Whispers and Winks!

I knew the time would come when my Girls would ask the big question. Is He Real? Is the nineteen year old wearing the white cotton beard and pillow stuffed under his belt the real deal?

I clearly remember as a kid the time my young uncle played Santa. It was the first and only time I ever saw a six foot five, skinny St. Nick. When he walked in the room all 24 of us cousins yelled out "Joe! Why are you in Santa's suit?" before we lost interest and opened our new gloves and five dollar McDonalds gift cards. To this day it still makes me giggle to think of how much work it must have taken Grandma to convince my gangly, teen-aged uncle to play the part and how when he responded with a "Ho Ho Ho, I'm Santa" his voice cracked a little!

This year the mystery has been gone for Katie. We've shared secret whispers and winks, partners in keeping it real for her younger sisters. But a tear still came to my eye when she refused to take her turn sitting on Santa's lap at our annual Neighborhood party. She gave me a look and in her face I saw maturity. She didn't come right out and say that she was too old to make a list, but later she circled items in the adds from the Sunday Paper and handed them to me. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I saw that she had circled a doll.

Eight

Shayla Ray turned eight. Last year was her "big" party so this year we celebrated "small."

We started the festivities by shoving big cupcakes into mouths and by opening

small versions of her favorite animal,

big versions of yummy flavored lip gloss

and then an even bigger toy horse that looked quite a bit like Willie, who she rides every other Wednesday. He's such a gentle, sweet equine!

Next, the gang, including her friend Isabel went to the over-the-top, slapstick, zany, cartoon like version of Cinderella at the Children's Theatre.

At one point during the show, they announced a Birthday and Shayla sat up in her chair, anticipating her name to be called next. It never was.

If she felt dissapointment she didn't share it with me, but Dave and I locked eyes over her head and we knew. It's a bit of a bummer to not have a huge, knock em' down, invite the whole town celebration. I enjoy them just as much as the girls. Yet, they have so much, a basement full of toys that rarely get played with, friends living next door, as much Life cereal and natural Peanut Butter as they can eat...they rarely feel want. They're used to immediate need fulfillment.

My goal is that by having to wait a year they'll learn to appreciate the BIG things in life, like spending time with one special friend, wearing matching pajamas,

getting hugs from an Auntie and the handful of presents that have been chosen with love. Maybe, I'm doing it right, time will tell. But what I know for sure is that my time is so limited with these amazing girls and every day counts. My middle girl just turned eight, tomorrow she'll be eighteen.

Sausage Makin'

A few times a year Dave gets together with his brother Paul and they make Venison Sausage the old fashioned way. They mix in spices, a secret recipe that differs from brother to brother but always contains a lot of garlic and a good kick.

To the Venison they add Beef and Pork. When I was first married I, in my naivety thought it would be fun to help.

My niece Emma still thinks its fun. She's seven. She's never been pregnant and had the smell of raw meet greet you at the door when you returned from work. Emma's never found a tuft of Deer fur lying innocently on your otherwise clean Kitchen counter. She's never walked around tarps hanging in the garage to block the view of ...a Deer hunter's prize. She's never been surprised by a leg of Buck wrapped in plastic, lying innocently in her freezer right above the Peppermint Bon Bon and frozen corn, looking too much like something she'd seen on CSI the night before.

No, the innocent lamb has never spent an entire evening (10 minutes) cranking the handle of this black monster, feeling the burn to your arms but unable to stop because your pride wouldn't let you, not wanting to be the weak link, the new girl with no muscles, especially in front of the family Patriarch.

Thankfully, pregnancies produced babies that needed tending to, lest they eat raw meat off the floor and I was excused from future cranking sessions. Relegated to the warm house and Dora the Explorer reruns where there was an endless supply of Goldfish crackers and Chocolate Milk.

And where I could wait patiently to sample the smoked yumminess sliced on a cracker and cheese.

A Glitter Filled Christmas!

I love Christmas! I love the decorations, the snow, the jolliness of strangers shopping, the gift giving and receiving. I love the cookies. I love the programs, the parties and I even love the crafts.


Yesterday at a church family event we went "Back to Bethlehem" and visited many shops in a pretend town square, eventually ending up in a stable where a family patiently sat with their baby dressed in robes, surrounded by hay. Along the route we visited a spice shop, a carpentry shop, a bakery, stone mason, pottery shop and a Jewelry shop. It was there that I was reminded to enjoy the moments! At a table we sat next to a Mom organizing the beads for her seven year old, too worried about getting it wrong to make a bracelet of her own. My three girls, a cousin and a friend all sat down, made our own bracelets and left while the little girl sat and watched her Mom patiently arrange beads into a pattern on a paper towel. Good grief. Parenting is hard enough without all of the extra pressure we put on ourselves to be perfect and the anxiety we pass down. My bracelet looked pretty on my arm and that in itself made me feel a little giddy.

There is a freedom that comes with letting go of expectations. Who cares if the decorations on my tree are bottom heavy. It was decorated by very proud kids who smile every time they see it. And the fact that my floor always needs to be swept due to the increased activity in my art supply cupboard or that my kitchen island has dried glue that needs to be scraped? Does it really bother you? Not me. We LIVE here.

Does anyone care that this little snowman ornament is actually touching the floor? Isn't slightly flawed kind of endearing? Don't you smile when you see a kid who obviously cut his own bangs?

I'd much rather watch her face after finding the right spot for an important ornament,

then rush around in a Martha Stewart induced fog. Somewhere, somehow over the last few years I've become more focused on the big picture, the lessons, the message to my girls than in what other people think.

I will not be creating a poster with a spinning wheel for Jenna's Kindergarten project like I did for Katie. Instead, I'll let her do her own, offering advice. That way when she succeeds it will be her victory and not mine. Shayla asked the other day if I really thought Jenna's drawing was pretty or if I was lying. It looked like a bunch of scribbles to her. "I love it!" I honestly told her. I tried to explain that it will always remind me of how Jenna could draw at the age of six. Then, I looked around the house, glitter stuck on the floors, laundry crowding the hallways, gameboard pieces in the mudroom and I just laughed. I love it! I love Christmas, I love glitter and I love being a Mom to little girls!

Sometimes

Sometimes when the girls get home from school I just have to grab a camera.

They look so cute

and sweet.

Never grumpy.

Thanksgiving in Two Harbors

Thanksgiving in Two Harbors

was lovely.

The air was crisp and there wasn't even a hint of snow.

And the sunsets were...just amazing, not that I saw any. Dave took these pictures, I was too busy playing Apples to Apples with the girls, eating pumpkin bars and gaining back five of the eight pounds I had lost. Take my advice, starting a diet right before Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas is a REALLY bad idea. I should have ate an Apple. I should have stayed out of the Trick or Treat bags. Darn those mini candy bars.

Dave and Grandpa took the girls rock hunting while us ladies went bargain hunting in quaint little shops with names like, The Oldest Sister and Moosellaneous Gifts.

The girls found a few agates, some sea glass

and came traipsing back to the house with a big bag of treasures.

just in time for some yummy Turkey leftovers!

Later, Shayla and Jenna took turns styling Grandpa's hair.

While I watched as much HGTV as I possibly could. I miss having cable. I miss Divine Design. I miss those pumpkin bars.

I miss my Mom.

Thanksgiving in Two Harbors

was lovely.

Tommy's Old Fashioned Malt Shop

If you are under thirty years old and are willing to save every dime you make, put off having babies, pray and patienty wait for the right timing, you can make your dreams come true.

My Nephew Brett and his wife Emily are taking that leap, that risk, that first step in an awesome adventure by opening an Old Fashioned Malt Shop in downtown Chaska.

They had a Friends and Family night to help train the cute, high school waitresses
and to work out the kinks, like the fryer breaking.

The Grandma's were there, one to help get the place clean

and another to show support

and big Sister was there in the middle of everything, helping, organizing, making malts and laughing her great infectious loud, happy laugh. If I ever open a business, I'm hiring Melissa to help me launch it. She's just that good at everything she does.

Tom was there. I'd like to know how many hours he's invested to help this dream become a reality? Dad's are just that way. Plus the place is named after him.

Then, there were the great burgers,

and malts.

We tried the Strawberry,

the Coffee Chocolate

and Emily's favorite, Hot Fudge Butterscotch. Yum!

Jenna liked all three

but for Ava it was all about the Strawberry!

If you're ever in Chaska, go say "Hi" to Brett and Emily and help make their dream a success!

A Needle and Some Thread

Shayla loves to make crafts. She loves to take a box and turn it into a dog bead, or some glitter and water into paint. She loves to glue, and cut (remember the bangs-at-the-root trim fiasco in Kindergarten?) Around her room you'll find string tied to necklaces, tied to fabric, tied to headbands, tied to a sock and finally tied around a Webkins as a leash.

So, it should come as no surprise that sewing is her newest passion. What was shocking is how, on her own she drew this nightgown

for her American Girl Doll,

cut it out using Dad's lefty scissors

and then with a needle and some thread

and a whole lot of love, created a gown for her own baby.

Then, sewed the arms onto a matching gown for herself.
My amazing talented designer girl.

Inspired, I grabbed the scissors and created a Poodle Skirt for my baby
for "Blast to The Past Day" at school.

Shayla quickly picked up the scraps already dreaming of her next project!