Boreal Witch

For two nights, Balin and Arthur both slept until about 7:30. It was wonderful. Robinson and I easily got lulled into a false sense of security, believing that we had finally come to the point where our children would "sleep in."

Little did we realize that our children were evil geniuses who were probably just playing practical jokes on us. For almost the past week these kids have been waking up at 5:30, bright-eyed and ready to start the day.

I'm not sure who is waking up first. If it's Balin there's not much we can do other than not go in until after 6am, and if it is Arthur, we can only hope that he stays quiet until Balin wakes up. Either way, I don't count on either of us getting much sleeping in time in the near future.

I suppose that's the draw back of having two kids in a small house. Someday we won't be able to get them to go to sleep or wake up in time for school. When my sisters and I stayed up half the night giggling we probably drove my parents crazy, too. Life is circular like that.

Blessed be.

It's really started to snow here. Although the snow has yet to reach winter wonderland heights, it's quite a beautiful change to see our surroundings switch from the browns of autumn to the white of winter. Speaking of which, I wonder how our friend Albert is doing?

What do you think Arthur's favorite winter activity is? Sledding? Nope. Making snow angels? Nah. Building snowmen? No. Watching snow plows and graders drive down our street? Well, he does like doing that, but it's not his favorite thing...

He loves shoveling snow. Every time it snows, no matter how little, he wants to go outside and shovel the porch. I hope this lasts well into his teenage years, though, sadly, I doubt it. We bought him a little red shovel last year. It's been well-loved. He even uses it during the summer to scoop up rocks and dirt.

As for Balin, he's content to watch Arthur ride around on his trike and scoop up snow. He's always watching Arthur very intently. It's sweet.

Blessed be.

Arthur refuses to let me take his picture anymore. In fact, if I take out the camera, he'll tell me to take a picture of Balin.

Balin, in contrast, is completely fine with being photographed. He is, after all, a baby, and really could care less about that black clicking machine in his face (other than the occasional snatch and grab). He has such a wonderful smile that whenever he's in a good mood, I bring out the camera. I have to because it would be a crime against the gods of photography not to record this sweet smile.

The past week Balin has been fussier than usual because he's had teeth coming in. His tooth nubs are officially here after what seemed like forever. I was a little terrified that it would never end. He's even back on his schedule, for the most part.

Now he's chewing on everything. His favorite things to chew on are cups, food, and spoons. His open mouth is constantly accompanied by a string of drool. My nephew would be disgusted.

I wonder if the next two teeth will be as bad. I'll find out in another few months when we do this all over again!

Blessed be.

Whew!

It's been such a busy fall - one of the busiest I can recall. I suppose it's to be expected, especially since I had a baby in March. A little bundle of joy would keep anyone up to their eyeballs in dirty diapers and spit up. I happened to glance at my last blog entry and, oh dear, realized that I had only written one entry in September. One? I've been pretty good about keeping everyone up to date, even with Balin around.

What's made my fall so outrageously busy?

1. Picking and canning berries. We made 17 jars of raspberry jam and 2 jars of cranberry syrup. I've still got loads of cranberries in the backyard which I may attempt to pick and can or freeze this weekend. Now that there's been a frost, the berries should have an even better taste.

2. Preserving potatoes. After picking 150 pounds of potatoes, I've been constantly cooking, grating, slicing, freezing, and canning them. I'm down to 30 pounds of potatoes which have temporarily taken residence in the arctic entryway. The best part of all this potato madness has been discovering how to make the perfect hash browns. I love hash browns. I could eat them every morning and sometimes for lunch or dinner. The process is outlined here. It's a bit time consuming, but the results are so worth it. If you don't have a dehydrator, you may want to invest in one. I'm not kidding. That's how amazing they are.

3. Training for the trail. Did I mention? Me and a bunch of other gals are hiking the Chilkoot Trail next summer. My friend Amanda and I have been walking stairs with our babies on our backs at the Big Dipper to train (as well as get in shape). Balin is now 18 pounds. It's a fabulous workout. I feel so much stronger.

4. Teething. About two weeks ago at Balin's 6 month appointment, the doctor informed us that his teeth were coming. We had ample warning, but this time around has been incredibly hard, for him and for us. His temperature was so high yesterday and after administering some pain medication, it's dropped, but one look at him tells you he's not feeling well. He seems to be even more irritable than Arthur was, and I thought he was bad!

5. Sewing. Halloween costumes have taken precedent over quilts, but for a while I was on fire! One quilt is now finished, waiting to be dropped off, one is awaiting boarders, and a third needs to be sashed. I was hoping the these quilts would be done by the end of the month and there's still time, but I'm a little less confident than I was a the beginning of September. You'll notice that I didn't mention anything about Halloween costumes here. That's because it's a surprise...but I guarantee you'll love them.

6. Trying to keep my sanity. Two of Arthur's friends are in preschool this winter. I'm incredibly jealous and sometimes wish that I had taken the opportunity to do more research about enrolling him. I also wish that I had taken the time to get him in gymnastics and swimming at the beginning of fall. I can't really explain why I've been dragging my feet, except to say that I've been so busy just trying to get back into a routine that I probably would have been late to any classes I enrolled him in 75 percent of the time anyway. Since the playgroup doesn't get together as often, Arthur has had very few kids to play with. He's so lonely. He's only got his brother to play with right now and Balin's a bit boring to an active 3 year old. It's a good thing I've finally gotten around to signing him up for an activity. He needs time with other kids and I need time away from him. I see Amanda on a regular basis because we go walking together so I have an opportunity to see one of the other moms, but Arthur doesn't really see any of his friends anymore. It makes me sad.

To be honest, I like keeping busy, but the more busy I am, the more important it is for me to take a break.

Boring January is looking pretty good about now.

Blessed be.