Dec 24

On the twenty-fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one shining star, a golden candle, a slow green tortoise, one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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We also have a tree full of presents, three sleeping kids, one sleepy baby, one very awake baby, and a house full of tired elves. Let's hope that the kids let us sleep in until at least five!

Dec 23

On the twenty-third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a golden candle, a slow green tortoise, one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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It's 11.15pm and I've been frantically elfing for hours while Charlie watches the kids. Things are mostly done though. Now I just need to cook a ham tomorrow....

Liam lounging in front of the fire

Dash getting to know mom

Dec 22

On the twenty-second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a slow green tortoise, one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Mom started with the gift giving early this year. She pulled out two seuss hats tonight and much fun was had.



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the blur of the photo is a great representation of the sibling....enthusiasm over who gets to hold a baby.

Dec 21

On the twenty-first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one brown bird, a pink ornament, one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Yesterday got lost in the rush of even more family arriving. Today we made solstice cookies and ran around at a park while there was a break in the rain. Playing on the swings is always fun!

Dec 19

On the nineteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one blue tree ball, B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Sappho demonstrating her baby-holding skills

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We took advantage of a beautiful clear day to go for a long walk.

Liam took a ride on Nicolaas' chest, and enjoyed noshing on his own fist and drooling everywhere.

The girls ran and jumped in puddles

Sappho went stump-surfing

Dash slept on me

Fenric took in the world from Gabriel's back...

...and smiled up at the sunshine

Dec 18

On the eighteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: B is for Brown!, a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Calliope and Sappho help Charlie make meatballs for dinner...

Dec 17

On the seventeenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a tasty candy cane, one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

And some Bodkins at the airport at midnight! Yay!

Dec 16

On the sixteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one green tree, a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

Dec 15

On the fifteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a nut-eating squirrel, tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Excuse me, Charlie is cooking filet mignon and I have to go eat it. Yay! And both babies are sleeping.

Remind me of this at 3 am when Liam is screaming my ears off of my face. Again.

Dec 14, tough guy

On the fourteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: tasty purple grapes, a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Tough guy in his white tshirt

Tough guy.....crumbles

The real tough guy, who keeps scratching up his face no matter how close I trim his nails

Dec 13; peanut gallery

On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a frosty white tree, one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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the peanut gallery, Dash in the mammaroo and Liam in the bjorn

I roasted a chicken tonight, simplicity incarnate. Dry, salt & pepper it, roast at 450 until done. The boys were nice enough to lounge until I had it in the oven. Then Liam chilled while Dash had a bath, and vice versa. The result: two boys who smelled like creamsicles (thank you, whomever gave me that awesome wash and lotion at my baby shower!) and a crispy chicken ready to be carved. Charlie came home and made a salad using pomegranates from our CSA box. Well, while I'm typing he is still making it. So I have no idea if the chicken is good and no idea if I will spit or chew up the pomegranate seeds. He told me this morning that the seeds are one of the main roughage sources for Persians. Will I adopt their traditions? Who knows!

Dec 12 & rainy

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one sly grey cat, a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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While my sister has been enjoying holiday snowfall (well, enough for several holidays really) in Minneapolis, it's been raining here. Really really raining. The best part is that the weather system is referred to as a "pineapple express." I love pineapple. The worst thing is that there's flooding all over the place, and I am constantly watching the drainage on our property to make sure we don't all slide down the hill. The chickens are crabby because their coop gets wet (there's really no way to keep the rain from blowing in) and I don't let them out because our entire property is saturated and I don't want them digging around in the mud too much.

One of the natural drainage results is our seasonal stream. It runs along the side of the house nestled in the trees. During the summer lush ferns grow, so now there's a roaring creek running through and over prehistoric-sized enormous ferns. It sounds lovely.



For scale, the moss-covered tree trunk at the end of the video is too large for me to wrap my arms around.

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farmer Liam in his cute denim overalls

Dec 11

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a charlie brown ornament, one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

Dec 10

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one jaunty snowman, a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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Last night was another mediocre dinner made by me, followed by delicious looking cooking shows. The boys weren't giving much ground on their crankiness, so I strapped them both on while cooking. Liam relaxed for the most part, but Dash was pleased as punch to observe all of the action.

kitchen helpers

You can't see it in the picture, but Dash kept kneading Liam's head. Liam didn't seem to care.

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The boys had another adventure today.....I took them to meet Santa. Since so many of you that are on my christmas card list read the blog, that's one picture you'll have to wait till the holiday letter to see! There has to be some mystery after all. :)

Dec 9

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a lone acorn, one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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I didn't realize that my post didn't work yesterday until mom called this afternoon, asking me if everything was ok. Yes! :) I typed everything up, hit post, and then ran off to tend babies. Oops!

Dec 8, things 1&2, and cheeseburgers

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: one golden bell, a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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My favored way of dressing the twins is a lot like my mom's quilt design: similar but different. If they're wearing exactly the same outfit it actually makes me a little uncomfortable, like I'm trying to get them to be the same person. Now, we did get a lot of two-some outfits as gifts and I think that's super because it just means I have to wash them less frequently. :) But for the most part my favorite style is to have them, for instance, both wearing white undershirts and white socks and different colored pants and sweaters. Then they look like brothers. Similar but different.

pancakes improved everyone's mood

Today was an exception because these onesies have made me laugh for as long as I can remember. I bought them at a consignment sale and it's a good thing I decided to put them on for our wednesday pancake lunch today because I practically had to shoehorn the boys into them. The boys didn't exactly cooperate with pictures but trust me they were super cute. I decided to let Dash have 1 because he was the firstborn.

Liam ate, then slept through everything

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Last night Charlie was working late, and the boys were being pills so I put a log on the fire and we all settled down to read some Calvin & Hobbes. It was loads of fun, but was a bit loud at times. Everyone was fed, dry, warm, didn't want to dance, didn't even want to be held, was just possessed of an overwhelming cranky. Damn can those boys cry!

looks peaceful, doesn't it?

trust me, he's just inhaling for more screaming

Just in case you thought things were ever quiet around here. I'm just very good at tolerating the volume.

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And why yes, I did have a glorious cheeseburger for dinner last night. And I ate it on my christmas china.

Dec 7

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a festive wreath, one goldfish, batman, a sparkly white snowflake, one delicious looking gingerbread man, a happy bluebird, and one cute disembodied santa head.

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A recipe for hunger: make a mediocre dinner, and then go watch Guy Fieri's "Diners Drive-Ins, and Dives." I tried last night, I used our classic hash formula (meat, veg, onions, potato) and threw together a skillet of lamb sausage, shredded brussel sprouts, onions, fresh thyme, and diced potatoes. Sounds good, but it was blah. Charlie and I each dutifully ate a plate for dinner and then decided to relax downstairs with some cooking shows. Guy went to a diner that serves americana food, and put together a hamburger that looked so very delicious.

Then there was an italian joint rolling their own wafer thin pasta with vodka sauce, and making tons of sandwiches on homemade bread buns that I would kill to duplicate. And on, and on, and on. We were both drooling. It was time to go to bed, and I consoled myself with a few toasted slices of whole wheat homemade sourdough with butter and honey. It didn't do the trick. The loaves I made the other day are too dense, even though I added quite a bit of vital wheat gluten. My belly was full but my brain was still hungry. Then, well, I just went up with the boys to bed.

And tonight I bought the goods to make some hamburgers, and scored some brioche rolls, some crinkle sweet potato fries, and am hoping that things turn out the way they are in my mind!

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Cute boys, doing cute things:

Liam ponders the cosmos from Charlie's lap

Dash poses for some cheesecake shots

Liam, well, enjoys sleeping sometimes

Doing the hand-jive in their big-boy outfits from Sonia