Thanksgiving and Legoland

Thanksgiving 2014 was simple but great.  Since NomiAnn was in Seattle babying Eila, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house and invited Papa K.

Here's Brooklyn putting the finishing touches on the turkey place settings that our munchkins invented.

The longer we live in our home, the more I love it.

Jason baked a fantastic apple pie.

Uh oh!  Papa K's ruining Annika's appetite with--you guessed it--a tic tac.  :)

The rest of the spread joins our buffet table.  Yummy!  Now can anyone tell me how to keep it all piping hot?

Bon appetit!

Eli's certainly enjoying his food!

Papa K amazed us all by contributing an enormous frog eye salad.  Let's just say that no one went hungry!  And may I also add that my kids were still sad when the leftovers were all gone because they liked it so much.

Talia organized our after-dinner table conversation by making these THANKS poems out yarn where we wrote things that helped us feel grateful.

Out of all the thanksgiving thanks, Papa K received the most enthusiastic cheers of gratitude when he announced that he would be taking the whole lot of us to Legoland in Kansas City the next morning.  I don't know who was more excited, Jason or the kids.

Annika climbs in a Lego truck outside before we head in.

Looks like Talia needs some rescue!

I'm 128 duplos tall.  How about you?

This Lego jester looks a bit scared, don't you think?

Only Jason noticed how the figurine was so frightened that he wet his pants!

Papa K missed NomiAnn so much that he ran off with another gal.

Talia, on the other hand, ran off with a scuba diver.

The Kansas City models were absolutely incredible!

Anybody interested in a career as a master builder?

This guy sure wouldn't complain.  He was in absolute heaven with such an enormous lego pit at his fingertips.  (Eli liked it too.)

Well done, master architect!

Papa Kay, thanks so much for the lovely trip to Legoland!  We sure are grateful for you--not just on Thanksgiving, but all year round.

Talking to Myself

Sitting at the computer lately, I often feel like I'm just talking to myself. Anybody out there? Anyone? (Silence.) Well, in that case, let the monologue continue. :)

I wanted to toss out a few more pictures from when Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles came to visit.  Here they are with the grandkids in our living room:

And here they are during our morning craft session.  Turns out that Grandpa Charles is an outstanding wand painter!

Thanks to Charles and Susie's help, we churned out a dozen Harry Potter wands for a Young Women's activity.

Eli, on the other hand, dabbled in watercolors.

We turned Annika loose with the watercolors as well, but instead of painting the paper...

...she painted her face.  Silly gal!

As long as I'm playing catch-up, here are a few final pictures from fall before Christmas overtakes us all.

This autumn display comes from the Lauritzen botanical gardens.  I splurged on an annual membership back at the end of September as a birthday present to myself.  It's been pretty special to see the gardens change with the seasons.

My only complaint is that the big kids never get out of school in time to visit the gardens during the week.  On this day, I actually checked Brooklyn and Talia out an hour early so that they could enjoy the outdoors on the last warm day of fall.

Fortunately they just finished construction on an enormous new conservatory that will stay open (and toasty warm) all year long.

 Here's Annie Mae, checking out one of the newly planted flower beds.

Eli explores a colorful path.

A Bird of Paradise, aptly identified as a  "Plant of Interest."

Omaha's only tropical subclime.

I promised that this photo drop wouldn't get into the winter scene too much, but why don't we skip to Christmas after all--last Christmas.  These photos were taken last January at Papa Kay's law library.  While backing up pictures recently, I realized that I never shared them.

Cute, huh.  The best part is that in a couple days we'll all be together again once more.

Babyfully Topsy Turvy

A brand new baby.  What joy!  What exhaustion.  Remember how that very first little one turned your life completely upside down?

(Here's Brooklyn, just minutes old, with my Ob-Gyn Dr. Gamette)

Two weeks ago I was still in Puyallup snuggling baby Eila.


I miss that pretty babe already!  (Good thing she's coming to visit next week.)

I'd almost forgotten how teeny tiny newborns are, scarcely filling their car seat.

So sleepy!

Adam has transitioned marvelously into his new role of devoted father.  It's amazing how quickly these wee ones establish the ground rules of who's really in charge.  :)

Of course, it's always important to give extra love and attention to the older siblings when welcoming a new baby into the house.

I had more chances to bond with Zoe during this past trip than ever before, mostly because my lap was available.

Zoe was very cooperative during our pug photo shoot.

Aw, too adorable!

"Despite my graying whiskers, I'm still the cutest pug ever."

Eila, on the other hand, did not much appreciate of our photo staging.

We tried cookies...

And we tried flowers...

And then we wised up and scheduled a professional photo shoot.

Even if Eila had a few sad moments, my week in Washington was admittedly relaxing and rejuvenating--so much so that I felt a little guilty for leaving my family behind.  I worried most about abandoning Annika since she was still nursing before we parted.  Fortunately, I knew she was in the best of hands with Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles.  From what I can gather, they had a marvelous time together.

Annika came home with a new word--Jump!  Jump!

Taking Grandma's new shoes for a spin.

Our little cutie has a wide assortment of nicknames: Annie Mae (Jason's choice), Bubba (the name Brooklyn made up), and even Trouble (most often used by Eli.)  Personally, I find myself constantly referring to Annika as Baby Girl.  When Charles and Susie texted me these pictures, I suddenly realized that my little girl simply isn't a baby any more.

It's hard to see my baby baby grow up.  Exhausting as childrearing may be, I feel melancholy leaving young motherhood behind.  I let Annika nurse longer than any of the rest, simply because I wasn't prepared to break that bond of emotional closeness.  To be completely truthful, this morning I let her crawl into bed with me and suckle one last time.  Even though she may not physically need me, I missed it and needed one last chance to bid farewell to infancy.

On the positive side, our munchkins become more and more entertaining as they grow, constantly amazing us with their creativity.  When Annika and I arrived back in Omaha (I picked her up during a three hour layover in Salt Lake), the big kids surprised us with a welcome home party.  Not only was the house immaculate (thanks to Jason), but we were greeted by multiple posters.  (The small text on this one reads, I love you Mommy!  And you, Trouble.)

Best of all was the performance, complete with acrobatic entertainment (courtesy of Talia) and original vocal compositions (thanks to Brooklyn, who wrote new lyrics to "Let it Go.")

As all my babies grow up, life seems a bit topsy turvy once more.  Guess I'll just have to learn to be more flexible.