Everyday Life for Four Seasons

I feel good today. My presidential campaign headache and physical stress is finally dissipating. This was a major election and I am very happy that Barack Obama is going to be our next president.


So, for the first time in, I would say, 25 years, I am actually thinking about Christmas well in advance. I'm excited for it more than usual this year. The girls are at a great age to start appreciating holidays. Usually I can take it or leave it, but this year I'm looking forward to the celebration and the build-up.

I am already working on some handmade gifts for the girls and tonight I am going to order personalized story books for them. My sisters and I had personalized books when we were little and we just loved them. My story was about a giraffe named Naillij who wanted to play on Baskerville Place (my street when we lived in Maryland). I still have the book. My hope is that my girls will love their stories as much as my sisters and I did.


Next up, I am very excited to start sewing a hearty set of these trees (above - click this link to see the blog that the photo belongs to) as an early Christmas present for a special couple we know. I am pretty sure they don't have many holiday decorations and I know they would love them. Shh! Don't tell, it's a surprise. I am going to make some for our home too.

Do you have leaves falling from the trees where you live too?


We're looking forward to going to the Unitarian service tomorrow morning and then working on yard clean-up tomorrow afternoon.


I recently signed the girls up for some music classes and I'm wondering if I'm overscheduling them. With both preschool and classes, they have activities on three (soon to be four) mornings each week and for an hour on three afternoons a week they go to the child care room at the gym while I work out. They have the other mornings and afternoons free.


Here's a mini-report on my grocery savings: I saved $30 with coupons today and spent $63 on groceries for the coming week. That includes toiletries and cleansers. Today Jeff made his legendary veggie chili. He uses dried beans and vegetables and it is simply delicious.


I wish you a very happy and peaceful weekend.

Last night I made a butternut squash and marshmallow dish for the kids and just before I used all the of the squash in that dish, I set some aside so we could make squash and chocolate chip muffins today. Yum!


I used a vegan recipe and I vegan-ed it out even more by using all whole wheat flour and wheat germ in addition to the flaxseed. I figure between all of those brown flaky ingredients, something has to be good for us, right? The girls love them and have been begging for more all day.

The corn doll watched me cook...


'A' just turned a corner and is approaching my favorite age. She's 3 and a half now. 4 is my favorite age. If I could only be with one age group for the rest of my life, I would pick 4 year olds. Their thought process is just amazing. They start to understand why and how things work. She's just about there and it's wonderful. I have been spending significantly more time playing with her lately and we're both really enjoying each other. Interestingly, at the same time, she's been testing the limits with her behavior. It's almost like she needs more of my involvement than ever now.

'H' got all dressed up in her princess skirt and necklace all by herself. What a big girl she is!


I want to sit down sometime and figure out how much grocery money I've saved these past two months. I've pretty much cut out meat, wine and now coffee, and I am sure I haven't been spending as much at the store. I cut out coffee because every time I would take a sip, my bladder would burn and I needed to run to the ladies room. Not much fun! I cut out wine because I was drinking it not for fun, but to unwind, and it left me feeling disconnected from my children and myself. I cut out meat because I am a natural vegetarian and I only eat meat because Jeff likes it. But in reality, he can be more of a vegetarian than I am, so we've been making the transition pretty easily. It's all good.

This photo is for you, Grandma Shelly. What do you think of her dress and super-cute tights?


We went to the Brookside Museum for a preschool field trip. It was our first trip there. Everything was a little over their heads in that big group. It's hard to understand the concept of "history" when you're 3 years old, and learning about it in a big rowdy group doesn't help. I try to talk about it when we're alone - now that Thanksgiving is rolling around, we talk about the Pilgrims (and the fact that she's related to one - William Bradford) and why we celebrate Thanksgiving. It's hard for her to understand it even when we speak one-on-one.


The museum had a craft for the children, and they all got to make their own Corn Doll. Way back when, back in 1824, little kids made their own dolls out of dried corn cobs. 'A' loves her doll and I may make a fabric skirt for it so that it will be a little more sturdy. I'm wondering when it will start to go moldy. Will it?


Here is a photo of 'H' with her special friend from 'A's class. 'P' adores 'H' and always drops everything as soon as she sees her, just so she can run over and give her a hug. It's really sweet. 'H' is quite popular in her sister's preschool class actually. She loves the teachers and they love her too. She is going to be more than ready to go to school when it's her turn!

We had some Halloween fun this year! 'A' was a bunny and 'H' was a bee.


This is the display that Julie and Scott have up in front of their house. They always do a great job with the decorations and I love it when a holiday rolls around and they decorate. Scott made the ghost!


Here is 'H' being a Big Kid, carrying her treat bag and running after the other big kids. Her face shows pure joy...


Jeff is home. Today we went for a family walk at a local park and then spent some time hanging around the yard at home.

Thank goodness my girls aren't older, or I might be called upon to explain what's going on in the world and offer reassurance that we'll all get through it okay.

Too bad I'm too old to expect it to come from my own parents.

We're living in historic times. Make no mistake, my grandchildren will hear about us in their history class.

It feels like Monday because Jeff went back to work today after taking yesterday off.

In all of the collective turmoil we are going through, it feels good to have some hope about something that matters to me. Breastfeeding in the US has been on the rise. Surely now that photos of Angelina Jolie nursing her baby have hit the newsstands, it will become even more popular. Thank you, Angelina.

Jeff is back.


We spent all day playing.


Something happened while Jeff was gone. I reverted to my natural eating habits and I relearned something about myself. I don't like to eat meat, poultry or fish if I can have a meal consisting of grains, beans and vegetables instead. I've eaten very little meat over the past 4 weeks and I would be happy to not eat any going forward.


We talked about having chicken fajitas tomorrow for dinner, but maybe I can make it with seitan or something instead.


The girls are delicious. 'H' is a kid now, not a baby anymore. She walks and talks and likes to play big kid games. 'A' is speaking better than ever and is losing a lot of her shyness.


The foliage is fantastic this year. The yellows, reds and oranges are vibrant and alive. It's crazy that the leaves are so beautiful for just a short time.