Merry freaking Christmas. Bah humbug!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Nintendo. Mario Brothers 1. Old school.

And here we have Jordan sporting the all purpose windsock.

Yes yes. I was there too.

I am not spam.

I have to take a breather from the pictures. It thinks I am spamming myself when really - I'm spamming you. So there.





All right. That should suffice.

Who me? Whining? Never! Much too angelic for that kind of thing.

Her first ornament

Again with the whining!

What have we got here? Dancing queen and whiny ***. I hate to say it, folks but I speak the truth.

The exposure here isn't too great but you can still sort of see that she is pointing down yelling SNOW!

Devil fish?

Lobes.

There is the duck towel I mentioned only moments ago. He put bibs on the both of them and sat down to feed her applesauce.

I am so thankful for two kids who couldn't love each other more. They have really grown into one another and spend much of their time playing together. Here they are building a Pteradactyl out of Legos. Jordan is the design end of the outfit while Sedona is in as the laborer.

Some of the scarves that I am showing you knowing full well that it is boring. Too bad.

Bibs that everyone both wants and needs. Made almost exclusively of salvaged fabric.

Our Homesown Bazaar set up at our first vendor show.

3 of 5

2 of 5

and 5 of 5 where I believe she is actually saying ribbit.

4 of 5

Now hold on because there is a series of frog pictures that I simply cannot limit and exclude, I call it "The many faces of Sedona". It also bears mention that she wears the frog suit a few times a week for most of the day. She hops. She says ribbit. She has also been favoring a hooded duck towel though so the frog may go out of style here pretty soon.

What do I even say here? Such a joy.

After the official Thanksgiving festivities were complete we joined some friends at McDonalds to play before we headed home. Sedona and Sammy hug shortly before both filling their pants. Could it have been a pact? A silent agreement to mutiny? We'll never know.

Ummmm . . . I'm kinda on the phone. K?

Thanksgiving/Grandpa's birthday/Jeremy's birthday in IL. A good time was had by all.

Hey where are you guys? I can't see anything in this cave! Too dark. Much too dark. I have to add that just after the picture was taken she lifted her light and did a little booty dance. And if you aren't familiar with Sedona's booty dancing, let me just tell ya - - the girl can shake it.

Alright here is the set up: We go to Hobby Lobby to get a few small craft items and there amidst the candy at the check out aisle is a package with none other than the blessed dinosaur on the cover. Jordan, inquisitive as he is, further investigates whether there truly could be a real live dinosaur in that little paper packet. The answer? Well . . . kind of. In the package were prehistoric eggs (ahem) of a primitive crustacean, relative to the horseshoe crab (which all know lfrolicked with the REAL dinosaurs), aptly named "Triops". So for $4.99 we took home this little package of magic and hatched our very own, very smelly Triops. Now . . . I have to admit, the little buggers were pretty incredible. They grew from wiggling specks to about 2-3 inches long with shells and eyes and bajillions of oogly legs in only 1 short week. Ah how we enjoyed these high-maintenance little vermin but alas, they passed away only a few days ago. Right on schedule.

In early Axl training.

Who taught her this pose? I honestly don't know. She just started doing it and hasn't stopped.

The purple marker wielder. Somehow alarmed by the mark that he himself drew.

Ever seen Harry Potter? Yeah. Neither has she but her purple marker weilding brother has - go figure.

She was unsure at first but after carefully testing the crunchiness and sturdiness, taste and texture, smell and depth she allowed ehrself to be thrown into the pile.

Sedona's Hair Day/Night

This is what happens to Sedona's hair everytime she rides in the car. Now this particular picture was in the middle of the night after a 5 hour drive but even just running out to the grocery store she wiggles and squirms enough to sufficiently rat up the back of her head.

We like it.

"Do you know the devil?"

Startling at the outset of any conversation, I'd say, but from the mouth of a six year to the ear of a maybe middle aged Mexican business man?
That's downright shocking.
Not to mention pretty stinking funny.

So we traveled north for Thanksgiving and will venture southwest for Christmas. We were in Chicago, having Thanksgiving dinner, no less, when Jordan asked a guest "Do you know the devil?". Now, I have to mention that at first we wondered if he had just asked this man whether he WAS the devil but upon further investigation Jordan simply wanted to "make sure we all know who is . . .(eyebrows raised, knowing look and a very pregnant pause) . . . under us all".

Aside from Jordan's philosophical ponderings things has been busy without being too terribly interesting. Jeremy just finished his term at school leaving so much free time on his hands we wonder if he will ever know what to do with himself (ahem. free time? please define and then note the sarcasm). We all had a lovely round of the flu but seem to be restored to health.

I attended my first craft show/vendor fair/call it what you will last week with a little project a friend and I have been working on called "Homesown Bazaar". We are selling everything from scarves to bibs (that are the coolest bibs you have ever seen, I might add) to magnets and gift bags. We are having an Open House on the 17th so I will be sure to let you know when I've made my first million.
And now an official nod to my wonderful grandmother who taught me how to knit (more than once) and succeeded in instilling in me the value of a handmade gift. It is what I spend much of my time doing and much of that time is spent thinking of her.

So thank you, Grandma. I love you.

And now . . . on to the pictures. Well in the next 24-48 hours you will get pictures but right now I have some sewing to get done so that I can Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree and out of the piles of plastic bags that teeter ever closer to the computer, threatening to swallow me alive.

A note of clarification.

In hopes of avoiding confusion, concern or worldwide panic I hereby clarify that I am not nor was I 2 weeks ago . . . . pregnant. The belly was part of the costume. No cause for alarm - you haven't been left out of such tremendous news.

So did you figure out who we were?

Yup. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline, though he would have you call him K-Fed.

Alright. Now get back to work.

And one for the books. An official documentation of the whole stinkin' family. Bayley even squeezed her HULK in there (sans mask). We went to a friend's house for the evening and ate gooey foods and trick or treated their neighborhood with a few other families from church and thereabouts.

Sedona's first rounds of trick or treating. She performed an inspiring hop/march/hop for most of the walk and was insistent upon entering the houses she approached. The idea of standing on their step for a moment, whether receiving her spoils or not, didn't quite make sense. She figured we better go in and visit. Not to mention the confusion that ensued when she encountered a dog who enjoyed barking at her nearly as much as she enjoyed barking at it. Good times.

Up close. Close up. Here we are . . . but who are we?

We went as an unfortunately popular and frequently photographed couple.

The long awaited Halloween pictures!! Jordan and Sedona both decided to paint their own faces this year. Translation of intent: Jordan, a carnataur (trans.: meat-eater), with two blackened eyes after a squabble with a Diplodocus's tail (a rather large long-necked plant-eater), and blood pouring from his mouth after an eventual kill. A much more impressionistic approach from Sedona. . . a frog before the frog has its skin (trans.: didn't have her costume on yet).

You'd think something dreadful would have had to have happened for this kind of upset. But in the world of Sedona this is what happens when she would rather jump in a creek than play on the playground.

Remember the post about grape eaters last spring (see March or April, I believe)? Well here they are in action. Sedona, Bayley and Jordan went to town on a grape vine in some friends' yard. Jordan ducked behind the grapes but these two couldn't hide. It was almost a repeat of our tomato plant incident -which I will tell you all about in another post.

Autumn in our yard. The carved pumpkin is Jordan's bat. He worked so hard on it and even painted every inch in exquisite detail. Sadly, using washable paint on an outdoor pumpkin is not a smart idea. It all washed off but the shadow effect accomplished by painting the inside of the carved edges is still pretty well preserved.

Stop and smell the flowers. Careful not to fall in, though.

Stay tuned . . .

I'll do my best here to provide some written relief to accompany the photo frenzy but really, I'm just writing to stay tuned for Halloween pictures. They should be super hot. I'll leave you all in suspense as to what we dressed up as but I will say that 4 costumes were worn. I won't say by who (m? - if only I had an english degree. oh wait. crap.)

In recent events:
Jordan pulled tooth number two this morning before school.

Jordan has an ear infection and is wheezing again after 2 wheeze-free years so he will be befriending the nebulizer fish/dinosaur breathing mask once again - at least for a short time.

Sedona has taken to road rage. That is, when in the car, she rages and roars and screams and squirms. Apparently, we are interrupting some pressing matters she had planned elsewhere and anytime I put her in the car this week she freaks out. It's neat. Really. It is.

As for me - I regret to report the murder of a lucky bamboo stalk. It started to turn red and mushy at the bottom and silly old me got carried away and amputated. Surgery was well underway when I read "WHATEVER YOU DO _ DO NOT CUT LUCKY BAMBOO! IT WILL NOT SURVIVE!" Fine timing that was.

Jeremy is working and will present a lesson tonight on authority and authorship. I was a guinea pig and it has to be said - the kid's got something else. I want to be in his class.

So there you have it. Surprised I've held up my vow to correspond more diligently, aren't you? Yeah, me too.

Stay tuned for Halloween pictures in the coming days. We will be in Chicago this weekend so if they aren't in by Friday morning you will just have to wait until next week.
Ha Ha Ha - wicked Halloween cackle.

So when your hair is pink and you want some documentation of the fact and you have a husband who isn't all that into commiting daily life to film, you resort to dorky pictures of yourself that make your nose look unusually large. But there it is. Pink. Jana. Pink. Jana. Pink. I can't quite believe it myself but things needed a little bit of rustling up. So I rustled and turned my hair partially pink.

Mid September we met Grandpa, Grandma Pam and Joey at Kickapoo state park and the boys did a bit of canoeing. We were scheduled to spend the night, had everything set and ready when Sedona barfed all over the food tent/gazebo. And so we packed it up and drove it all back home. 7 hours on the road (round trip) and a mere 6 hours of pre-puke fun. Do everyone's kids puke this much? I'm a lucky lucky woman.

Miles, Jordan, and Sedona

Again with the highchair but with the added benefit of 80's flair. For some reason she insists on pulling her arm out the tops of long sleeved shirts. Here is but one example. Rather stylish, though.

This one is for Papa. The napkin, the pizza, the whole deal. I think there was even mention of fettucine alfredo.

Hardly looks like the same child as the Dr. Seuss shot. Ahh - so peaceful. I realize that there are a disproportionate number of pictures of the child in the highchair. My only explaination is that it is just about the only time she holds still long enough. In fact, she holds still and she falls asleep. Busy busy busy.