Random December

The last month has been a whirlwind of projects.  Here are just a few snippets from our random life.

Ayvri has learned to climb the wall.  Truly, this little jumping bean can climb just about anything.  She's incredibly agile, has staggering energy and never runs out of creative ideas.  She loves to color, she is always talking to herself (as in, her mouth is moving, but no sound comes out), and she loves to sing.  

Kabe has lost four teeth this month - including both fronts and either side of the bottom front.  This gives him a very creepy smile.  Pair that with his inordinate ability to make creepy faces and we proudly present "Gollum".  He's an odd duck, but a great helper.  More than once he's donned his coveralls and gotten under the house to help with the work project.  What a good boy.

Leisl is a mover and shaker - she loves the Christmas lights and is such a sweetie.  I loved this picture of her fat little face and triple chin, the best kissing neck around.

Little Darla loves to make faces and recently Mom decided that she has enough hair to give her bangs - an actual haircut ensued and she looks so much like Ksenya at this age it's killing her mother.  What a sweet, silly girl (who is actually completely potty-trained now).

Ayvri's scary hair - a constant in our life of change :)

Once of Kabe's Mommy minutes - don't know why they are called Mommy minute because usually they are Daddy minutes, but these boys decided they needed to arm wrestle and Kabe found that by using his whole body and putting his feet on Dad's chest for leverage he could (almost) win.

Ksenya had her first orchestra concert and it was delightful.  She is working so hard and it is awesome to hear her practicing and developing this new talent.  She is, as always, a stellar sister and such a great helper for Mom and Daddy.  She's started "babysitting" and really does a great job when Mom and Dad are on the job-site.

This made me laugh.  We have this nativity so the kids can play with it and more often than not I find it set up like this - with all the pieces so tightly bunched around the manger I'm sure baby Jesus can't breathe, but it's sweet and I'm sure just the way they really felt that first Christmas night.

Sweet Leisl cut her first tooth and wasn't very sweet.  For about 3 days she was miserable.  Hopefully the rest won't be this bad.

And finally - our big project.  This is a picture of a big empty lot.  See that on the right - it's Daddy and a couple other guys, next to a pad of cement where now sits a little blue house.  That's right we bought a house (sort of). and took it apart and moved it to this empty lot and dug trenches for water and sewer and power and put the house back together and took the axels and tongues off and put it on jacks and plumbed the gas line and did about a million other things and after another week or two of work (and another million things) we'll be ready to move into our own little paradise.  It's been a long time in coming and we are super excited!  Brace yourself, in just a few weeks we'll have an actual address of our own.  This is the only thing the kids asked for, for Christmas this year and although we missed our target deadline, we're hoping for a New Year in our new house.

Play Time with the Petersen's

We've tried to get a little more creative with Family Night Activities (pinterest is good for so many things).  Here is one of our latest and greatest - SUMO WRESTLING!  Simply insert pillows (and children) into one of Daddy's big t-shirts and let them run into each other and knock each other across the room.  I won't say it's not dangerous, but it's super fun, and even Mom and Daddy participated.  

Brigham and Darla love building forts these days and bunk beds are the perfect place.  They can spend hours in there and with that kind of payoff, Mom helps build it sometimes.

Silly Sisters

We have no shortage of silly girls at our house.  Leisl and Darla are really bonding and spend pretty much every waking moment together.  Thankfully, Ayvri has stepped in as "big sister" while Ksenya is gone all day at school.  It's funny to see how different all the girls are.  

Particularly the two on bottom, lovingly referred to as our 'baby girls' are so fun to watch.  They are nearly the same height.  In this picture they are wearing the exact same pair of jammies (same size and everything).

Although lately you can see that Darla has really chubbed up and her hair is thickened to the point she's looking a whole lot less like a baby and a lot more like a little girl.

Leisl is an angel baby.  She is really sweet and is now crawling all over the house - faster than can be.  She is long and lean, a little string bean and happy almost every minute of the day.  She's also doted on by her 5 siblings, 2 parents and pretty much everyone else on earth.

This picture made me laugh.  On the left is a baby doll that used to be Aunt Darla's - one Ksenya played with as a baby and now our baby Darla plays with.  It's funny that the doll is the same size as my 2 year old.

And this sweet girly is coming into her own.  I can't believe she is getting to be such a big girl - in my brain she should be Darla's size, wild-haired and giggly.  Though she's still wild-haired and always always giggling, she's also changing and it's bittersweet for this mommy.  I'm so thankful for all of my silly girls.

The Writer

Kabe has developed a love for writing we never thought he would.  This is some of the work our little literary displayed at his fall festival.  One of these poems was for Halloween the other for Veterans day.

 I just love preserving their work like this (saves on storage too).

So glad he has Mrs. Waldman this year - she is so wonderful and he is thriving in her class!

Mommy Minute

Jeri gave us the greatest idea.  Every night she gives 10-15 minutes after bedtime to one of her kids.  Undivided attention people - this is a BIG DEAL!

We decided to try it at our house and I've been trying to document fun and silly things that have happened at Mommy minute. 

This is Ayvri, dancing with Daddy.

This is Brigham showing us how he can backflip off the couch.

Kabe taught us the frog stand that he learned at scout.  Ksenya mostly has grown up discussions and darla and Leisl usually just cuddle and read stories.  It's a great minute for us to focus on the kids one-on-one and I'm so thankful my sister shared it with us (and so are my kids).

Out of space.

I logged on this morning to post a dozen really wonderful photos I've taken of the kids this last month.  Some of them are boastful (Kabe's writing), silly (the kids sumo wrestling at FHE), beautiful (Leisl's latest smile and crawl) and down-right laughable (Darla trying to pout).  Sadly, I can't share them because I'm out of space.  Not sure what to do about this.  I could just bite the bullet and pay the $2.50 a month to upgrade my storage (ruining the blissful 'free-ness' of my blog).  I could start another blog to chronicle the next 5 years of our family (leaving us with about 30 blogs by the time I die - and who can keep track of that?).  I could find some time to print what I have into a book for myself and then delete it from existence online (meaning only I could access and enjoy it and there wouldn't be a way to print more books when the kids are old enough to care - creating a whole heck of a lot more work for me).  

So . . . until I figure out this little dilemma I'm going to whine and hope that Google hears about it - after all, couldn't they just give me a few more GB of space?  What would it possibly hurt?  After all, I'm making the internet a better place right?  Plus I'll be the first to admit that this 'space' seems a bit ambiguous - after all, where does this GB exist?  On someone's hard drive somewhere?  Is Google going to run out of 'space'?  Can someone please explain to me how they are letting us all have free blogs anyway?  How does one create "space" on the internet?  Clearly, I need to be educated on this matter. 

Maybe I'll Google it :)

Happy Harry Potter Halloween

The theme for this year's Halloween was chosen by Kabe - Harry Potter of course.  The cast of characters goes as follows:

"I'm Hermione Granger . . . . and . . . you are?"  Complete with her big big book and frizzy hair.

 The young Severus Snape was quite severe :)

Darla got to be Dobby.  By the time Halloween came around she was quite fond of wearing her ears and she was a little irritated with me when I dirtied up her pillowcase dress.

Dobby is a free elf :) 

Bellatrix Lestrange.  After last year's "additions" to Ayvri's costume I figured we'd better not dissapoint this year so she was quite buxom.  She loved her black hair, long fingernails and all the lacing on her dress.  We were quite accurate on this one to make the dress look very close to the pictures we found online and she of course loved the dark red lipstick.

This one was probably my favorite.  When I suggested that Ksenya be Dolores Umbridge she wasn't a huge fan of the idea.  After a little bit of bribing she got excited about it and by the time Halloween came along she was hunting everything pink she could find to complete the ensemble.  I crocheted her shawl looking at pictures of my favorite Umbridge outfit and I thought the broach was the perfect touch.

Of course Kabe had his character picked out ages ago. He's been practicing his spells and even collected pictures of the different character's wands to give to Uncle Heath.  He is our local expert on Potterisms and keeps us as authentic as possible.

 Brigham took a little convincing to be Mad-Eye Moody as well but as soon as he realized he got to wear this cool eye he took the part seriously.  I think he had to watch #4 six or seven times to really embrace the part but he got the tongue thing down (see above) and the facial expressions and limp are still a work in progress.  We also had to give him a big belly which he thought was super cool. (notice the silver foot? Kabe reminded us that he has a metal foot).

Gideon got to be Ron Weasley - and he has dirt on his nose, and a broken wand.  

 Dumbledore was by far the most patient of our little spooks.  He kept this full get-up on all night long and was so careful I don't think he even moved his face.  I think the robe and hat turned out pretty cool but it was definitely the beard and glasses that made this one.  And notice - he's carrying the Elder wand!

Hagrid wasn't happy until he found out he could have a brown wig instead of black and he could have the biggest belly of them all.  We ended up stuffing him front and back and my favorite part of his costume was his tiny pink umbrella.  

Luna Lovegood could pass as a movie double - her hair was perfect and she flew around in a kind of daze all night long, carrying her quibbler magazine upside down.  What a darling Kodi Jo. 

 This one was definitely the hardest for me to wrap my brain around.  As soon as we chose the theme I knew I wanted Leisl to be the golden snitch - but how?  Aunt Jeri came up with this pillow insert idea and it was perfect.  She was a giant ball of fluff and sparkly and the wings are perfectly dainty.  She was a little hard to hold but she thought it was great fun and was very patient as we pulled her in and out and in and out of this pillow costume.

 Here's the whole crazy herd on Halloween itself.  I can't believe how warm it was - best weather I've ever had trick-or-treating.  We hit a bunch of houses of our favorite people and then made a pact that next year we'll only stop at the houses of people we don't know just to shake things up.

 Daddy went for Seneca Crane (the gamemaker from Hunger Games) this year.  Although I ran out of time and didn't make his actual costume, we still did the beard and he treated patients like this all day.  They were good sports about it and I thought it was too funny!

 Before we ever left the house Darla (who missed her nap) tanked out.  Kabe thought this would be the perfect photo opportunity to re-enact Dobby's final scene in the movie.

He couldn't keep a straight face as he held her and said, "Dobby's dead!"  It was very dramatic and very funny!

Overall - Happy Halloween.  I don't know why I love the costume part so very much but I do.  This year Jeri and I decided we'd store them carefully and try to sell the costumes next halloween to pay for the supplies to make new ones.

Halloween Preview

Halloween is over.  I know.

I have a ton a fantastic pictures of fantastic costumes made by fantastic Mommies this year.

But I'm out of time for posting so as a teaser here's one I found of the Daddy - trying on bits and pieces of the kids costumes, paired with the beard from his own.  Go ahead, venture a guess at the theme this year!

Funny Girls Catering

Did you know that I'm half partner in a business venture?  I am, and it's called Funny Girls Catering.  Now the truth is that we are a fledgeling business - very small (2 funny girls) and very new (we've had 2 gigs).  Still, it's something that someday (when the kids are all in school and we're not both managing office for our husbands) we will take on with a vengeance.  It's really fun . . . mostly because we are funny!

For this particular fall meal we did Ham, baked potatoes with fresh chive butter, two salads (Sweet onion citrus and purple cabbage pear), fall fruit kabobs and spiked cold apple cider and pumpkin roll for dessert.  It was beautiful.

I love food. 

Still need work on my food photography skills.

So you know, someday we'll get our website up, our menu set and funny girls will hit the road.

Aah, someday :)

Prettyfied Girl

Darling Ksenya had a recognition night for activity days where she was supposed to display something that she had created.  We talked through a lot of different options and finally decided to buckle down and do what she's wanted to start forever:  sewing lessons.

We started with this dresden plate quilt block which she did herself - from choosing the fabrics, to piecing, to finishing and framing.  She really did learn a lot about machine and hand sewing and it is a cute wall-hanging.

She also played a song on the piano that night called "The Breakers" and did a good job.  My little wall-flower has finally decided to blossom and is not nearly as shy as she used to be.

One night we took a drive to wal-mart rather late.  It was just Ksenya and I, the rest of the herd was deep in the throes of remodel and we were sent to find something for dinner.  On our way there we had yet another discussion about piercing.  We told Ksenya after she was 8 that it was her decision and when she was ready we'd get it done.  

Well, some sort of spontaneous bug caught both our ears and hers came out a little 'holey'er than they went in.  She sat down and then chickened out, but in the check-out line she gathered all her courage and committed.  She cried a little in anticipation but once the first hole was in she started laughing.  I, of course, did the good Mommy thing and when we were leaving told her very seriously, "Now, YOU get to be the one to tell your Daddy."  I died laughing at the face she gave me, clearly concerned at Daddy's reaction.  Of course he loved it and she has been very pleased with her decision.  The next day Ayvri wouldn't stop talking about when she could get hers done.  Ah, life in a house full of girls!

Food Heaven

Andy (my rock-on-awesome brother in law) has opened a new restaurant and needed some pictures taken.  I was all too happy to help him out (of course when I was done the food had to be eaten, can't let that kind of thing go to waste).  

It was my first real shot at fod photography and it was a lot of fun.  No need to get the food to smile or hold still, just stage and shoot.  

Doesn't that look good enough to eat?  If you're ever in Cedar stop by - it won't disappoint!