maddy.

(theme for this and the following post shamelessly stolen from The Pioneer Woman)

she is...

stubborn

opinionated

beautiful

loud

growing up so fast

wise beyond her years

she is not...

complacent

"girlie"

shy

anything one would expect her to be

a happy reader

a morning person

I've been MIA...

But I'm back! Here's what I've been up to:

We took the girls to have their Christmas photos taken.

I re-organized the craft room:

I finished my MIL's Sweater for Christmas:

And my parents' blanket for Christmas:

And my FIL's scarf for Christmas:

And a pair of socks for me. It's recently been pointed out to me that during times of trauma, I cast on for socks. So, since I was dealing with a pretty big-assed size trauma in the past few weeks, I knit these:

Oh! And we had Halloween, too. We went to Lucy's for Halloween, and walked around her neighborhood to trick or treat. The girls were princesses, Jake was a three hole punch, and Lucy and I had our towels handy, just in case!

Anagrams

1. SPARSE VENUES = Severus Snape
2. GO UNLOAD LOVE = Luna Lovegood
3. A MOTH SEDAN = Thomas Dean
4. FLUSH CIGAR = Argus Filch
5. SLICK AIRBUS = Siruis Black
6. DUMB ANALOG = Ludo Bagman
7. A DRY MOO-CALF = Draco Malfoy
8. UNSNAP THE SKI = Stan Shunpike
9. PIT-A-PAT RIVAL = Pavarti Patil
10. AN OLD JEER = Lee Jordan

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Week 5 Matching

1. Vine wood and Dragon Heartstring-i. Hermione Granger
2. Walnut and Dragon Heartstring-k. Belatrix Lestrange
3. Hawthorn and Unicorn tail hair-m. Draco Malfoy
4. Hornbeam and Dragon Heartstring-d. Viktor Krum
5. Ash and Unicorn hair-g. Cedric Diggory
6. Rosewood and Veela Hair-l. Fleur Delacour
7. Elder and Thestral Hair-b. Albus Dumbledore
8. Mahogany and an unknown core-j. James Potter
9. Elm and Dragon Heartstring-e. Lucius Malfoy
10. Cherry and Unicorn hair-c. Mary Cattermole
11. Yew and Phoenix Feather-h. Tom Riddle
12. Holly and Phoenix Feather-f. Harry Potter
13. Willow and Unicorn Hair-a. Ron Weasley

Busy Bee

It's been a busy house here lately. My mother-in-law and her mom came to visit for a week, and we were going non stop the whole time. They arrived on Wednesday and we did a grocery shop at Costco (always an event, that place is crazy). Thursday, we went to the Strip so they could see where Jake works. That was slow going, because his Gram needs to stop a lot to rest. Truth be told, so do I right now, so that's okay. Friday, we went on Maddy's field trip in the morning and then stayed up late playing games. Saturday afternoon was lunch out and "Legend of the Guardians" at the IMAX theater. Saturday night was Shakespeare in the Park (MacBeth). Sunday we grilled a really nice lunch and then went to Cirque du Soliel: Beatles Love in the evening. AWESOME show. The girls loved it especially, and the Aussies sitting behind us were completely enamored of the fact that Laura fell asleep 3/4 of the way through, mid-clap. Monday, we finally got to relax a bit as they were leaving around 4am Tuesday. We've spent the entire of this week trying to get back into the swing of our routine and waiting for the supplies for a change in Maddy's curriculum. :) Here's hoping that next week is a bit calmer!

Long Week

This week was long, and isn't really over yet. We had an ultrasound. It was great! I got to see AND hear the baby's heartbeat. That was reassuring, since I've miscarried before.

Maddy's lessons are going okay... She's still struggling with reading, but is making progress which makes us feel better. We're going to give it a few weeks, and if we don't feel like there has been enough progress, we're going to get her a tutor.

Jake and I are going to spend the remainder of this week deep cleaning the house in preparation for the visit from his mother and grandmother. They will arrive on Wednesday, the 29th, and be here for about a week. We're looking forward to seeing them, as it's been since June for me, and since December for him since we've been face to face with them.