Thanksgiving Day 2012

We had a good Thanksgiving this year.  We started with watching the parade, and Ephram was so beyond excited when Santa came at the end.  I cooked all day, we ate good food and enjoyed spending time together.  Thanksgiving is my favorite of all holidays because it kicks off the official holiday season.

This sequence of pictures happened totally on accident.  Andy and Macie were playing with her little geo ball and it was really cute, so I decided to take a picture of her.  You can see what happened from there.  And yes, I flipped one of the pictures.

Everyone was really excited when it was time to eat.

Ephram left the table after 15 minutes and entertained us by doing tablet tricks from the family room.

And then he spontaneously fell asleep with Andy while I was upstairs putting Macie to sleep.

It was a very good Thanksgiving.  I love spending this holiday with my family!

Turkey Time

During the Halloween season, Ephram spotted some Thanksgiving crafts on a trip to Michaels with me.  He was so excited about them, so I bought them for him and Charlie to make.

The first was a little turkey.  It turned out to be a ton of work and the adhesive was not very good, so that we ended up holding the turkey together with tape.  Didn't matter to Ephram, he was in heaven making that turkey.  (Charlie got frustrated with it because the pieces wouldn't stay stuck and didn't finish his.)

 The second craft was a turkey necklace.  Both of the boys had a great time putting their necklace together.  Ephram even made his own pattern and was able to string all of the beads, except the turkey, by himself.

Yes, that's a shiner on Charlie.  He took the perfect spill and hit a doorknob protector in the perfect spot to get a huge angry black eye the day before we took our Christmas pictures.  Of course.

Charlie made a ton of things at school too.  His thankful tree that he brought home said that he was thankful for TV, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and the Xbox Kinect.  Ah, the honesty of a six year old.  My favorite thing that he brought home was this hat.  I thought it was hilarious.

The boys had fun getting ready for turkey day this year!

My Rock Star

So, I have expanded my photography materials recently by adding a frame, backdrops and umbrella lights.  I have though about doing this for years, and finally just decided to do it.

When they first came, I spent time in our office every day playing around with them to teach myself how to use them.  The kids had so much fun modeling for me.

One day, I was just passing by the office, and Ephram ran up to me with his drum and some other percussion instruments.

"Pipi Mama!"

(Pictures Mom!)

Well, Ephram is the least willing of all my subjects lately.  So, when he's ready I oblige.  

Here's my little rock star, voluntarily posing for the camera.

So Long, Twinkies

Ephram likes to accompany me to the grocery store, so he comes with me almost every time.  He does a pretty good job, and I always let him choose one thing for the family if he is on his bestish behavior.  In the past he has chose such exciting things as a box of shredded wheat, a box of oatmeal, and butter.  Usually though, he chooses cookies of some sort.

One time when we were at the store in November, there were Hostess products in abundance everywhere.  So much so that I knew that he was definitely going to chose his favorite - the Twinkie.

(My favorite is the Zinger.  I almost bought a box of them too, but my willpower won out in the end.)

Now, the next day I happened to turn on Live with Kelly and Michael - and come to find out that Hostess is going out of business.  What?!?!?!  

Okay, so maybe I am often super disconnected from the world.  I don't put the news on in our house - because I feel that most of that reality is too much for my littles.

The next time I went back to the grocery store, which was a day after learning Hostess' plight, all of the Hostess products were gone.  Just like that.

Ephram was super excited when we explained that he had purchased one of the last boxes of Hostess Twinkies.  He took care to eat them slowly (for him.)  And I only had one for old times' sake.

Boy, do I wish I would have bought those Zingers!

He celebrated the last Twinkie by pulling his chair up to the window and watching the squirrels and birds in our yard as he ate it.  And then they were all gone.

Now there's a "Mrs. Freshley's" brand in our store that seemingly is carrying all the old Hostess products.  I haven't bought any.  Sure, they may taste the same... but they just aren't Hostess.

Macie in the Studio

I love to take pictures of my kids.
But every now and then, I worry that mine are not quite good enough.
Or traditional enough.
And I crave a studio set of photographs.
I try to line these cravings up with milestones.

So, during Macie's seventh month, we headed to the studio to document her half-year.

I don't go to fancy expensive places...
I just like the look of the backdrop, the lights, the posed picture.

Unfortunately, we ended up having to wait 20 minutes after we got there.
And Macie was nearing feeding and napping time by then.
She learned how to sit about three days after this,
The sitting pictures were a feat to obtain.
She also hated pushing up at the time.
So, those two things took all of the energy she had reserved.So our session was short,
But netted some pictures I like still.

Head Strong

Someone spent the entire month of November perfecting his head stand.
By the end of the month he could control the raising and lowering of his legs,
And even push up off his strong head into the slightest of handstands.

Honestly, I do not know where he got the idea to do this.
But he loved it so much,
Laughed so freely,
And clearly felt so accomplished,
That I am not questioning it.

That's one strong head sitting on top your shoulders, Ephram.

Starting Her Young

Everyone has something.

The thing that speaks to their core.

Growing up, I was lucky to have two things.

I had my words.

And although I do not claim to be a brilliant author,

I have always been able to write down a thing so that the feeling of the time is preserved - 

If for nobody else, but for me.

And that has always provided me with a freedom of sorts.

But more than my words, I have always had music.

In my life I have played the piano, violin, viola, flute, guitar and I used to love to sing.

(Would love to feel competent in singing again.)

But the one that remains very strong is the one that opened my being to music first.

The piano.

It has been such a gift to me, the ability to make music.

At times when I have felt like I could explode with an emotion, many emotions,

The piano has been there.

The piano and I, we have a strong bond.

Sometimes I have just needed to quiet my mind when it is storming with thoughts.

While I watch my hands play some Bach or some Beethoven, the quiet always returns.

And with it, a clarity that helps me cope with my life.

Chopin is my crutch on an emotional day,

A little Debussy when I want to feel peace,

Joplin or the blues when I feel so full of energy that I need to expend.

And then I have found myself playing through scales and scales and scales when I crave discipline.

The piano is more than an instrument to me - 

It is my confidant.

Sometimes I have gone for long stretches without playing.

And when I sit down after days, or weeks, or even months away,

It is truly like coming home.

The piano grounds me.

But playing the piano did not come naturally to me.

I do not feel that I was talented in piano at all.

My parents started paying for lessons for me when I was seven.

I had to work very, very hard until I hit a breakthrough of sorts around middle school.

Then I still had to work hard to keep up with the amazingly talented students that worked with my teacher.

(I'm so very lucky to have studied with such an excellent teacher.)

(And I hope my parents know that was money very well spent.)

I want my children to have anchors of their own.

And they all do seem musical... so I am introducing each of them to the piano.

When they are old enough, they can chose whether music is their "thing".

But at least I can give them the chance to learn it early, if they choose.

How early?

Macie loves music and started dancing early in November.

She will sit next to me at the piano and listen to me play for 15-30 minutes at a time.

And even if she is fussy before I start, listening almost always calms her.

She often giggles and sings with the music.

Macie already sits with me at the piano and knows how to reach out and play.

And she has her own toy piano too.

She loves it.

I love her.