Photo Story: Christmas with My Niece and Nephew

First, a silly face contest:

Logan was clearly the silly face champ, though Grace was certainly holding her own by the end.  I, well…I had my moments.

Silly Face was followed by a modeling session.  I can’t exactly remember how the bowl became a hat, but once it was, everyone just had to try it on:

Blue Steel doesn’t have anything on us.

Last, but not least, is more of Grace modeling.  This also happens to be shameless self-promotion.  I knitted a scarf for Grace this Christmas, and I was so pleased with how it turned out.  It is the perfect color, size, and material.  And she just looks adorable in it:

Even if she can’t keep her eyes open.

I had a fantastic time with those kids (so much so that I’m willing to post horrible photos of myself on my own blog to prove it). They definitely helped me remember the sheer joy of Christmas.

Thank goodness.

And a Squeeze to You, Too

Excuse me while I indulge in a bit of seasonal sentimentality.

***

The Hubs and I do not give hugs to each other.  We squeeze.

When I’m having a particularly down day, I’ll walk up to The Hubs and motion for a squeeze.  The Hubs will wrap his arms around me so tightly that I think I might just fold in two, and in the midst of that squeeze I feel entirely safe, protected, and supremely happy.

But squeezes are not reserved for unhappy occasions; rather they can also mark moments of – dare I say it? – bliss. Such was the case this Christmas morning.

Because we were met with unexpected luck, The Hubs and I were able to travel to The Bluegrass State last Saturday, three days earlier than intended.  Though this made for a hectic Friday (last minute shopping, packing, etc.), it has allowed us to have an uncommonly relaxing Christmas holiday.  There hasn’t been as much rushing to see as many people as possible.  Instead we’ve been able to sleep late, take Potter for walks, drive around town a bit, and just generally enjoy spending some time back in our hometown.

Our extended stay also meant, however, that we did not open our presents for each other in Tallahassee before hitting the road; Saturday just seemed too early to start the gift giving.  Instead, we woke up this morning and shared Christmas in bed – just The Hubs, Potter, and me.

We had chosen to keep gifts to each other minimal this year, limiting ourselves to a price-capped stocking and instead spending on everyone else.  But instead of tearing through the treat-filled socks, we took our time, expressing gratitude over each item we had thought to get one another.

[On a related and yet still mushy note, I am always amazed at The Hubs' ability to pick up on the little things I want, like the cookbook I've been salivating over for ages, a quick but fun read, some new knitting needles, and some good new music.] Once we had looked through our own stockings, we let Potter sniff his own out – laughing over the fact that he knew which stocking was his and just how many toys he had in there. 

All of this, of course, was followed by my favorite family tradition – the squeeze.  With Potter laying in between us (happily chewing on his naughty/nice stuffie), The Hubs offered a fierce Christmas squeeze, and I couldn’t help but think of all of the squeezes - whether the cause is joyful or sorrowful – that lie in store for my happy little family.

So whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or nothing at all, I hope you have had a good squeeze today, too.

***

And thus ends my indulgent sentimentality. Back soon with the road trip run down and new student complaints.

A Sister A Day Keeps the Responsibilities Away

Whenever my sister visits (either sister, really, but this weekend it was my little seester), I have a tendency to revert to my pre-(acknowledgment of) responsibilities self.  It’s not that I’m delusional or anything. I recognize that eventually I will have to get some work done and pay some bills, but somehow having a sibling around encourages me to kick back and not worry about the eight gazillion things on my to-do list.  

So that’s what I did this weekend.  We shopped and ate good food and too much candy thanks to Tom the Turkey and played board games and watched TV and movies.  And Dave, love his heart, aided and abetted in my negligence: cooking dinner on Saturday when I just couldn’t muster up the courage to do so, taking Potter out every night without complaint, and willingly accompanying Jessica and I on every excursion we wanted him to take with us. It couldn’t have been better.

But as Jessica’s departure loomed near, I snapped back into reality, making a tasty dinner Sunday night (prosciutto-wrapped chicken with roasted asparagus and parmesan couscous) before one last game of Settlers of Catan (which I was victorious in, of course).  When I woke up early this morning to see my sister off, I physically felt different.  The weight of responsibility had settled in. But that’s okay; it’s how it’s supposed to be.  And my responsibilities are pretty much painless compared to those of many, many other people.  And as long as every so often I can revert to my carefree self for a couple of days with my sister(s), I can handle it just fine.

Also making this weekend awesome?  This.

Not so much this.

Seester

Today is my sister’s birthday.  This sister:

My wittle sister turns 24 today.  The big 2-4.  Okay, maybe 24 isn’t a traditional “big” birthday, but I have to admit that it hit me much harder than 25 did.  I think that, in part, this is because I was (and still am) in graduate school.  Even though I was two months away from graduating with my MA, I felt that I hadn’t achieved anything.  I was walking along a path (the same path I’m still walking) that had a lot of road left ahead of me.  I had been married for a year, to a man I absolutely adored (and still do), yet I somehow didn’t feel “qualified” to be 24.

Look at that.  I forgot that this post isn’t about me.  It’s about her:

I can’t tell you how proud of my sister I am as she hits 24.  She just started a job that is perfectly suited for her and that she is going to be awesome at.  She’s making good money, this is a good set-up for whatever she may want to do next, and she’s got a job that will allow her to move all over the country.

So, you see, my 24th birthday was nothing like her’s:

Her birthday is going to be awesome.  Because she’s awesome. She gets it from us:

Happy birthday, seester.  You’re welcome for the awesomeness.

Whole New Do

Shew.  That feels better.  My head feels immensely lighter.  And darn if I’m not still just cute as can be.  Yup, ladies and gents, I finally got a much-needed haircut.  Ta-da:

That’s right about five inches of hair-weight off of my shoulders, and it feels nice.  The color’s a little mousey for me, but my hair always lightens a bit in the first week and it’s incredibly better than the inch-long roots I was sporting before.

Of course this probably doesn’t seem like a big deal for most of you since you probably haven’t seen me in months, but this is the best I can do for comparison (and it’s from a month ago):

Prior to today’s snip, my hair was the longest it has ever been.  Or at least the longest since my infamous hair-down-my-back-tight-curl-perm fiasco in third grade (with the hot green leotard to match…awesome).  And even though I enjoyed the long locks, it also feels nice to do something different.

Speaking of doing something different, my adorable nephew went to his first day of kindergarten today.  Crazy!  But he’s so stinking cute:

(photo greedily stolen from, though credited to, my sister Michelle – but Logan is just too adorable not to provide a visual)

So it’s a day for the new, both big and small.  What new thing did you do today?

I’m Wine-ing

Can you tell why?

Because it’s named after me of course: The Middle Sister.

 It’s also perfect because my sisters are on the bottle.  Older sister on the right with stick straight hair and younger sister on the left with short, curly hair.  Holy crap, it’s my family!

Even better is the description on the back: “Did you know that birth order is commonly believed to have a profound and lasting effect on psychological development? [Tell me about it, sister!] And that the middle sister has a greater chance of having a special wine named just for her?”

Well, I don’t know if I’ll ever actually have a wine named after me, but I’ll claim this one for the time being.  Especially since this particular bottle is “Wicked White.”  Heck yeah.  I’ll drink to that.