I don't remember what I said...

...but the Ladies Auxiliary in December, 1984 thought I was an outstanding spokesman for freedom.

My mom was cleaning out a closet, and found this 19 year old relic. :) Kinda wish I still had the speech! 

I remember Dad taking me to the event, that it was very cold, and that I felt what was for me, at the time, a very familiar feeling--overwhelming shyness and smallness. Funny how "outstanding spokesman" describes that same person! It's one of many instances that proves I'm always better with a script. :)

Crazy Sock Day

Since their everyday socks are pretty crazy already, creativity was in order. Enter rubber bands and whatever crazy things you can put your hands on. Like beanie babies and a couple of those decorative flowers that hold photographs. And then go to school.

(I just keep staring at Evelyn's shoes in this picture. I assure you they are quite normal, hot pink, high top Converse All Stars. It is some bizarre optical illusion that makes them look like giant clown shoes.)

Inspiration

For a few weeks our living room had only two chairs and a TV tray. We've been getting rid of furniture. These items recently made the LONG journey up from the basement to become the new living room. (Of course it no longer looks like this because the 2013 Christmas Tree has made its appearance. Plus we are having some long-overdue work done around here. It's a bit of a mess.)

But the space behind the sofa is still intact. That has meant the return of the Secret Hideout. There are no fewer than four blankets back there and at least two pillows. A lot of reading and writing happens behind the sofa, which pleases me to no end. 

Sitting behind the sofa reading books trumps sitting ON the sofa watching TV. (Says the mom who just watched The Hobbit...twice...while finishing a project for work...)

Friendships

We love our cousins! Can't wait to see Cousin Casey at Christmas! (How's that for alliteration??)

The after-church playdates are often the best--spur of the moment and fun. Here they are playing Narnia at what we've dubbed "The Aslan Playground." I'm sure you can guess why.

Amelia brought a school friend to AWANA the night of the Boa Constrictor.

Posing outside the church.

Christine's family used to be in our Hamiltopia crowd...until they moved to NJ! Now we scoop her up whenever she's visiting her grandparents here in B-more.

Random Fun

Green smoothies. An RVR staff friend introduced me to kefir, and we've been growing our own. No, kefir is not green--it's white and you use it in place of yogurt, buttermilk, or sour cream. It's one of those immune-system boosters. The green comes from kale.

Evelyn won these answering a "Choose the Right Door" question at AWANA a few weeks ago.

While Alan was in Canada, we hosted Amelia's class hamster, Mr. Shivers. The weeked before, we hosted Evelyn's class hamster...but I can't recall that one's name. "Mr. Fluffypants" comes to mind, but I'm pretty sure that was LAST year's class hamster.

I admit it kind of made me want a hamster. They are so CUTE, and this one especially was easy to handle. Made me recall all the years my friend Diana and I kept hamsters between us, and even brought them to RVR with us for the summer. I think there were a whole litter of babies by one summer's end. :)

Holy Boa Constrictor, Batman!

Yep, it's a real one. Our AWANA club has an annual presentation by a local animal rescue group that shares Bible stories by using their rescued animals as various illustrations. Afterwards, there is usually some up-close-and-personal time with a large reptile. :)

We are thankful for...

...toys. (This is one of the things that made both girls' thankful lists.) Evelyn and her Madame Alexander doll.

Right now her name is "McKenna." (When Evelyn read what she wrote in our Thanksgiving book from last year, she noticed she was thankful for her "Madame Alexander Doll, Elizabeth." So glad changing names is easy with dolls.)

...food. The apple pie was quite cavernous, and the kids enjoyed eating out its interior as the evening wore on. Thanksgiving Day itself was lovely--football at Jon & Courtney's w/friends, followed by the meal at Mom and Dad Bisset's house. The kids made up one play and at least three original, choreographed dances.

Mom's table was beautiful, and after dinner a bunch of us went for a long walk in the starlit neighborhood--so great to see Dad walking after all those months of recovery from knee replacement and years of discomfort before that! Mom led the way, and Jon, Shelley, Esther, and I all partook. The walk after the meal is a favorite family tradition.

...family. I took no pictures at Mom and Dad's! I'll have to mooch off Courtney. But here's a sweet pic of Alan and Amelia. We missed him while he was in Canada earlier this month.

...love. And nothing says it like sisters walking to the Farmers' Market with their arms around each other.

There are so many other things for which to be thankful! I was particularly touched by an activity sheet Evelyn did at school this week. It was a picture of a turkey, and in each of its tail feathers students had to write something for which they were thankful. Her list included "Family, Friends, God, Bible, and Love." 

Lunch Break

This was the absolute best thing I could look at while eating a quick bite of lunch. Love these girls.

What a gift. 

Creative Recycling!

The recycling bin doubles as an art resource around here.

I am always amazed at their inspiration and motivation to be creative!

I think these items were created for their Loving Family Dollhouse people.

Voila! A playground!

This morning they spent hours making things for their American Girl and Madame Alexander Dolls using a book Evelyn found at the Book Thing. I need to take a picture of the paper birthday cake, the cafe, the hopscotch, beach balls, and balance beam. Really. :)

Thanks, Art, Backwards Night, & Missing Teeth

Evelyn wrote everyone thank you letters for her birthday gifts. Here is ours. I love that we are "The Family of Love." During our first trip to San Francisco with Grandma & Grandpa Blackman, he dubbed us "The Good Job Family" for how often Alan and I said "Good Job!" to the girls. I like both monikers. :)

I think she liked the last-minute surprise b-day dinner. :) Never sure how one's going to like surprises until one gets surprised for the first time!

One of Amelia's pieces of art from last spring. He spent several months hanging in the dining room. Sadly, he was recently recycled, but he lives on here.

This is from our AWANA club's "Backwards Night." Believe it or not, this is Amelia's BACK. She's wearing her shirt & jacket backwards and she drew a picture of a face that we pinned to a hat. It is freakishly hard to imagine that she is actually facing that door...

So here she is from the front (note jacket is still on backwards.) She lost her front tooth last month during RVR's Maizefest event. She and her friend, Kessler, got into the giant inflatable boxing ring, donned the giant inflatable boxing gloves (you can see where this is going, right?), and ka-bam! 

Personally, I rather like having a good tooth-losing story. As long as it is a baby tooth, of course. :)

Getting around to it

Some rearranging the girls and I are doing required me to fit all my beloved books on ONE bookcase. And I had to adhere to my own rule, "If it doesn't fit, let it go."

So...this one had to go. And I never even got around to reading it.

Speaking of Halloween...

It was the second year in a row we actually made a jack-o-lantern together.

Evelyn was a trooper of a scooper.

Did Amelia like scooping out innards?

 Not so much.                                                  Both, however, enjoyed the result: "George Lightning Bolt."

 

Funny how cutting a zillion triangles can turn a pumpkin into a face. :)

What just happened?

Over the weekend, Evelyn threw away all her Halloween candy. Not just the ones she didn't like. All of it. I confess I had a George Kastanza moment when I wanted to reach into the trash can and yank out the milky ways, M&Ms, and snickers.

She threw it away because "it's not healthy, Mom. I don't need to be eating this stuff."

I'm pretty sure the Blackman genetics get props for this. :)

Confession

I am eating way too many of my daughters' Tootsie Rolls.

It is very easy to see why my mom used to make my brother and me HIDE our Halloween stashes. Since I can't remember entirely, I will have to ask her if she made us hide it right away, or if she let a few days pass...OR..if she ever looked for or FOUND our stashes...

Either way, I'm pretty sure I'm just making excuses. I should not be eating this many Tootsie Rolls. I should not be stealing candy from my own children.

Halloween

The year of the Fairy Princess (thank you, Liv, for the wings & wand!), and the Ballerina. They loved wearing makeup. :)

And Amelia loved her ballerina bun. She wore her hair like this the next day to school.

 We always get an amazing amount of candy in our neighborhood.

Not everyone participates, but the ones who do are very generous and get a kick out of it.

I've always thought Halloween was fun--what's not to like about wearing a costume, greeting and meeting your neighbors, and collecting sweets?

The Fairy's wings became uncomfortable by the end of the evening, but that didn't stop us flying around.

This year I'd hoped we'd all wear the Medieval costumes we were given and loaned from friends at church for our VBS program over the summer. The costumes are AWESOME.

But they preferred digging in the dress up bin and being inspired by the moment.

Since Alan was teaching, Amelia wanted to make sure he saw her pretty makeup.

And her pretty hair.

Now I must go. We're babysitting Evelyn's class hamster for the weekend, and it's creating quite a stir. :)

Evie's Birthday, Con't

 Birthday morning--the traditional opening of gifts. This year there were presents from Aunt Becky, Uncle Matt & Casey, and Great Aunt Betty.

Thank you, Aunt Betty, for the Hobbit gifts! It's nice to have a present to share!

The sparkly headband was a hit.

Aunt Becky, Uncle Matt, and Casey were in on the American Girl Doll surprise. You can see Evie has read the label.

What is it??

Why, it's the puppy dog that goes with her doll, Saige! Thank you!

After opening gifts, we walked to Dunkin' Donuts. I love the walk-ability of our neighborhood!

Don't worry, we didn't eat them all! We shared them with Daddy. While waiting in line, I gave Evelyn the camera, who enjoyed some candid photography. I love seeing life from their perspective. :)

Later in the week we went to Toys R Us to enjoy the gift card from Grandma & Grandpa Blackman. In keeping with tradition, the birthday girl let her sister choose a gift (a new girl & accessories for their Loving Family Dollhouse collection), and then chose three stuffed animals for herself.

 She'd just been diagnosed with an ear infection, and when we got home, she took her meds, put her ear on a heating pad, and snuggled with her gifts to watch--of all things--our wedding video. I'd not watched it in YEARS, and it was so sweet to see the girls' reactions. They loved seeing all the family and friends (especially Cousin Lindsy, our flower girl, who was then 10) and went crazy over the KISS. They were, however, disappointed that Daddy did not smash cake in Mommy's face at the reception. I told them we'd chosen to be NICE to each other on the first day of our marriage. :) They still thought it would have been more FUN to have a cake fight. :)