Christmastime is here

We are getting ready for Christmas here at the Speier household. The girls are trying their hardest to be good, and for the most part succeeding. Gaudete Sunday always seems to bring the recurrent argument of who gets to blow out the pink candle in our Advent wreath, and Audrey got her feelings hurt when Lili was unable to stifle her giggles during Audreys uber-falsetto rendition of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" tonight, but they are doing pretty well all in all.

They girls set out their shoes for St. Nicholas to fill on his feast day.

We also got our tree. As per tradition, after the tree is trimmed, the youngest gets to crown it with the angel.

Kateri was thrilled with her task, and we thought she was able to grasp the concept of what she was supposed to do...

...maybe she just wanted to give her Daddy's arms a workout...

...but once she got up there she just kept putting the angel on and pulling it off again while we all begged her to leave it on top of the tree.

She just couldn't let go.

So finally Daddy had to give his arms a break...

... and Audrey had to do the honors.

Middle Child Syndrome?

Something nice has been happening over the past few months. I guess it is the silver lining to Lili's ever-increasing commitments to school, soccer, and other big-kid pursuits. As much as we miss Lili during the school day, her absence has allowed a tight friendship to blossom between her two little sisters. Part of it must be the fact that Kateri is now undeniably a toddler, and can play and be bossed around. When Lili is home and done with homework, she and Audrey are usually engaged in a nonstop round of make-believe that usually involves at least four costume changes and several re-arranging of the furniture to facilitate a scenario that has usually been dreamed up by Lili. When Lili leaves, however, Audrey turns to Kateri for a playmate and becomes helpful, patient, and downright nurturing! As a result, she has become Kateri's hero. Kateri wakes up every morning and the first words out of her mouth are "Au-jah, Au-jah." I usually try to finagle a few more minutes of sleep by offering to nurse her, but she pushes me away, backs down off the bed and staggers into the girls' room to see what her idol is up to. (Lili is not too crazy about this preference, but you get what you pay for, and Audrey has put in the time.) I am sure everyone has heard of "middle child syndrome," where children sandwiched in between the celebrated firstborn and coddled baby feel under appreciated, less loved. Just ask my brother Joe about it...I'm sure he has some anecdotes he's been holding on to for the last quarter-century. (By the way, I am also a middle child, but I am the only girl, which apparently cancels out any negative effects of birth order.) The point is, middle children are supposed to get the short end of the stick in some ways, but I think Audrey is lucky. She gets to be a little sister and ask Lili how to spell things and she gets to be a big sister and show Kateri the best way to construct a stable tower out of blocks. Maybe I am wrong, and in the years to come she will curse fate for saddling her with such a lousy slot in the line-up.

But when a finicky 15 month old prefers you to everyone else in the world...how can you not feel loved?

P.S. I am sorry about the runny-nosed Kateri picture. I have looked at other people's pictures of their kids with runny noses and thought..why don't they just wipe their kid's nose before they snap the picture? But if I had done that, Kateri would have protested violently and their charming little moment coloring together would have been over. If I knew how to photoshop a runny nose away I would. Obviously it didn't bother Audrey. She planted a loud smacking kiss on those slobbery lips anyway.

Lunch Duty Quotes pt2

I told you there would be more. Here's the exchange I over heard today, all yelled back and forth on the playground:

Lili: What are you guys playing?

Lili's friend: Cops and Robbers!

Lili: Can I play?

Friend: Yeah, you're a cop!

Lili: No, I'm a Religious Sister!

Friend: Okay!

They run off and play, leaving me to wonder if this is a regular part of Cops and Robbers, like maybe the Religious Sisters are one step higher on the authoritative chain of command than the Cops, or maybe Lili just wanted to pretend she was a nun...I'll have to ask her about it when she gets home from school.

Lili's new smile

That darn tooth finally fell out: actually I tied a piece of dental floss around it and popped that sucker out.

Thanksgiving decorations

I know I have said this before, but I am mystified by what goes on in Audrey's head. While I was cooking and cleaning in preparation for hosting several family members for Thanksgiving, Lili and Audrey started making Thanksgiving decorations on our back patio. Lili meticulously drew and cut out all sorts of iconographic Thanksgiving pieces: corn, an acorn, a turkey, etc. Pretty standard stuff... Audrey came up with these. I asked her about them. The purple piece on the right is a picture of monkeys. It doesn't make much sense but she told me she started that one before they started doing holiday-themed work. The blob on the bottom left is an acorn. She was super proud of the fact that Lili helped her spell the word "corn" so I guess that the green piece stands on its own. The one that bothers me is on the top left. The black one hanging askew. She told me it was a picture of Aku.

This is Aku, the villain from " Samurai Jack" Lovely, isn't he? My kids were introduced to Samurai Jack over the summer when I left them at Nanny's house for the three hour round trip to Providence airport to pick up their daddy. Nanny hurt her back that day, so their dear sweet Uncle Joe stepped up to babysit them. My dad walked in to check on them and found Lili and Audrey staring raptly at the TV with wide eyes while Joe entertained Kateri. That night Lili told me all about how awesome Samurai Jack was and Audrey told me about "that bad guy with the fire eyebrows." She hasn't mentioned him since we returned home to Phoenix, so I have no idea what put him in her head in conjunction with Thanksgiving. I guess his color scheme does kind of match our table...

Thanks Uncle Joe! By the way, when I went to take down Audrey's decor I found that shae had affixed the bottom two items to the wall with glue...

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Cousins cousins everywhere!

Aunt Katie oh so generously hopped a plane this week so we could all get a Fifi fix. Everyone fell madly in love with Fiona during the 48 hours she was in Phoenix. I really think she is the happiest baby in the whole United States. Goose and Geege trying to get as close to her as they possible can...

It is so funny to look at this beautiful little girl and see my big brother looking back at me!

This little elf hat was made for her...(actually it was made for Lili 7 years ago but it looks like it was made for Fifi...)

I know I am a horrible person to take a picture of a sad baby but I couldn't help it! Her expression is so exactly like Jon's fake-crying face! Jon, take a picture of yourself making this face so I can post them side by side!!! Thanks so much for the visit, Katie!!

A new little cousin

We were so thrilled this week to meet the newest addition to the Wintering clan: Vivienne Camille! She is absolutely beautiful.

Isn't she tiny? She reminds me of Butterfly Charlie here...

Audrey was so happy that she shares a middle name with the new baby. She said, "It's almost like we're twins!" Not sure on the logic of that, but she sure was excited.

Kateri, unfortunately, was more interested in playing with Gianna and Tolton and trying out Vivienne's gear...

Welcome to the world, Vivienne!

Lunch Duty Quotes part 1

I'm qualifying this post with a "part 1" because I know there will be more...
I have mentioned in an earlier post that this year I am doing lunch duty at Lili's school, VDM. I really love getting to observe the interactions between all the kids. Every day there is something that makes me smile. My favorite quote was from a little girl who walked up to Emily and said "I'm really sick...I have the H1N1...that's the swine flu." I just love how she called it THE H1N1.

This week some of the kids were tossing out insults at each other ( in a playful, not mean, way, otherwise I would have intervened) one said laughing " You are the ugliest person in the world" and the other one fired back, "Oh yeah, well you're Billy Ray Cyrus!" THIS is Billy Ray Cyrus...with his 15 year old daughter!! So the kid is right, being Billy Ray Cyrus is WAY worse than being the ugliest person in the world.

This Monday, Lili walked out of class with her little pink lunch bag and said to me airily "Hello, Modor!"

"Modor?" I asked, to which she replied matter-of-factly "Old English." Learning Old English in second grade? I love VDM.

A disturbing development

Our lovely big table used to be a safe zone, where the older kids could happily color and play with Star Wars legos without worrying about Kateri eating their crayons or teeny Storm Trooper helmets. Alas, those days are gone. Kateri knew all of the good choking hazards were up there and, as any mother knows, toddlers wrote the book on stubborn determination. I turned around earlier today to see Kateri proudly standing on the bench, and wanted to see if this was going to be par for the course from now on. It is. I was talking to my mom on the phone at the moment and she said, "If she can get on the bench she can get on the table, and if she can get on the table she'll be swinging from the chandelier before you know it." Sweet.

Talking and getting into trouble...

that sneaky little thing loves her ice...

Enjoying the winter lawn

I know Kateri needs some new clothes...I'm on it!

Happy Halloween!!

As I have mentioned before, this year's Halloween was a Peter Pan themed one. Luke

was a very good sport and let himself be decked out as Captain James Hook. He DID look pretty fabulous, I must say. My brother Joe was worried, and said, "I think Luke is in danger for the first time in his life of getting beat up if he goes out like that." Come on! Nobody messes with Captain Hook! Except Peter Pan...

Pictured here with Wendy. This picture is kind of blurry, but I love it. I might have to do a whole post on Jack and Lili's friendship, which makes me really happy.

Tiger Lily and Tinkerbell. Lucy's wings had tiny lights that flashed on and off. When she told Audrey about it she said, "Oh GOOD! That way I can find you if I lose you..."

Tinkerbell 2.0 I know her dress is more than a little tight...tight enough to give her some cleavage. I do not yet have the costume-making skills of Nanny, so cut me some slack!

Wendy with the other Darling children...Jimmy as Michael and Finn as John...

How adorable is Mr. Smee?

It was a great night! Also in attendance were Mr. and Mrs. Darling, another pirate, Tiger Lily's father and even J.M. Barrie himself, but sadly I did not get photos of them...We had a great time trick or treating as well. Kateri insisted on marching along with the big kids, although she was too timid to go up to very many doors and actually get some candy in her little pumpkin. Hope all of you had a great Halloween!

Pumpkin carving with the Winterings and Nona

The Speiers and the Winterings had a great time getting ready for Halloween together...
Our homage to Papa's pumpkin carving style...

Our jack-o-lanterns on display...(Erika made a Suns carving)

The cousins having a great time together...

Look at Pirate Nona in her eye patch!

All Saints Day Preview

Every year Lili's school has an All Saints' Day presentation during which the kids all choose a Saint to dress up as and give a short speech about. One of the many things I love about VDM is how they have the kids start public speaking at such a young age. As you can see, Lili loves it. Here is her practicing the night before. Her teacher this year is big on reading aloud with a great deal of emotion, so I think that is why St. Agnes sounds so chipper and upbeat when recounting her martyrdom.

Thank you so much Nanny, for the beautiful costume!

Say goodbye to these little pearls...

We have been reading J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan out loud at night in preparation for Halloween, since the girls are dressing up as Wendy, Tiger Lily, and Tinkerbell. I highly recommend rereading this book as an adult, I am really enjoying it, although I must admit at times the subject matter hits a little too close to home. This is how the very first chapter begins:

"All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh why can't you remain like this for ever!" This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end."

So I powered through the above paragraph with my voice cracking and my eyes watering and a few curious glances from my girls and finished the first chapter, the very end of which is marked by Peter Pan's encounter with a startled Mrs. Darling. This is how the first chapter ends:

"He was a lovely boy clad in skeleton leaves and the juices that ooze out of trees; but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all of his first teeth. When he saw she was a grown up, he gnashed the little pearls at her."

Immediately after finishing this sentence I closed the book and Lili began to wiggle her two very loose front teeth. She actually managed with a lot of effort (accompanied by a horrible squelching sound,) to shift the looser of the two a millimeter to the right. It seems to be holding in its new position, but I know that its days, if not hours, are numbered, so I had to take one last picture of my own little Wendy in her own little nightgown with her beautiful baby teeth. Lili seems to be right on the cusp of being more big kid than little kid, with her big kid feet and smelly soccer socks and ever-increasing self-sufficiency. I guess she has a good many nights in the nursery left, and hopefully if she is anything like her beloved Uncle Jon she will never forget the way to Neverland, but little kid or big kid, she IS rather delightful.

P.S. I'm sorry if I am beginning to sound like a broken record with the "My kids are growing up too fast!!" stuff....I'll try to write something different next time...maybe I will collaborate with Emily and make a "Top Ten Funniest Things Lili and Jack's Classmates Have Said to Us at Lunch Duty" list...

Little Miss Independent

I think Kateri is trying to tell me that she is no longer a baby. She has eschewed her safe, but boring, high chair in favor of the bench at our kitchen table, where she has a much better chance of falling and cracking her head on the tile. She will only eat food that can be chomped and crunched and possibly choked on: mushy food is for babies!! (Not that she ever ate mushy food, but she has been very eager to try out her recently completed set of molars and eyeteeth on any choking hazard within reach.) Furthermore, she has completely shunned any form of sippy cup in favor of regular, big kid cups and water bottles. She loves taking off and putting on the cap.

Taking a swig whilst staring defiantly at me...

So proud of herself. Please ignore the water she dribbled all down the front of her shirt. After all, she is a big kid now... at least for the next five minutes until she decides it is time for her umpteenth nursing of the day.

How to help with chores, Kateri-style

Step 1: Scrub enthusiastically, if ineffectually, at the horridly smudged mirrors with a dry paper towel.

Step 2: Decide that shredding the paper towel is much more fun and makes a much bigger mess.

Step 3: Become distracted from the shredding by how gorgeous you look with your post-bath crazy hair.

Step 4: Decide that you actually are irresistible even to yourself, and give the mirror a few parting smudges via some drooly baby kisses.

A visit with Uncle Justin

Uncle Justin spent some quality time with the girls on Sunday, and fearlessly embarked on a solo bike ride to the park with all three of them. Needless to say they had a great time. I joined them on the playground after a while and Kateri actually pushed me away and gave Justin a head hug. I guess it was her way of saying thanks for the great day!

I know, I know, these bottom two pictures are not exactly the best I've ever taken, but you get the idea.