Advent

How many years does it take to make a tradition? If only two, then we have a tradition in our house of giving the girls pajamas on the day we put up and decorate the Christmas tree. We call it their "Advent present". It's not a Christmas present, but something to help get them in the Christmas mood. Something to help them prepare.

We put the tree up yesterday, so just before bedtime Ailey, Marin and Silje got their Christmas pjs. (Yes, that's Marin with her finger up her nose ... STILL.)

Since Ailey is such a present-opening pro now she had hers opened before I could train the camera on her. She was also first to open her second Advent present.
Now, two Advent presents are not tradition. Something I tried to make very clear to Ailey who is the only one likely to remember this. However, sometimes a mom needs a good excuse to make her life staying at home with three girls a little easier. And giving them each their own doll will definitely make my life easier.

Ailey got twin dolls the Christmas before Marin and Silje were born. She hasn't played with them much as of late, so a month or two ago I pulled them out for Marin and Silje to play with. As expected, they were a hit. They rocked and hugged the babies, put in their "binkies", put them down for naps.

More unexpectedly, one of the dolls not only lost both her arms, but her head was about to rip off completely when I put her away. Two years of surviving Ailey, and Marin and Silje take apart a toy in a week. After the second baby went to "sleep" for good Marin and Silje would tug baby, pull her arms, and whack her head on the wall while fighting over her.

So, suddenly their Christmas presents became Advent presents.

Silje and her brown-eyed baby.Marin was very miffed that her baby was in a box and didn't come out of it immediately.
The girls in their new Christmas pjs with their dolls.

Happy Advent everyone! Enjoy preparing for the Season!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at home this year. Only the second year since we started visiting my sister, Sarah, in Palm Springs for a warmer Thanksgiving. (The other time was a couple years ago when the airlines told a very twin-pregnant me to stay at home.)

We started the morning watching the Macy's parade on TV. Marin and Silje even sat still for a while to watch. Ailey thoroughly enjoyed it ... even though Clifford never made an appearance. :o(

The turkey was wonderful (if I may say so), mom's stuffing was perfectly spiced, Omdals brought the tastiest mashed potatoes.... ;o) We even all fit nicely around our not-made-for-a-big-dinner-party dining table. Ailey enjoyed her jam sandwich, Marin thankfully slept through most of dinner, and Silje sat on Gma Linda's lap and ate most of her turkey.

Ever since Amy's going-away party in September, Ailey has been talking about the fact that she would be back for Thanksgiving. The week leading up to Thanksgiving was an almost non-stop reminder that "Amy's coming home from college for Thanksgiving!" She got Marin and Silje in on the excitement too so that everyone was so happy to see Amy!
Marin tried on Amy's boots.
Silje had fun coloring with Amy ... and Gail and Gma Linda.

Now we're all excited to see Amy again at Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day and weekend. Happy Holidays!

Andy's Return

Andy doesn't usually travel for work, so when he was gone for 10 days at the beginning of the month it was a new experience for all of us. He spent long days in Baltimore at his conference listening to and presenting proposals for the 2012 National Building Code. Ailey, Marin, Silje and I spent long days without our Papa/hubby.

With my SNOMOMS fall sale to prepare for and work at during those 10 days, I was lucky to have my mom spend a weekend with us. (Thank you again, Mom!) Andy was lucky enough to get two days to sight-see. He spent one day walking around and seeing the sights of Washington DC, and another touring around Baltimore.

He brought home gifts for us all - a good way to make his homecoming even more of an event! The girls all got stuffed "Bo" dogs - you know, cute little versions of the Obamas' new Portugese Water dog puppy. He also brought a new Clifford book - Clifford Goes to Washington. He and Ailey read it one night (with "Bo" snuggling in).

I've always been in awe of moms who's husbands travel for work. Now I've had a taste of it and at least know I can survive it. (Though you might not want to know my definition of "survival"!) And not that I want to be tested again any time soon. We were all very happy to have Andy back.

Santa

We took the girls to see Santa at the mall tonight. I know now that I will never ever visit Santa on a weekend or after Thanksgiving again.

We waited behind one other family, the girls got to mill around a get used to the situation without crowds and noise to highten their anxiety, and we had all the time we needed for Marin and Silje to talk to and get used to Santa before having to get their picture taken with him.

This was Ailey's 5th picture taken with this particular Santa - she's now the pro who "helps" her little sisters know what to do. He's a great Santa. He had the girls all sit in his chair and read a book while he sat on the floor in front of them and posed for the pictures.

Everything added up to a picture without anyone screaming or crying. For our girls, that's amazing. And pretty cute.

Just Another Leaf-Raking Day

Even after taking down eight trees in our backyard this summer, we still have three maples left to dump all their leaves. Every weekend the chore is to rake them up and fit as many as possible into the yard waste bin. With fewer trees this year we at least haven't been left with piles on the patio to await the next yard waste pick-up day. (Look here for a story from last year's leaf race.)

Today Ailey "helped" Andy with the leaf raking. She has her own Ailey-sized rake and enjoyed being outside despite the cold day. She and Andy even made themselves a big pile to jump in before loading it all into the bin.


Andy and Ailey jumping into their pile:

Ailey helped to stomp down the leaves in the yard waste bin: