On Clubhouses

It seems as though clubhouses and children go together like me and food. The girls are constantly searching out and making their own little clubhouses. Said clubhouses usually entail a blanket draped over a chair and if they are lucky something else - adequate but only able to fit one person comfortably. So this spring there were a pretty fair number of fights over the fact that Emmuska would make a clubhouse to which Liberty would demand entrance, which demand was met with a flat no as there wasn't enough room, which refusal was met with an ignoring ear as Liberty tried to get in (because she wants to be in the cool clubhouse too) which would all result in a fight.  Finally in one of my moments of inspiration akin to the finger painting episode I said something to the effect that I would make a clubhouse big enough for both of them. (Yes I'm still working on seeking out help as regards this disorder of volunteering for insane projects...) Said clubhouse turned out like so:

Not too shabby eh? Actually it was a pretty nice clubhouse but quite naturally took a bit more work than I had anticipated (most of my 'brilliant' ideas do :D). In my head I saw me whipping this thing together and it just staying - wind and old cloths pins had different ideas.

Of course once the clubhouse was up it had to be decorated. Here Liberty seriously surveys the surroundings to best determine aesthetically pleasing blanket locations.

Yes. Right there will work just fine.

And there you have the interior of our well constructed and perfectly decorated clubhouse. Take a moment and note the snack 'table' on the bottom right corner of the picture. Because no clubhouse is complete without snacks.

Liberty - off to retrieve something else that the clubhouse needs to function properly.

Cheese sticks, apple sauce, graham crackers and yogurt. A veritable feast of clubhouse foods. - Time to dig in and fill those tummies left hungry from a days hard work.

I was pleased by how much the dogs enjoyed the clubhouse as well. It's always satisfying to see one's work appreciated by so many.

Of course the wind picked up so by the end of the day the clubhouse was once again in individual pieces waiting for our next attempt. Still it was a lot of fun and now we have a trampoline to aid in our clubhouse making. Next time we make one it will surely be a breeze. ;)

A Very Merry Christmas

Christmas ended up being everything we could have wished for and more.  It was a lovely day spent having a good time together as family - very quiet and laid back.  It actually started on Christmas Eve (naturally - why ever keep all the joy to a mere 24 hours?) with me getting the house all picked up before I running out to do a little Christmas shopping. Yes I waited until Christmas Eve to do my shopping and overall it was a pretty good experience.  I was able to score some pretty sweet deals, pick up some dinner (hey I just got the kitchen clean - nothing was touching it until I started cooking Christmas dinner.) and take care of a few errands in less than four hours - and that includes my driving time so I'm pretty satisfied with the results. (Not to mention I didn't have to worry about hiding presents as I could leave them in the car until I set them out at night - seriously it was kind of awesome.) I came home to find Emmuska in full decorating mode.  She wanted the house to look nice for Santa so she pulled out the crepe paper we had purchased for her birthday but never got around to using. She'd really been itching to use them anyway - this seemed like as good a time as any.  She went around the house hanging 6-12 inch of crepe paper in the most random places i.e. under my light switch, middle of doors, middle of walls, the ironing board, the fireplace etc.  I still chuckle when I stumble across one somewhere.  The best was when she pulled out my small fake tree and decorated it green then decorated all of her stuffed animals with pink and put them in a circle around the tree for a 'Christmas Party'.  The picture does a pretty good job of capturing this little spectacle.  While she was decorating I set to work getting a couple stockings made.  I hadn't yet put one together for Liberty so I thought I would make hers and Samuel's at the same time.  While this took a little longer than I expected (naturally because honestly I am horrible at guessing how long something will take me) the stockings turned out quite well I thought.

After that we made some cookies for Santa because Emmuska just couldn't go to bed until she had set out a plate of cookies.  Almost as soon as I got the first batch out of the oven she rushed into the kitchen to stack the cookies onto a plate after which she carried the plate from the kitchen to the living room. That might have been one of the longest walks we've taken this year. The cookies kept slipping and sliding on the plate and I was quite certain that each step would see a dozen cookies all over the floor. She did make it to fireplace without incident and the cookies were almost safe until Mycal asked to test one and she jerked the plate away.  Let's just say that I hope Santa believes in the 'ten second' rule. 

After making it to the fireplace we spent a few minutes making sure the cookies were in the safest and smartest place possible.  After all we didn't want Santa stepping on them (or Daddy sneaking them...) So Emmuska carefully thought the problem out and arranged everything accordingly.  The same thought was put into stocking placement.  There was a moment of worry when she realized that her stocking didn't have her name on it (still on my list of things to do...) but thankfully we had (started) decorated the front so I was able to assure her that it would be okay because Santa would know which stocking was her's because of the picture on it. And yes she picked out the image for her stocking all on her own.

The end result of all the careful planning is pictured to our left.  I had quite a few things to finish up and then decided that I really wanted to wake up to a nice clean house so I ended up getting to bed rather late.  Happily my children don't yet feel the need to wake up at an indecent hour on Christmas morning.  Emmuska was up and at her stocking around 8:30. To her credit she was being really quiet - so much so that I didn't hear her. If it hadn't been for Mycal getting up I probably would have missed the whole event. 

As it was I only missed Emmuska's first foray into her stocking.  She was so excited with what Santa left her and how sneaky he had been that I couldn't help but be cheerful and excited with her.  I'd be hard pressed to think of many things that spark as much magic as an enthusiastic child.  She was so lit up and excited about the idea of Santa coming to her house and filling her stocking that I couldn't hold barely contain my own joy and wonder as she shared her treasures with me.

One of the greatest things about the day was how much Emmuska wanted to share in everybody's happiness.  She was so excited when Liberty woke up to give her her stocking and encourage her to look and she what Santa brought her.  She diligently looked at each present to see whose name was on them so she could hand them to the intended receiver.  She just couldn't contain her happiness and wanted to share it with everybody.

Poor Liberty on the other hand had been sick all week (I think she was cutting her two year molars) so she wasn't as happy as she usually is.  Rather than being really ornery though she just took several naps throughout the day so we didn't have any really rough moments. She was even able to rally around enough to enjoy playing a few games and with her little guitar a bit.

Samuel was very happy.  He received a floor mat thing (yes that would be the technical term) with toys that he can reach for and what not.  So far he has really liked it.  I'm impressed by how entertaining the little toys are for him.  He has spent a bit of time since Friday staring at them.  Here he is staring down the duck in a game of 'see who blinks first'.  I'm fairly certain the duck lost.

For reasons mysterious to me dinner turned out wonderfully.  Rather than the low level breakdown I found myself on the edge of while preparing Thanksgiving dinner everything flowed well and worked out rather well.  When I pulled the turkey out of the oven I couldn't believe my eyes.  It looked incredible.  Seriously it looked so amazing - like it could grace the cover of a food magazine or be featured somewhere.  It looked perfect.  It couldn't have tasted pretty pathetic and I still would have been satisfied because it looked so good! (Yeah I'm a little shallow - but I'll put this disclaimer out there I only felt this way for a couple of reasons: a) I can usually make food that tastes okay but it rarely looks incredible. I love the idea of fabulous plating but have yet to live that dream out.  So when something I make looks incredible too than the taste takes a back seat for a minute and b) my expectations where a little low. I mean sure I had made turkey before but it's kind of a bigger deal meal so having things fall apart could happen and I was already okay with that because I wasn't going to let it ruin my Christmas.)

As it turned out it didn't matter that I was slightly shallow because it tasted wonderful.  The whole meal did.  I ate so much it hurt.  I hate to admit to such gluttonous behavior but it's the truth.  Everything came out lovely.  Not only did everything taste great but I also managed to stay on top of the dishes throughout preparation so when I was done eating I was able to clean up a few things and leave the kitchen clean.  It was a wonderful thing.

Something funny I'll share with you about this picture - my arms look an awful lot like that turkey's.  Seriously my arms are jutting out all over the place.  For the third time I'm reminded how much I tend to come across as a feathered creature.

It was a wonderful Christmas.  We really enjoyed the opportunity we had to spend time together as a family - playing, laughing, building and sharing. The day helped me remember the many ways in which I am truly blessed.

Oh Christmas Tree!

I am so excited about this post - but I must warn you that it contains quite a few pictures.   Our Christmas tree has definitely been a highlight for me this year.  It has been so much fun getting it all together.  Part of this is because Emmuska is at the point where it's really fun for her and she wants to be involved. 

 

Her enthusiasm was catching so Liberty was also very excited and into the process. Another part of the joy was because, well quite frankly our Christmas tree is awesome!

It all started for me when I drove by our local grocery store and saw that Christmas trees were $19.95. Seriously?! I could have a beautiful fresh tree complete with piney smell without having to trade in my precious little boy? It was like an early present.

From there it just got better.  Shortly after discovering the extreme reasonability of tree prices in my neighborhood Mycal came home asking if I wanted a Christmas tree.

'Of course I do! I don't think our two foot fake tree is going to cut it for the kids this year.'

'Oh, okay then I'll pick one up next week.  They are going to give some away on base.'

Once again...seriously?! It's true a bunch of tree farms and FedEx team up to donate and deliver hundreds of Christmas trees to military bases.  Isn't this country amazing!  So I was looking forward to the day we would get our tree.  However something happened so that we weren't able to make it to the tree lot on the day of delivery.  'So much for that' I thought, because honestly what are the odds that a bunch of free trees aren't going to disappear before I'd be able to make it there.  As it turns out the odds were pretty good.  So many trees had been donated that there was still a pretty good selection by the time we made it to the tree lot to pick out our tree.  Once again the people in this great nation are truly wonderful.

Picking out our tree turned out to be a lot of fun.  There were all kinds so we spent a while fingering the needles (See above for a picture of Emmuska doing just that...) to make sure they were soft enough to be our tree. (Because a prickly tree would just not be acceptable.)  Whilst Emmuska was ensuring our tree wouldn't be too prickly I was making sure I could heft the thing to the car.  (An unnecessary precaution as Mycal got off work just in time to help us load it up - but I'm still very glad I did it that way as it has made the whole process easier.)  After getting it home I went all out and trimmed off a section of the tree so that it could take water in better.  Armed with nothing more than a hacksaw I worked my way through the trunk. All the time I was doing this I was thanking my lucky stars that I had had the foresight to pick out this tree as the trunk wasn't actually all that big. Before I go on I'd like you to take a look at the tree behind the hacksaw in that last picture - I wasn't really sure what to expect when I got the string off but would never have guessed that something that could wrap up so small could look so full once it's branches where free. 

Moving on...now that the tree was unwrapped and secure in it's base (thank you Mycal - despite his insanely busy work schedule the past three to four weeks he found time to help me tighten the screws in the stand - so well that he will now be the only one able to get the tree out...) other preparations had to be made before we could get on with the task of decorating the tree.  First was the making up of a (larger than expected) batch of peanut butter popcorn - sprinkled liberally with chocolate chips.  I don't know what it is about peanut butter popcorn but decorating the Christmas tree seems to demand it.  It's not like it's a family tradition we've had for ages - more like something I thought should be a family tradition.  I made some.  It's really easy to make but I hadn't done it in a while so of course I kind of fudged and to cover that mistake ended up with a double batch. (read copious amounts of popcorn - to Mom: quite naturally you were right and I shouldn't have doubted you.)  

And just to make sure we were adequately covered I made up some chocolate chip cookies as well.  I had already gotten the lights on the tree as I felt this was a job best done with less help so now we were ready to begin the final part of the decoration process.  Hanging the ornaments.  I pulled out my two boxes of ornaments, gave each girl one and let them go at it.  I was a little surprised that by the fact that in no time at all Liberty had hung up six or seven ornaments while Emmuska had yet to actually approach the tree.  Turns out Emmuska really enjoyed unwrapping the ornaments as after she had done that and there was a pile on the couch of her box's contents she came over to do the same for Liberty's box.

I was occasionally able to persuade her to go and put ornaments on the tree but it was a difficult task.  Exploring the minimal depths of the decoration box was simply more fascinating.  In the end I think that Emmuska got maybe six or seven ornaments on the tree and Liberty a few more than that.  Of course as far as Liberty's went they were all on the same three branches but still...She's only two so not too shabby. At one point I mentioned that we needed to get some Christmas music on  in order to do this thing right.  Before I was able to get something on though Emmuska started singing 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' and some songs that had a lot of Merry Christmases in it. It was priceless listening to her sing songs.  Once again I can't get over how into the season she has gotten (funny story about that that I will have to share later...)So here are a few things that I absolutely love about our tree: first it was small enough when wrapped up that I could simply throw it in the car and drive home (no spending forever trying to tie it down to the roof of my car and then trying to get it off...) - yet when unwrapped it looks great.  Second it is a nearly perfect cone - just the right shape for a good looking tree. I mean it just looks like a Christmas tree should look.  Third it's needles are pretty soft.  Fourth it was very accommodating to the light enthusiast.  It was really easy to put lights on and holds them well.  If we had never finished decorating it would have been okay because it still looked really nice. Not only does it carry lights well but it didn't fight back to me putting them on. (See number three) Fifth it smells really nice - no doubt about the fact that it is Christmas time in our home.  And finally it brings joy and happiness to our living room.  There is nothing like a tree to bring that Christmas feeling.Here is a short history of this tree's life:

Time spent growing and then on the road to tree lot: unknown

Time spent on lot waiting for family to take home: 2 days

Time spent in garage of said family waiting for a tree stand: 3 days

Time spent naked in tree stand: 1 day

Time spent with naught but lights for adornment: 4 days

Time spent being decorated: 1 1/2 hours

Time spent being redecorated: (because after the girls were done there were ornaments in two places on the tree...) 45 minutes

Time spent being a fully decorated, enjoyed and loved tree: yet to be determined but at least 8 days

Time spent being the perfect tree in my mind: forever.

Holiday Express

We started December and all the joyous festivities for Christmas off by attending the Holiday Express hosted by the MWR on base. It was a lot of fun (okay I'll admit it - it was better than I was expecting). A lot of organizations from the community pulled together to make a sort of North Pole village you could wander through, enjoying various activities at each building. So you could go to the North Pole Optometrist, sponsored by the Lion's Club and they would help you decorate and put together some paper glasses. The North Pole Library, hosted by the library on base, had a bunch of pillows and blankets on the ground where you could sit while listening to Christmas stories. This was at the 'Salon' which was really nice for two reasons 1) they had good lighting set up so we could actually see what we were doing (coloring pages - which has nothing to do with a salon but what are you going to do?) and 2) they had furniture set up so I could take a minute and sit on a nice couch. Okay the really fun thing about this particular stop was that Liberty loved the lights. She found the lights absolutely enchanting and spent more time staring at them than just about anything else she did that evening. (I can't blame her - Christmas lights are one of my favorite things about the season - there is something simply magical about each little bit of light along the string.)

One of the groups sponsoring a building was this boy scout troop - these boys were hilarious. They were really into helping each kid that came through. One of the things that was so great about this whole event was seeing how many people, youth especially, really got into the spirit of the thing and put a lot of time and effort into making it a magical evening.

Here we have the girls as snowmen - which was a huge hit. Emmuska talked about this for a few days after the event. Something about being a six foot snowman really tickled her fancy.

Meanwhile this was the highlight of my evening. The post office went all out to make this stop awesome.

They handed each child a paper that had 'Dear Santa' on the top after which they could write their letter to Santa. It's hard for me to believe that Emmuska is already old enough to really be into this sort of stuff but she is. She understood the point of it and asked me how to spell what she wanted to ask Santa for (princess games, a teddy bear and of course a pig). After she had written her letter they had big mailboxes the kids could put the letter into and somebody was there to give them a toy. I objected to this valuable piece of history being stuck in a faux mailbox to be lost forever but Emmuska insisted otherwise it wouldn't make it to Santa. You see my dilemma. I managed to snag an extra letter from the postal workers/elves and plan on making this an at home activity. With any luck she won't grill me too much as to why she is writing Santa again - as she already did it once...

This was the reindeer stable. One of the first things Emmuska noticed upon our arrival that a couple of people were wearing reindeer antlers - something she pointed out to me and asked why. Of course I didn't have an adequate answer so she asked this lady. I don't know if she got her answer or not but from what I could hear they had a pretty good discussion about reindeer and how the lighted lawn ornaments they were passing off as reindeer were not real - but it was okay if we were just pretending. (When asked which reindeer was her favorite rather than launching into this discussion Liberty just picked one out and pointed at it...)

Just another example of somebody really getting into the spirit of the thing. This was in Santa's workshop which is ironically watched over by...

The Grinch! Yeah we didn't actually visit Santa at this festival but we did get a chance to snap a photo with the Grinch. The funny thing was that Liberty had checked out the 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' movie (not so much from a desire to get into a festive mood as she just picks out and puts back shows until you say it's time to go and then she gets whatever is still in her hands at that moment) a few days before so the girls and I had watched it and Emmuska had been talking to me about it a lot the days leading up to this visit. This led to more discussion as to whether we met the Grinch who liked Christmas (consensus was that he did indeed since he was in Santa's Workshop) and how he hadn't before because his heart was too small, his head wasn't on right and his shoes were too tight. (That's right nothing gets by this kid.) It was a pretty exciting meeting that happened at just the right time. Got to love that!

All in all it was a wonderful adventure. We had a great time and it really did get us in the spirit of the season - ready and excited for all things Christmas-y!

Back to the Grindstone

...or in this case the keyboard. It's not that I feel that writing on my blog is such an immense chore that it is somehow akin to the exertion required to push a massively heavy stone around on top of another massively large stone in order to get my daily bread, more that when one pauses for too long a period the momentum is easily lost and it's hard to get started again. In this case it was not a personal choice to take a hiatus from the world wide web that kept me from updating you on the ever fascinating ins and outs of our daily life but simply just the way things turned out. Last week I was given the opportunity to drive out to New York with my parents to see my brother Charles graduate from New York Chiropractic College. I was excited for the opportunity and jumped when they offered to drive out of their way to pick me and the girls up as well as drop us off. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get online once in New York but as it turned out internet was not available which was alright as I have no idea how much I would have been able to do online anyway as we were all quite busy getting things ready to move after graduation. I can not with a clear conscious say I did anything useful in the packing/cleaning department I was however able to help keep children busy and out of the way so packing and cleaning was a little easier. What can I say going to the beach is such a chore. It was great seeing Chuck graduate and being hooded (I believe this is the correct term for the moment they put the extra shawl like thing over the graduation gown) as well as being able to participate in the many celebratory events surrounding the big event. It was nicer still to spend so much time with family I don't get to see very often, allowing cousins to play and get to know each other better. There were a lot of great memories made and opportunities taken that make me even more grateful for having taken the chance to go. As soon as I get my camera and computer on the same page I will upload some pictures. In the meantime I hope this is an adequate response to at least one reader who apparently feels I've been shirking my duty ;) . On that note I did notice that a week's absence did wonders for my comment box and am slightly tempted to do so more often if it means people will respond more...

Branson Air Show

This week's adventure was purely the product of being in the right place at the right time. That is to say we are in Missouri and the Branson Airport is opening tomorrow (Mon.) so they held their grand opening festivities this weekend. Mycal (with his infinite resources) knew that part of the celebrations would include an air show.

Upon hearing that I had never been to an air show that I could remember the matter was settled - for Mother's day we would be traveling to Branson for an air show. Despite the three+ hour drive to the Branson Airport (the last hour of which is another story in it's self...) the show was a lot of fun. Mycal had paid a little extra to get into a particular area which included beverages (no hauling in our own water!) as well as seating (ditto the water remark for chairs). It was worth the it! Not only did we not have to haul our weight in extra supplies to and from some remote spot on a field but we were right up front for the action. It was really nice - it also meant I got pictures I would never have been able to get from the general admission area. Throughout the post are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

One of most enjoyable demonstrations was from the Army's Golden Knights - a PR parachute team that do a coordinated jump. While some things were not as much fun for the girls this was really enjoyable because they could see the parachutist coming down (almost right in front of them...) and there wasn't an excessive amount of noise accompanying this part of the show.

Whereas many other parts of the show were quite loud, the portion with the F-16 being a notable one. Emmuska was always more ready than the rest of us when it was making a fly over because she covered her ears as the slightest sound that might be an airplane approaching. There were quite a few times when the rest of the crowd was caught off guard by the planes coming seemingly out of nowhere - but not Emmuska - after the first surprise she always had her ears covered.

After the airshow we went out and visited some of the sponsoring displays (including NASA as seen by the bags) - grabbing this shot in front of a helicopter on display by the United States Marine Corps. By the end of the day we were all pretty tired (well except Liberty who managed to grab an hour and half nap on Mycal despite the noise of the planes...). One thing for sure is that sleep was generally sounder around the Brown house last night than it usually is.

More Pictures from this Weekend

At the school carnival there was a lady making balloon animals. The line took a little while (the only one we had to stand in...) but the pink tiger was totally worth it. Of course it had to be pink because Emmuska was asking for it. (Extra story: Later she was asking me why it was pink because tigers are supposed to be orange. When I returned the question to her she said because she doesn't like orange - she likes pink and it's okay if the tiger is pink. Sometimes I think that she just asks questions so I will ask them back and then she can talk.)

Emmuska and Liberty picking out their frogs for the race. Liberty was a little apprehensive of this task - especially since the frogs kept moving around...

Emmuska's face painting (a ladybug). This is also apparently her idea of a smile. I think that the feeling of the paint drying on her face was weird for her...who knows but the picture is hilarious. (I think she got her expressive features from her daddy...see Frog Festival post below...)

Somebody mentioned that there weren't enough pictures of me and that people would like to see some. Well generally I'm taking said pictures though Mycal is pretty good at grabbing the camera and making sure there is evidence that I was at each event. (Check out Purina Farms and Route 66 for examples...) This is me at the Frog Festival. Mycal noticed that somebody was selling deep fried twinkies and knowing that I have always wanted to try one was sweet enough to sneak off and get me one. I'm glad I've finally had a chance to try one though I don't think that I'll ever have another - entirely too sweet for my tastes. (They dip it in some sort of sweet cake batter, fry it and then sprinkle it with powdered sugar...it's a twinkie! How much more sugar do you really think it needs?)