Crank it up to Eleven

Today is our eleventh anniversary (insert LOTR joke about it being our eleventy first anniversary). Lately things have been pretty stressful. But you know what? I still love this guy more than anything in the world.

Eleven years and we still can't get enough of each other. I would call that a great success.

The Rule of Three

Three years ago today, Jane came to join our family. At first, she was pretty tiny and didn't have much to say. But since then, she's become one of the most entertaining members of our family. (Chris is the most entertaining. If you don't believe me, just ask him to do his Justin Beiber impersonation). 

We celebrated Jane's birthday today NOT by having a kid party (yay for me!) but by doing something the whole family could enjoy. 

My fantastic brother in law managed to score tickets to Toy Story 3 on Ice through his work. Since they know my kids are fans, they decided to invite us to come along. 

Jane loved it. 

Afterward, we had lunch with cousins, which Jane loved as well.

It's impossible to get too much cousin time.

Tonight we came home and possibly made a large mistake by letting Emily decorate Jane's birthday cake (yes, that's just a crapload of sprinkles). 

Jane liked it anyway. 

She was also a fan of presents. 

We're so happy Jane came to live with our family. I'm pretty sure Emily would be bored to tears without her. Thanks, Jane, for taking some of the pressure off of us when it comes to keeping your big sister entertained. Happy Birthday, big girl!

The Annual Giving of Thanks Ceremony

This year we were able to host Thanksgiving for the first time. It was so nice to be able to see our family and to cook my little heart out. I love cooking and it was nice to have an excuse to do it.

Our Thanksgiving started with a pre-Thanksgiving visit from Ryan and his family, to whom Emily tried to transfer her love of Kinect.

For Thanksgiving proper, we were able to have my sister's family as well as my parents, Chris' brother and his dad. Chris' mom was under the weather and she was greatly missed. Nonetheless, we had a lovely time.

Black Friday was a perfect time to christen my parents' new house with a birthday party for Simon and Jane. The kids had a great time playing with cousins and we are so happy they live close enough that we can see them so often.

We topped off the weekend with our town's Christmas parade.

And we remembered how cold it gets sitting on the sidewalk waiting for a parade that starts late. We'll probably forget by next year and go again.

Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it's Back to Work I Go

Yes, that's right, as of December 1st, I will once again be a member of the paid workforce. You may be saying, "But I thought she was going to wait another year". You would be correct in saying that. That was my plan. But things changed and my plans changed with them. The right time to go back became now and I was blessed enough to be able to get a job with the bridge program at the DOT.

What will I be doing? Well, I'll let you know when I get there, but rumor has it I'll be analyzing existing bridges to determine safe carrying loads as well as working with oversize loads permits. Rumor also has it that if I'm a fast talker I'll be doing the occasional design.

How do I feel about this? Kind of sad and disappointed that my time as a stay-at-home mom is over. Kind of nervous and excited about using that ol' degree again. But mainly I just feel like it's the right decision.

What do I not have mixed feelings about? The fact that I had a lovely talk with a maid service today. That's right, I'm not ashamed to admit that I am no longer going to clean my own house. I want to glean every second of time to spend with my husband and kids. They're only young once (both my husband and my kids) and an extra few hours with them every week is absolutely priceless. I'm proud to admit that my priorities are just where the should be. Also, I'm doing a happy dance just thinking about coming home to a clean house.

My reasons for going back to work are very pressing and very personal, but right now I am just very thankful that I can. I'm thankful for my education and my career history (are you listening Emily and Jane?) and for the circumstances that allowed me to find a job in a tough economy.

P.S. I have a feeling that being a super mom won't feel very super (at least at first) so my friends may be subjected to multiple sobbing phone calls before I get this thing figured out. Thanks and I love you in advance.

Emily and Jane and the Not-So-Deathly Hallows

Halloween with small children is quite a production. To them, it takes second place only to Christmas. Halloween is holds a special place in the hearts of the young for one reason: the currency of the day is candy, candy and more candy. Oh, and they get to dress up. But that's just a sidenote to the candy.

Another highlight of Halloween has to do with scooping the guts out of giant squashes and carving pictures into them.

Daddy and Jane did the angry bird, Mom and Emily did the other two.

This was Emily's first school Halloween party since she was sick last year on party day. I, being the optimist that I am, volunteered to bring cupcakes. I once again have confused my love for baking with a love of decorating baked goods. They're not the same thing, believe me. Nonetheless, we ended up with a couple dozen batlike creatures.

 I was fairly pleased until that evening when their wafer wings began soaking up moisture and breaking. Thanks to Chris making an early morning run to the grocery store, the bats' wings were replaced with smaller, chocolate coated cookies. They kind of ended up looking like goats with fangs or dogs with horns, but the kids were happy. 5 year olds are pretty easy to please when you're talking cupcakes. 

School parties are pretty good fun.

Jane was lucky enough to be an underage participant.

Forget pumpkins and parties, this holiday is all about the candy. Our girls are hardcore trick-or-treaters. None of that pansy trunk-or-treat business for them. They stayed out nearly two and a half hours, trading parental supervision from Mom to Dad halfway through. We didn't get any pictures of them demanding candy, but here is Jane with her haul, chanting, "I want to eat it... I want to eat it..."

Putting Crib Issues to Bed

I'm finally willing to admit it: Jane isn't a baby anymore. She hasn't been for quite some time. She plays, eats and throws tantrums like a full-fledged toddler. Yet there was a part of me that wasn't ready to let go of her crib. Maybe it was because I didn't want to accept the fact that Jane had outgrown it - a first step that leads only to school then boyfriends then moving away. Maybe it was because I had grown accustomed to the convenient cage-like qualities of the crib that make Jane's plentiful time-outs easy on me. Either way, we were getting dangerously close to putting a three-year-old to bed in a crib.

This weekend we finally got a bed for Jane. I dreaded the transition. It turns out that a 34 month old adjusts pretty smoothly to a bed. Who knew? No bed rail required. And we will be able to get it off the ground in a few days when the frame arrives. And we will be able to use Jane's old crib as the head and foot board. That will help me say goodbye to the crib more easily.

Now if we could just keep big sister out of Jane's room after lights out... but that's another issue entirely.

Promoting Innovation

Many of you aren't aware of this, but I just so happened to marry Mike Holmes slightly better looking and significantly more innovative American twin. That innovation really came in handy yesterday when the caulk on our outdoor lighting fixture experienced an epic fail after an epic snowstorm. A lot of melting meant a lot of water... travelling through the light fixture hole and dripping down the wires. 

Chris fixed the caulk problem in no time, but the the slow drip was going to take some time to dry itself out. You may not know this, but water and electricity tend to form an unholy union when they get together. We needed to dry out that light switch... and quick... with something extra absorbent... something that wouldn't leave a drop of moisture. Holmes Jr. to the rescue!

You can't contain genius like this. Chris' bosses agree. That's why they gave him a promotion. He is the newest squad leader at WYDOT.

So, if you see Chris, congratulate him. All feminine product related humor aside, he really deserves this promotion and I know he'll do an amazing job. I'm sure of this because I know him better than anyone and this guy has some serious skilz.