Christmas is Coming Together

Just when I felt like we were falling behind with our Christmas preparations we went ahead and got nearly everything ready! The Christmas tree helped kick us into gear. Grandpa and Uncle found this beauty for us (it's actually just the top of a tree) and tied it to the back of the Miata. It made the trip just fine and I was even able to get the sucker in the tree stand (this is tricky without another set of hands, holding the tree up and screwing in the bolts and warding off a clingy three year old is slightly maddening). Once the tree was up we had to decorate it of course, and Monday I spent waaaaay more time than I had anticipated stringing popcorn garland. That is time consuming! And Ezra was munching the whole time so by the last strand the kernels were getting few and tiny. Once the tree was trimmed the presents were wrapped to go under the tree, of course. Ezra loves to take all the presents out from under the tree and study them intently. At first I scolded him for it (I had just arranged them so nicely!) but then I remembered how much I liked to take all the presents out to sort them, ie make sure no one had more presents than me, so I said what the heck- rearrange all you want.



Last weekend the church in Hackensack asked Ezra and I to be shepherds in the Christmas program. Why not? Ezra was the cutest shepherd ever, of course, in his little bathrobe and cap.



Can you find us down in front by baby Jesus?



Ezra is really into this little dictionary/thesaurus lately. Shirtless and sitting in a tiny box in our living room, he has gotten quite comfortable in our cozy little house. You can see a little bit of our tree behind him too. I'll take some more pictures to post soon, I still have a few more popcorn garlands to make.

Hope you're getting your holiday lists done, too!

Santa, Cheddar Block, Mama's Shoes, PJs

What a beautiful Santa wouldn't you say? This guy has been hanging around at the mall for a couple of weeks now and we finally got out to see him this past week. Ezra was the only kid around so he got to chat it up with Santa for quite awhile. He is chatty these days! I don't think he ever got around to telling Santa what he wants for Christmas, however. From what I overheard they talked at length about the North Pole, the Polar Express (Ez's FAVORITE movie as of late- he will watch it many times in one day if allowed which he normally is not), and the reindeer. He recited his favorite line from his preferred film for Santa which is, "All I got from Santa are stupid underwear!". I am pretty certain that Ez will be getting some of his own stupid underwear under the tree this year from the jolly man.



Ezra has been on a major dairy kick as of late. Between yogurt and this block of cheddar he is consuming dairy products at every hunger pang. I tend to trust his little body to know what it needs (to a degree).






While I was folding laundry Ezra was busy dressing up in my socks and shoes and his own underwear. I think it is time to put together a costume box!


We got a membership to the Science Museum here in Bemidji and have been spending quite a lot of time there. We are possibly getting too comfortable as we're attending in our pajamas. I remember posting about my irritation with people wearing their pajamas in public here, and now we have become them. It's something to do with the cold. We pity ourselves for the suffering of sub zero temperatures and therefor give ourselves a treat in the form of comfy pants. I think.

Giving Thanks

Thanks turkeys. Your gobble gobble sacrifice is delicious when not over cooked (which it wasn't this year!). Fun turkey fact: in Spanish the turkey says "Gordo, gordo" which means "Fatso, fatso." Essentially the turkeys are calling everybody fatties. Our turkey this year looked like it had a question and is politely raising it's hand. Maybe it just wanted to call us fatsos one last time.



I am so thankful for Ezra, my special amazing fantastic boy. He gives me such fulfillment and joy. I am really, really thankful that he still takes naps, too (this year he slept through Thanksgiving dinner).



Thanks be to good will and gentleness! This photo is from a little while ago, when Grandma found two stray kittens in the freezing cold outside. We brought them in and Ezra was on duty to snuggle the kittens to warm them up. He was really, really determined and did such a great job. His father attracts stray animals and nurses them back to health (in the two months we were in Guate we took in an abused iguana, an abandoned dog, a rejected duckling, an orphan kitten and a couple of birds that barely escaped certain death in a flood) so I guess that's where Ezra gets it from. I am learning from their kindness.



Also very thankful for family, grandparents especially at this point in my life. Seeing Ezra with Grandpa and Grandma is so so so so so wonderful, not to mention the aspect of crucial child care while I try to get out lives together. A million, trillion, cadjillion thanks! Oh and we (Ezra and I) are very thankful for books and the public library that keeps us exploring new literary territory every day.



Thanks be to pets! They always find the best spot.



So thankful for root vegetables! Potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, sweet potatoes, so many that sustain us through the cold winter here in MN. A nice power mixer is also to be something to thankful for, as well as a mother who is expertly running it.



Thanks to fresh ground pepper! Mashed potatoes just aren't the same without you!



Thanks be to gravy!



Thanks be to my sister for always stirring the gravy, an arduous task that was left to me this year (I wasn't nearly as dedicated as she always was, I was too busy taking pictures of things I was thankful for for this post).



Vino!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sweet, sweet nectar.



Nature- thanks for continuing to replenish even in the face of human destruction and abuse, and for all the calm you provide in your quiet wisdom.



And lastly, plumbing. This probably should have been first on my list. I feel so fortunate to have water 24 hours a day, hot, cold, and in between to wash, bathe, and drink. Water is such an amazing luxury of life here in the US, and I am thankful and humbled by my access to it.

Snowy, snowy day

Ezra is the master of shoveling! He is a machine. We watched a movie about John Henry (the guy who beat the machine making railroad lines) and he has really channeled that sort of energy to his snow removal. We got DUMPED on in Bemidji yesterday- 10 inches!!! I was sent home from work early and barely made it home (we're driving a teensy weensy Mazda Miata that does not do well in blizzard conditions). Ezra can shovel like a champ, and now insists upon bringing his shovel where ever he goes. He calls it his "timber" and channels both John Henry and Paul Bunyan. It was a gift from Grandpa who also bought him some snow boots. For the first 48 hours he wouldn't remove the boots and clomped around, shovel or "timber" slung over his shoulder. His first memorable winter is a hit so far!




I can't even believe that the trees are able to support all the extra weight of the snow. It is quite lovely though to me, I think because this is my first MN winter in, something like 10 years! It's all so beautiful... so far.





Grandma bought Ezra this advent tree after him talking about it non stop for a month. He saw it at Joann Fabrics (my present employer, btw) and played with it for an hour and I had to tear him away. Whenever I asked him what he wanted for Christmas he would only mention this tree of little doors. I couldn't get it for him though because it was $60. This past week however Grams and Ez came by while I was working and found out that it was on sale for $8! One little door had fallen off but we fixed it right up and now Ezra spends much time opening & closing the little doors, and laying beneath it like a precious little present.

Here's some detail shots of our casa, I've been busy making new curtains and we've received some lovely house warming gifts as well.



This lamp belonged to Great Grandma Thibodo and now lightens up our living room.



The new bathroom curtains, some flowers in the midst of white.



Dad crafted these awesome pegs so that we don't have to hang all of our gear on the back of chairs! New shear, plaid curtain on the kitchen door too!



This lovely lady came to us at our house warming potluck. Her name is Sister Sunshine.



These birds came with Sister Sunshine. New bark pattern curtain in the kitchen!



What does this mean about Ezra? Is he Type A? He meticulously arranged all of his Halloween candy, classified by type, size, and color. Adorable. I think he gets this from his father.




I have been having some fun on my own out and about. There's a place called the Blue Ox in town that has good live music on the weekends. I went out with Tracy, Holly and Corina last weekend and Tracy & I had shots of Patron! There's another show this Friday night, more fun! Thanks to the grandparents for enabling long over due nights on the town.

Bemidji Science Museum

The first three shots are from the Science Museum here in Bemidji. It's pretty small, but it really packs in a lot of cool stuff. To boot, all of the exhibits are obviously home made and pieced together in a thoughtful, economic fashion. It's kind of relieving how cool things can be with the right knowledge and resourcefulness. I think we are going to need to spring for a membership! The coolest thing there in my opinion is the harmonograph- we made some stunning art to fill up all of our white, white walls!

The last picture was taken at Diamond Point Park this past week. It was so stinking warm Ezra went barefoot! I actually had thought that I'd forgotten his shoes at his Grandpa's house but later found them in the car. Luckily it was warm enough for no shoes, imagine that, northern MN in November! We are truly lucky.

Although it's getting chillier today... time to eat potatoes!

Halloweiner 2010

Most of these are from my night out on the town as a pregnant second wife of Ezekeal, but the first is Ezra the horse and me the cowgirl- pretty adorable. There was a costume contest and I will have you know we the polygamists did not win, but in fact the cop with his prisoner in a straight jacket snagged the prize. They deserved it. Homer was a little freaky. The most popular costumes here in Bemidji were Vikings and Mad Hatters. FYI.