Christmas was two days after I got out of the hospital from the original bleeding episode, so no pics of me!  But here are the girls, dressed and ready for mass.

We had Christmas morning at our house, and the Craig’s family came over later since I couldn’t go out.  Mom and John had planned to be with us, which worked out great since they were also able to watch Lucy and Samantha most of the time we were in the hospital.  And that was pretty much it.  I was just really glad to be home and not in the hospital.

The mini-guitar has made a reappearance the last couple of days, and Samantha has been handling it well enough that I don’t have to fear too much for its safety now.  Funny things that go with the guitar:  Lucy used to call it a hot-tar, and the pick a pickle.  Samantha has the pick right (although Craig now calls it a pickle…) but she says “but-tar”.  It’s held Samantha’s attention better than anything else I can think of recently, and today she was strumming and making up songs.  One included monsters, and I think she sang, “Monster, monster, don’t come get me!”  Another repeated, “Grandpa died, Grandpa died, now in Heaven” over and over.  I’m waiting to hear tomorrow’s songs…

Craig brought his guitar home, too, and we had a musical evening with Justin, Theresa, and Ebbie.

And, as you can see, Clare is now big (I should say BIG) enough for the Bumbo.  She is a chunk.  And, finally, the results of Craig’s music: (she’s asleep, if you can’t tell).

You tell me.  The last one was shortly after an extended screaming session last week.  She laid in bed with me and Clare for a bit, then announced that she had to go potty, and when I got up (Clare had already napped and didn’t want to lay down any more) this is where I found her.

According to my camera, this is from last June.  But I think the date is wrong, and it was actually October.  Either way, it’s been a while since I went through the pics on the camera!

Here is the little altar I put together for the Day of the Dead.  Mom’s only in the picture because it was the best/most easily accessible one I had of Dad.  The had and cookbook are my grandmothers (Eva Krivanek), gum drops were one of my other grandmother’s favorite treats (Margaret Courtney).  The box and frog puzzle my dad made, and the peanuts were one of his favorite snacks.  The rosary was also Grandma Krivanek’s, and the little pictures on the right are of me with my grandmothers.  That was all I could dig up at the last minute when I did this, but I’ll be a little more prepared this year (if the things aren’t still in storage!  More on that in a later post…)

This was in November.  One of them was confused about the weather forecast.  If I remember right, it was Samantha.

They take good care of each other…

…and Pooh Bear.

The nativity set the girls played with.  They’re taking a nap while they wait for baby Jesus.

The meltdowns have begun, so I’ll have to finish this later.

The roasted (in brick oven) vegetable quesidillas (cooked on brick stove) were really, really good.

We have done a little planting.  We’ve had several dafodills bloom, and the tulips and iris are ready to bust.

In other garden news, an orange bell pepper, orange mint, dill, lemon balm, dill, and chives are in the ground.  The lettuce which over-wintered is going crazy, and some of it tastes like bacon.  I don’t know what it is, because it’s from a mixed lettuce seed packet, and process of elimination hasn’t worked it out yet.  But it’s bacon-lettuce.  Who knew.

In Lucy news, she is fiesty as ever.  Wants to watch a movie every day, and rarely gets to.  But she likes “writing” scribbles and “reading” books she has memorized, or just looking at the pictures.  And she loves the zoo.

In Samantha news, she is getting the last four pesky teeth through.  She is running.  And she has a nice long list of words now, including Da, dog (which also means cat), doll, bowl (which also seems to mean spoon and basket), Papa, Ma, banana (which is sometimes “ba” and sometimes “nana”), ball, no, diaper, book, door, open, hot…those are all that come to mind at the moment.  She has been walking around the house “reading” books out loud over the last couple of days, which is really, really cute.

So that’s the update.  Craig’s working a lot, and I spent the day baking.  Which reminds me, happy St. Joseph’s Day.  Here’s the bread I made:

It’s supposed to look like St. Joseph’s beard.  Judge for yourself.  I also made egg-free chocolate chip cookies (surprisingly delicious, once you make it past the cookie dough that acts like toasted bread crumbs), vegetable broth, two pans of bread pudding, and dinner today.  I wish I could say days like this were the reason I haven’t written in so long, but it’s really been more a combination of distraction and laziness.  So hopefully more interesting things will happen soon for me to share with you, and I’ll feel like sharing it.  In the mean time, here’s a pic of the girls with their friend Cylis to hold you over.

And here’s the card with their lovely description:

“I think it looks like Winnie the poo walking towards the right while holding a stick with a beehive on it, and bees following him.”

This was one where Lucy got her hands on the glue with out supervision…but at least it is appreciated!  Keep the pics coming!

We had broccoli pasta and apples and squash, both of which Samantha could eat and really, really enjoyed.

We had apple pie instead of cake, since she can’t have eggs.  (There are eggless cakes we like, but the pie is really good!)

We’re planning a joint birthday party for the girls…sometime.  Things are little tight with Thanksgiving and Craig has a retreat this next weekend, so it may be closer to Lucy’s birthday.

spaghetti bridges

That has nothing to do with “c”, but Craig had to test the experiment he was doing at school the next day.

But day two included…

Dress up

Samantha climbing (that starts with “C”!)

And caterpillar cookies!

It was a delicious day!

Grandpa and Samantha.

Blowing bubbles in the backyard.

Uncle John assisting with the water table thingy.

Swimming.

Yes, that is a polar bear in her mouth.

Sunflowers from my parent’s front yard.

She got herself into the wagon, except for a tiny push from me when her second leg got stuck.  I fear we have a climber on our hands.

The whole family.