses have bought him a couple extra years before "some boy" steals his little girls' hearts.

Finally!

Before I continue with the regularly scheduled silliness, I would like to take a moment to thank all our veteran's. Many of our loved ones currently serve or have served in the past. It is through their sacrifice that we can enjoy, not just the "big" freedoms, but also the little ones . . .


At her 18 month checkup, Adeline weighed in at twenty-two pounds. (This is important because babies have to stay rear-facing in their car seats until they are both one year old AND over twenty pounds.) So, Adeline finally moved into a different car seat and gets to face forward.

I suppose I should follow my husband's example and use this time to teach her physics or how to diagram a sentence.

But, I just make silly faces at her instead.


And they both make them back at me.



Thank you--to our dads, our grandfathers, our uncles, our brothers, our friends--for risking your lives so that we can drive safely down the road and make silly faces at each other. Because our freedom is most evident in the little moments that we hardly notice. Thank you for your protection, thank you for everything. Thank you--beyond what words can express.

Bathtub Crayons and Calculus

Chris and I have bantered back and forth throughout our entire relationship about who is more intelligent; not in the way you would assume, though. Chris argues that I am more intelligent, and I argue that he is. Since he will never take an IQ test, this will never be resolved. Of course, even that wouldn't decide it, as IQ tests are, in our opinion, only a general guide. Also, Chris's and my strengths are in such vastly different areas, it really isn't a valid discussion anyway.


He is much more intelligent than I am, though. You can tell by just looking at him. Speaking of looking at him, did you notice his beard? He grew that on his recent week-long hike. I asked him to keep it for a few more days.

Aaaand, back to topic . . .

Lately, Chris and I have realized that our debate over who is more intelligent is completely pointless. Morgan leaves us in the dust. Not that she knows more than we do--she is still only five--but her use of advanced vocabulary and her ability to grasp concepts above her years continues to amaze us both.

Last week Chris started the girls' bath while I finished up the kitchen. I came up the stairs to hear him explaining the number google. Google? Really??
The bathtub walls were covered with numbers: 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000, on up to something like 100,000,000,000,000. At Morgan's age, counting to 100 is considered pretty advanced.

The following night, the discussion continued.

For those of you who, like me, prefer literature and philosophy to geometry and trig functions (ok, there isn't any trigonometry there, nor calculus problems--I am sorry for the deceptive post title), Chris had been explaining how to calculate the area of circles, triangles, and quadrilaterals. Then they took a "step down" and started working on her two and three times tables.


The next night, she studied the degrees of a circle (I am not kidding) and her three and four times tables. And she loves it! After she learned the degrees of a circle, she came running into her room to show me where 90, 180, 270, and 360 degrees were by spinning around. The nights Chris doesn't teach her math for some reason (because we are, say, washing her hair--which takes a long time!), she is truly disappointed.


Keep in mind that she is five.

Oh, and Adeline is picking up on it, too.

Ignore the fact that she is holding a red crayon and the writing is in green. I am telling you, she is filling in those multiplication problems!!

Would these eyes lie to you??

Autumn

Last evening the sun was hitting the tops of the trees and I wanted to capture it.

In this picture, I pretty much failed. My little point and shoot barely caught the shadow line that created such a brilliant contrast in reality.
Here you could see it a little more. You can also see cheap electric fencing that we put around temporary grazing areas. And horse manure. Oh! And see the Christmas trees behind the horses? One of those will be our tree this year. If anyone else wants one, let me know.


Did you know that the famous photographer Ansel Adams would sometimes watch a location for an entire year before taking a photo? At least, that is what I have heard. That was before things like Photoshop (which I do not have) where people can alter the colors and the shadows. I am not diminishing that skill--I have seen what people can do via photoshop and I am blown away by their creativity. But Ansel Adams, by all accounts, must have been an incredibly patient individual, with an amazing eye for contrast and shadow.

I am not Ansel Adams--I know that some of you might have been confused because of the breathtaking photos my little point and shoot camera takes. I do not have his eye, his talent, and most of all, I do not have the patience to sit somewhere for a year waiting for the right moment to take a photo.

Sometimes I just get lucky . . .


Waiting just a few minutes, letting the sun set a little more created a whole different effect.

She Was Just Trying to Help!

Adeline loves to help. Actually, both my girls do--on their own schedule, of course. Morgan will often volunteer to clean a bathroom or do dishes (which I will let her because I love the fact that she wants to help, although I often have to redo the chore later when she isn't around), but getting her to pick up her toys is often an epic battle. Adeline thinks that mopping is the greatest job EVER. I am sure you can see the disasters that can occur when an 18 month old wields a long-handled mop. I (partly) solved this problem by taking out all the extensions to an old swiffer, making a Bitty-sized mop for her. Adeline's other favorite job is feeding the dogs.

Ninety-Five. Times. A. Day.

I am not sure a day goes by that she doesn't manage to get into the laundry room and spill dog food.

Last night she decided the dogs needed some milk. I had the milk on the island because I was making chicken corn chowder (see "on the menu" in the side bar). While I was busing whisking and such, Adeline managed to get the milk down (luckily, it was only about 1/4 full) and take it over to where she had a dog bowl waiting.


Can you see what happens next?


I noticed her right before she started pouring, but didn't make the dash across the kitchen in time to stop the disaster.


Then Addie decided to help by stomping on the paper towels I was using to mop up the spilled milk.
Wonderful. I love it when she helps!

In the end, I did get it all cleaned up, and thoroughly scrubbed the floors the next day--just to make sure there was no souring milk leftover.