I may as well.

Merry Christmas.

"It's got scallions!"

Well everyone, it's official: I'm a grown-up. (As though the husband and two children weren't enough of a tip-off.) This year I was forced to cook Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. And no, I don't mean that Jeremy told me "make a turkey or beat it!" We were unable to go to Texas for Thanksgiving, so the cooking duties fell upon me. Amy... the girl who's duties of Thanksgivings past include opening cans, writing names on plastic cups, putting ice in plastic cups, and of course-- "preparing" the cranberry sauce. (Speaking of which, I was very angry when I realized that of all the food I made for this year's feast, I forgot the cranberry sauce-- clearly the easiest thing of all.)

While the food certainly wasn't the best we've ever had, I was proud of myself and Jeremy was nice enough to act enthusiastic about the dry turkey and poorly made gravy.

Oh yeah, and kudos to Jeremy on his first adventure in turkey-carving.



Of course, Evie can't speak yet and Jack hasn't gotten very good at it yet, but if they could speak I would imagine these are the things they would say they are most thankful for.

Evie: My big brother.


Jack: Mr. Potato Head.


You can't imagine Jack's enthusiasm when we pointed out the Mr. Potato Head float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. After he gave the on-screen Mr. Potato Head a kiss, he went and grabbed his Mr. Potato Head's pieces and tried to attach them to the floating Mr. Potato Head.

The Vindictive State

Not counting the year and a half I spent in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, I lived in Texas my whole life. So it's not surprising to me that Texas is a little angry with me for moving to Wyoming. September marked an entire year of absence between me and the great state. When we journeyed back in October, I started feeling like some force was acting against me and Jeremy. I guess it all started with Jack getting ill-- which meant two fairly sleepless nights for me and Jeremy. The day before we flew back home we were to attend a wedding of one of my dearest friends. Well, because of a combination of problems (Sick/tired Jack, a pretty bad traffic jam, another but even more hellish traffic jam, a rainstorm, foul directions from googlemaps, a near wardrobe catastrophe) we ended up being TWO AND A HALF hours late for a wedding. Now, I know I'm not the most punctual duck in the pond, but this really takes the cake and throws it out the window.

Well, a week ago, I returned to Texas for a wedding of another dear friend. In addition to an extremely exhausting journey that I was making on three hours sleep, the airline lost my luggage, adding about an hour of waiting time in the baggage claim terminal. My mother then tries to take me home but because of traffic we didn't end up getting to her house until 9 o'clock, when I had originally figured we'd be there around 5. Well, I still hadn't gotten my luggage on Saturday, the day of the wedding, so I was on a mad hunt for clothes to wear to the wedding-- trying to make it to the church early so I could help. Well, the rest of the weekend was great until I rode back to Dallas with my sister. Traffic... unfortunately timed exit... franticly trying to make my flight... but it was too late. I whispered "OK, Texas, I'm sorry I moved to Wyoming!" The clouds parted and they put me on standby for the next flight back to Denver which was way underbooked.

Anyway, that was long and drawn out and I don't even think it fully conveys the frustration those two trips afforded, but the pleasure they afforded was far greater.


Well, significant milestones occurred today in the lives of my children.

1)For Jack's afternoon nap, he fell asleep on his own in his toddler bed. Then tonight after I read him his night-night book, he said "Car! Car!" and ran to his toddler bed and pulled the blanket up over himself. I said "all right, but if you get out you'll have to sleep in your crib." And that was it. He's now sleeping peacefully in his car-bed.

2) Evie began SCOOCHING today! Unreal. Just a little earlier than Jack, but I wasn't even thinking that crawling may be close for her. Anyhow, she effectively scooched at least two feet earlier today. I think she may have scooched further had the book she wanted been further from her. Anyhow, it was pretty neat.

Oh, dang.

My kids are growing up.

With that I'll say: Enjoy a few pictures and a video. Especially the pictures... but ESPECIALLY the video.



(In this picture, Jack was using Jeremy as a Mr. Potato Head substitute.)






(Notice after the first roll-over Jack's scamp battle cry: "Taaaaaa!!!!" )