Laowai

Standing outside my door stomping the snow off my boots makes me happy.

Kid masterpieces like this make me happy.

The crazy exuberant light show at a house in our neighborhood makes me happy. 

The rock down the street that gets repainted every few months makes me happy.

We’ve been enjoying having Brian home this week. On Wednesday he made a fire and the girls asked if they could roast marshmallows after dinner.

This reminds me of a photo of Brian from high school – sitting on the floor at his mom and dad’s house. He looks just the same.

I kept having to say keep your sticky marshmallow fingers off the furniture and then Bea got ahold of the camera:

Great fun on a weekend night.

…to have a new house and to find spots for all your holiday decorations. I am so lucky. And I just love boxed gingerbread house kits. Seven bucks at Trader Joes and so much fun.

This is the little angel, made out of a coffee pod thingy, that a Swiss bus driver gave to Bea one day. I wonder what the story behind it is? Did he make it with his big hands? Did he find it on the bus? Did one of his grandkids make it? It is precious to me.

Our biggest one yet.

Each of the stickers below represent a time when Bea bravely talked at school. She is right in the thick of it – getting help from her psychologist*, her teacher and lots of other helpers at school. We are not out of the woods and there is a lot of work to do to ease her anxiety. But for the moment we are feeling thankful and hopeful for her future. 

* I shouldn’t feel this way, but just saying out loud that my daughter has a psychologist stabs me in the heart a little. It should be as simple as saying she has a doctor – but somehow it isn’t. It reminds me of all her struggles – even if they are not physical struggles it is still so hard to swallow the idea that your child is in pain.

So if you are in the North Shore Chicago area and you can’t find any stickers in any shops, it’s just because my daughter is doing a fantastic job overcoming some really scary stuff.

Here I am after doing battle with my TV room walls. I was all motivated after seeing how my sister’s recent paint job turned out (beautiful) but it’s taking forever and a day to get the walls prepped. Patching and sanding and dust absolutely everywhere. Poor Brian cannot handle the dust – he gets all wheezy – so I really must finish this stage this week. 

Wish me luck. 

I’m not feeling my photography mojo lately. Not sure why. Maybe it’s just this gray time of year setting in. Anyway – I only have a few photos from our long Thanksgiving holiday in Michigan. 

Here’s Brian doing some cooking: 

I love how butternut squash start to ooze and bubble squash juice after you cut them:

Bea has fallen for Mom and Dad’s puppy – Skipper. She would slip under the table during a meal and tenderly stroke him. Here’s a portrait of Skipper: 

Grandma Dice had Thanksgiving with us (and Lana’s clan). She made her delicious rolls and also a pan of mini rolls for our girls. I can’t think of many things more beautiful than the sight of Grandma’s rolls nestled in their cast iron pans. 

We, spur of the moment, decided to decorate Mom’s Christmas tree. The tree ended up a bit ornament heavy at about three feet off the ground. It was good fun. I love that my Mom is up for having her grandkids spontaneously dig through all her Christmas boxes. It’s all precious, but not too precious for her dear little girls to dive into.

I find myself humming “Lord help the mister – who comes between me and my sister…” this week because Jennifer invited us to see White Christmas at the old Temple Theater in Saginaw. It was all kinds of fun and we’re all in the holiday mood now.

I saw this old sign at an Evanston dry cleaner – it reminds me how easy I have it today laundry wise. Just look at that poor woman’s face. I would look like that too if I had to iron my sheets and pillow cases.