not on the bandwagon

We had a great Thanksgiving. Last year, I went to the hospital to deliver Beckett on a unusually warm fall day. During my three days in the hospital, we celebrated our new baby, Thanksgiving happened, I ate one-and-a half pecan pies, and winter arrived. So it felt like I kind of skipped the holiday and headed straight for Christmas. Not that I minded, really. Anyway, this Thanksgiving was a bit more traditional, complete with wonderful friends, yummy food, and some family football.

And I forgot all about Black Friday until some friends mentioned it that evening.

I am not a fan of the early morning. Or lines. Or shopping. (Would I like shopping if it didn't make me feel guilty? Hmm) So I love a good deal, but not enough to wake up at 5:00 in the morning and go, well, anywhere. Maybe someday, when I sleep through the night whenever I want, I'll join the rest of the world and stimulate our economy with some serious Black Friday spending.

But not this year. This year, I woke up and made banana bread. And then, a new recipe that turned into a yummy-I-didn't-have-enough-pumpkin-on-Thanksgiving breakfast . I made some syrup to go on top- combination of some stuff I found on allrecipes.com. Some apple juice, pumpkin, karo syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg...and who knows what else. This was another one of those creations that drives Joel crazy. I didn't follow a recipe, which means I'm not entirely sure I can make it again. We have a few pasta dishes he loved that I am still trying to recreate...

fading...

I'm so behind now on blogging. This is when it's tempting to wave the white flag. Or something less decisive, like just quietly fading, fading, fading...until blogging becomes something I used to do. A phase.

It's okay to have month long gaps in posting, right? Because this is for me, mostly. And I don't have to be so all or nothing about it. I can wander right back into writing about all the wonderful, ordinary, delightful, frustrating things going on in our life.

Things don't just fade away. They can fade in too.

Yellow

This is the first year Eli had his own idea of what he wanted to be for Halloween- "the man with the yellow hat". I thought it was a great. Not scary, unique, and a great invitation for a cute little Curious George outfitted Beckett. I loved the idea of making his costume, which is good since I'm pretty sure this is not offered in the off-the-rack options at Target.

"I'll just buy some white sweatpants and a shirt to dye yellow," I thought. That sounded simple enough. Maybe if I started looking in spring, but I soon discovered that October is not a good month for white. Walmart, Target, Old Navy, Goodwill- no one had white sweats or jeans. I finally found some used size 10 girls jeans at Kangaroo Kids, and a shirt from the boys school uniform section at Target.

So, here's the outfit after a dip in the yellow fabric dye from Walmart. I'm still working on the hat. The felt is kind of hard to work with, and I really have no idea what I'm doing. But Eli was thrilled and couldn't wait to wear it, which is the whole point really. I had no idea how fun it would be to indulge his imagination and do these little things for him.

Good times.

Smile

His smile...it gets me every time.

eee-iiii

Since the day we found out that Team Lindsey would include three of the male variety, we have prayed for the boys to be close. So far, so good.

Every morning, as Beckett wakes up (in our bed, yes, which is another post for another day) rolls over and pats Daddy on the back, he says, "Da-da...Da-da...Da-da." On the rare occasion that it doesn't wake J up, Beckett rolls back over to my side and pulls my hair, or sticks his fingers up my nose, depending on which way I'm facing. Nice, huh? At first, I thought this finger- up-the-nose-pinching move was an accident courtesy of his uncoordinated little fingers, but he does it pretty consistently, and uses the same maneuver on J if he happens to be facing him. Apparantly, he's very practical. Of course it gets us up, because, ouch, little fingers and little fingernails are quite a startling and effective way to wake up drowsy parents.

Once he has successfully gotten our attention, he puts in his request for the person he really wants to see. Or maybe he just notices that one family member is missing from this morning snuggle time. "Eee-I.....Eee-I....E-I.....Eeeee-IIII."

He is saying Eli. He says it alot. We thought it was a fluke, because 9 months is on the young side for talking. But it's not a fluke. He repeats it immediately after J calls for Eli. He says it when Eli walks out of the room. He says it as a scoots on his belly across the hardwood floors, looking for Eli. He says it with a giant grin when Eli walks back into the room. He says it in his high chair while he watches Eli eat.

Call it wishful thinking, but we're taking it as a sign of some answered prayers. These boys will be friends. Best of friends. And brothers.

Four

We met

casually in 1997 at Princeton, NJ

maybe in 1999 but I can't really remember

grateful and sobered in 2001, a wedding in California

cautious and intrigued summer of 2002, emails from Georgia to Missouri and back again

curious and butterflied and ice cream in hand, fall of 2002

with his car full and dreams for a future, fall of 2003

with a ring and a question, winter of 2004

at the alter

four years ago

today.

And now there are four.

And now there are Four.

a late night question

So, last night, kids asleep, dishes done, house quiet, I was craving a little snack. Cookies in hand, I wondered...

Does the organic 1% milk cancel out the 6 Oreos?

Hmm...