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!