End of 2015 Video Dump

Since we didn't make it to Utah to see family this Christmas, here are some videos of what our boys are like right now. Most of them are slow-paced, just like our lives.

This video is from early November, when Matthew still was learning he had a voice.

When Joseph starts playing by himself, it's delightful.

Matthew figured out where his hand belongs.

He's getting stronger!

He's added "ya ya yas" and "da da das" and even "blah blah blahs" to his vocabulary . . . and none of them show up here. Still cute.

If you listen really, really carefully, you'll hear some lyrics from "What Makes You Beautiful." The headphones were so his voice didn't get drowned out, but it also made it a little incomprehensible.

Oh, those legs.

More independent play. I should close caption these because they're just darling. (And Joseph doesn't mind me filming him. He likes to watch them later.)

Every now and then, mysterious toys pop up in our house. I believe this remote control car was by the dumpster, and it was supposed to stay an outside toy. When I just watched this again, I forgot we even had it because it had transformed again into an outside toy. I've discovered that "new" is the most important quality a toy can have. (Which is why I threw away that little orange guy in the background and he hasn't noticed yet.)

Dancing.

He did pretty well explaining Christmas, even with the confusing questions.

A Christmas song about drums. Hard to beat that.

I made this video mostly for the sake of my family. Hooray for long-distance impromptu performances!

Christmas morning.

Matthew got a lot of cool crinkly toys.

More adventures with more toys that mysteriously show up in our house.

Edit: I finally caught a video with Matthew gnawing on his fingers. I don't really think he's teething.

It's been a good month and good year, and we're looking forward to next year!

Slow down, time!

Guys, Matthew is old now! I keep thinking, wait, how is he almost 5 months now? He keeps doing developmentally appropriate things and I catch myself thinking, "Well, he's about the right age for that," and then I'm just shocked that it happened so fast.

Luckily, this is my favorite age, so we're happy to be here. (I keep thinking whatever age he is is my favorite, but then I'm always pleasantly surprised by the next. [except three years old will probably never be my favorite]) I think I mentioned once that his first, second, and third months were progressively harder for me, but once we hit 3 months it started getting easier again. Maybe it's that we got used to the sleep deprivation. (He still knows how to sleep through the night, but we only get a few nights of that before we lose it for some reason such as colds.) Overall, he spits up less and naps longer, which I appreciate.

It's been so fun watching him grow up. I had forgotten how fascinating it is to watch a little person discover the world using his hands, feet, and mouth. He still loves and demands attention, but he is better at entertaining himself now that he has those to play with. He's also happier now that he can sit by himself for a minute at a time (we have to catch him before he falls, but it's a start!). When we eat, he watches us like hawk, so we'll probably start solid food before too long. He is liberal with his smiles and careful with his laughs (except around Joseph). He growls, shrieks, coos, and babbles all the time.

Basically, we are all crazy about him. And for good reason.

But seriously! Slow down, time!

Christmas Traditions, Part 2

As I recently mentioned, it turns out my family did have Christmas traditions!

source

 I loved it when my mom hung up the snowflake made of 6-pack rings. I loved it when she brought out the basket of Christmas books. I loved it when we got to make gingerbread houses out of graham crackers. I loved dancing to Christmas music, especially the musicological journey through the 12 days of Christmas. I loved getting a new ornament every year in my stocking.  I loved seeing the wall get plastered with Christmas cards and newsletters from friends, and I loved even more seeing what my parents wrote about us each year in our newsletter. 

But, it's more interesting to talk more about funny memories than sweet traditions. So here instead are the top 10 unsentimental memories from Christmas time.

10. Gathering my mom's side of the family together at the age of 4 on Christmas to let them know it was no longer okay for them to call me "Kyra Bagheera." To their credit, they respected my wishes. I appreciate that.

9. Writing a letter to my dad at the age of 6 or 7 which stated, "Dear Mister Moon, I do not think you should get any Christmas presents this year. From, your daughter," leaving it in the office for him to find, hiding in the nearby bathroom to witness his response, and hearing him laugh. I had wanted to provoke him into apologizing for getting mad at me earlier, so I was infuriated that he laughed.

8. Spending Christmas Eve with my cousins in Lindon, then driving back up to Logan and expecting to go out to eat. Everything was closed as far as we could see. As we drove around in hunger I thought of ancient Jews searching for a place to eat and sleep. Then suddenly, there was standing before us an open store -- Little Caesar's! And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a pizza from Little Caesar's, and all the family was taxed. (Sales taxed, that is.)

7. Matching pajamas.

But you had to have the right color hair to get them, I guess.

6. Not going caroling to the fire station along with my mom, sisters, and other relatives one Christmas in Kansas because I wanted to be difficult. The next day, there was a picture in the newspaper of the group caroling. All I wanted in life at that age was to make it into the newspaper someday, so I was terribly disappointed. Naturally, I think I blamed my mom for not making me come.

5. Making the best of an unseasonably warm Christmas. The Christmas after Kevin and I got married, it was in the upper 40s, possibly even warmer. After we all opened presents, my mom pointed out one last present on the patio -- a new fire pit.

"Instead of ham for our Christmas dinner, we can do hot dogs!" my mom said. After a few hours of trying to start a fire with winter-wet wood, we brought them in and cooked them in an oven. I could see the disappointment in Kevin's face as we ate -- we gave up ham for this! 

4. Spending all the fall writing my American Girl spinoff series novel "Hello Kristie," hiding it in with other presents, and watching my confused relatives open it. "It says it's from Santa." "I think I saw it come in with Barbara's presents." Finally I couldn't bear it any more.

"I wrote it! It's my story!" They all sat down and read it. I have no clue how they kept straight faces. (Find the first two chapters here.)

3. More matching pajamas.

We didn't much care for dogs, actually.

2. Giving and getting Christmas treats from the neighbors. In particular, in 2004, our family went without candy from the beginning of January until Christmas morning. It wasn't that hard, really -- we had all gorged ourselves on candy on our drive back from our grandparents in Kansas, so for the first few weeks we were just grossed out by the thought of candy. 

And then after that, we just never bought it, and we just got used to life without it. And, like, things weren't too strict -- we could still have chocolate chips as long as they were in cookies, and we could still have ice cream and other treats, so it really wasn't that bad. Sometime in the fall, Kaylie was the youth speaker and talked about what we had learned from the experience.

After that, the whole ward knew that we weren't eating candy, and it affected the treats we got that year for Christmas. "I heard you guys weren't doing sweets this year, so I brought something else!" one neighbor told us cheerfully as he handed us a jar and left.

It was sauerkraut.

It was bad enough that we had to live with the smell of sauerkraut 3 days every fall while our town celebrated it in Providence Sauerkraut Days. Now it had been brought into our house!

"And the year was almost over, anyway!" my mom exclaimed as she sent us to take the jar somewhere far far away from her. I think my dad ended up eating it.

1. Bringing good tidings of great joy unto all people.

Or something like that.

Christmas Traditions, Part 1

"What are some Christmas traditions you had when you were growing up?" I've been asked a few times this year.

I have responded with a blank stare, then a slow response. "On Christmas morning, there would be presents under a large fake coniferous tree, and we would open them." Okay, I've never said that, but I have drawn a blank an embarrassing amount. (So much, in fact, that I turned down a chance to give a brief talk during Sacrament Meeting this Sunday, explaining, "I'm not very good at Christmas.")

And this year, I haven't been super great at it yet, though it had a promising start. We got all of our Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving (the snow came down and the tree came up -- it's Newton's third law of physics). The first week of December I attended a Christmas white elephant party and hosted a Christmas carol party, complete with wassail. But the next day I noticed a tickle in my throat, and both Matthew and I got hit hard with a bad cough and cold.

So that put a damper on things. I mean, it's not like you really want to go walking around with plates of cookies saying, "Here, have these rhinovirus laced treats!" (And it's not like we'd eat them ourselves . . . I may as well be mixing toothpaste into all of our treats for how much Kevin likes any sort of mint, and that and gingerbread are the two treats I think of when it comes to Christmas.) And all those books Kevin checked out of the music library for me with old English and Latin and French carols? I would be singing them in Phlegmish instead if I could sing at all. So the past week and a half hasn't felt terribly much like Christmas time (except for when Joseph and I would sit and watch these).

But it's actually been a good thing because it's helped me realize that my family actually had tons of traditions, none of which I'm carrying on this year. It turns out poinsettias and advent calendars don't just spontaneously appear, nor do games of "Warmer, Colder" with baby Jesus start on their own. Christmas books don't check themselves out of the library, tickets to the Nutcracker don't buy themselves, and even Christmas specials like Rudolph have to be found on YouTube before they get watched.

So yeah, my family actually did a ton for Christmas. There were decorations, foods, service projects, concerts, parties, movies, stories, nightly readings, all of it. I think I was just so busy as a teenager with AP projects and Christmas concerts that I forgot that we did anything. (Actually, that's also why I didn't think I did any extracurricular activities until I realized that choir and piano lessons and play practice counted as extracurriculars.)

Oddly enough, being able to remember how much we did for Christmas has helped take the pressure off for this year. Can't quite say why. Maybe it's that we still have time to tweak and add traditions -- nothing has to be perfect when your oldest is only 3 years old. Maybe it's that the process of forgetting and remembering traditions has helped highlight what matters most about Christmas. And, to be honest, since that's stressed me out too (I can't fix everything in the world and my ward for Christmas, and it drives me crazy), it's helped me realize that something is always better than nothing -- you are allowed to carol empty handed.

All that said, it's still nice to not have to give that talk on Sunday.

Let Brotherly Love Continue

One blessing we've enjoyed so far is how well Joseph and Matthew have gotten along. Joseph is very solicitous of his brother and makes sure we know when Matthew needs help (or when he doesn't, insisting that he can't be hungry or tired yet if he's not crying). They've started to interact more and more, even perhaps when Joseph would rather they didn't.

But Joseph gets his revenge, so to speak, in other ways. I asked him today to sing the ABCs for his brother. "A B C D E F feet, H I J K L M N O feet. Q V W R S feet," and then he started giggling so he never finished. There goes my plan to outsource all of Matthew's education to his older brother.

Too bad. These would have made great homeschool uniforms til they outgrew them.

Pants

This morning, Joseph came bounding into our bedroom.

"I had an askident," he informed me. "But my Iron Man shirt didn't get wet."

I started to get up to help him, but then I realized my back hurt a lot. How do you sleep on a back funny? But I guess I did.

"I need to stretch a little bit first," I told him. I lay back down and began to stretch, lifting my arms and legs a little bit to try and stretch just the right muscle.

"Hey, you're not stretching. You're exercising!" He then stopped for a moment to ask, "Do we say 'silly-billies?'"

Presumably he was planning to call me one, but first he wanted to make sure a word he had picked up from his friends would be allowed in our house. Occasionally I have to remind him that we don't say some words even though his friends do (they're not bad words, just unnecessary ones), and he asks things like, "What do I say instead of 'what the heck?'"

But "silly billies" was okay today. He didn't end up calling me that, and I went to change his damp pants. "What do you want to wear now?" I asked.

"My astronaut ones!" he said.

". . . What color are those?"

"Green." Okay, now I knew what he was talking about.

"Actually I want to wear Iron Man pants," he said, reaching for some black pants with a red stripe on them. He took off his wet strawberry shorts (that is, the red mesh ones) and put the Iron Man ones on instead. Iron Man shirt and Iron Man pants. He could be really strong today because he was Iron Man.

§

After Institute, I did a little bit of shopping for Christmas. We stopped in the men's active wear section, and Joseph commented, "Black strawberry pants? That's so funny." I looked, and there were some black mesh pants. Once I had decided on an appropriate pair, we finished shopping and headed home.

"Now, Joseph, do we tell Daddy about the pants?" I asked him at a stoplight. I looked back and he was nodding. "No, we don't. It's a secret. We want them to be a surprise for him. So do we tell him?" He nodded again. We went back and forth like this til he said he wouldn't tell.

When Kevin came home, he brought a package from the mailbox with him. "Looks like a present for Mommy," he said.

"Oh! We got a surprise for you, Daddy!" Joseph said.

"You did? Well don't tell me what it is."

"It's a present."

"Yeah, don't tell me about it yet."

"It's pants."

§

Today was a really great day, but there were some really hard things about it. I've wondered throughout the day when we'll be through all the meltdowns and bad-guy fixations and taking things apart and roughhousing and all of that. I've also wondered how on earth you teach empathy and compassion and inclusiveness and gentleness and resilience and selflessness to a little person, especially when you're not an expert at any of them. Do these things ever come naturally?

So in a lot of ways, I'm really grateful for all the cute things Joseph said about clothes today. A lot of it is just little kid cuteness, but a lot of it is also the real him, the him who will last when all the hard little kid things will stop being such a big issue.

And in the meantime, at least we can enjoy the company of Iron Man. (Or Capta Nerica. Or Superman. Or Buzz. Or Batman. Or even X the Owl. Depends on the shirt and pants that day.)

Iron Man today!

Called to Nurse

The other night, Kevin asked me, "What would your dream calling be?"

I responded immediately, "Ward Texting Committee."

When he looked at me quizzically (I think he was expecting an answer more like Gospel Doctrine teacher), I responded, "I dreamed I was on it the other night. I don't remember what we had to text, but I do remember one guy getting mad at me for going on a hike instead of staying back and texting, since I didn't have service on the hike."

Clearly, callings have been on my mind a fair amount if they have made it into my subconscious. Perhaps it's because it's time to get a new calling -- I've been in my current one for longer than the handbook recommends, and I've heard that I'm supposed to get a new one.

But in a big, strong ward like ours, it's not so easy to find a place where I'm needed at this point, especially since we'll likely be here only nine more months. The fact that I spend about 20 minutes in the mothers' room nursing a little baby only makes it more complicated.

Today I felt impatient about it all ("Just call me to Primary already . . . I know they need me there!" I metaphorically shouted to the void). But then I realized that maybe I should just have them call me to something that I'm already doing.

So here is my list of appropriate callings to extend to a mother of a young baby to legitimize the way she is currently building the kingdom.

• Baby nourishment provider: Following the injunction given in the Family Proclamation that a mother's primary responsibility is to nurture, a mother is called to feed her baby at church whenever the baby desires it. When the baby desires nourishment during Sacrament Meeting, and the meeting already includes that baby's blessing, the mother's participation in the ward choir, and the mother filling in on the organ, it may be appropriate to feed the baby instead of partake of the sacrament. Actually, it's entirely appropriate.
• Mothers' room coordinator: the mother is called to enter the mother's room before any other nursing moms and set a tone of reverence throughout Sacrament Meeting. She may be called to stop sitting on one of the comfy chairs in there if she plans to stay the whole time.
• Comfortable seat sacrificer: The entire family is admonished to misplace a sock, make a hole in nylons, or have some other small mishap that allows the family to consistently be 3-4 minutes late to church. This will allow other families to get the comfortable seats near the front of the chapel. As an added bonus, this will give other children in the family the opportunity to learn how to be reverent even when they don't sit near the front.
• De facto Relief Society/choir/musical number/baptism pianist: It's someone else's turn to hold the baby. Go play the piano.
• 2017 addition: If you know that the youth are not where they are supposed to be, go and nurse in whatever classroom they're hanging out in. They will skedaddle.
• LDS Tools Access Provider: Throughout the week, when you are nursing your baby, use your least-occupied hand to text fellow ward members information such as phone numbers and addresses when desired. It's your calling, after all.

Actually, that sounds suspiciously like Ward Texting Committee.

How to survive reading books to your toddler

What books were good for early on

About the time that Joseph was born, I decided that I was going to read him Oliver Twist. I figured that 1) I hadn't read it yet, and this was a good opportunity, 2) he was a newborn and wouldn't know the difference between that and any other book, and 3) if he understood any of it, he would know just how good his life was in comparison.

So within the first two weeks of his life, I pulled the book off the shelf and started to read. Within one paragraph, things fell apart -- he got fussy, and I got tired of reading out loud. It felt strange and slow to read out loud, and I didn't enjoy the experience.

But I knew I was supposed to read to my child, so by the time he was 6 or so months old I was back to trying to read to him. He could pay a little bit more attention at this point (although as soon as he was able to he would always squirm off my lap), but I still didn't like the actual out loud part.

Thankfully, things have gotten a lot better with practice. It is a lot easier to read to a kid who pays attention, and my voice has gotten more used to reading out loud even though it is so much slower than reading silently.

Here are my tips for learning to read out loud:

• First, start with something with lots of rhythm and great rhymes, even if it's above your baby's level. It takes some work to learn to like reading, and you need to learn to like it before your baby will.
• Once you are okay with the idea, go for the mind numbing board books that mostly have pictures of babies or colors or numbers or letters. Even if seems really boring, your child will probably be interested, and that will make it worth it.
• If you accidentally check out a book with too many words, try reading to your child in a foreign accent. The challenge makes it better. Sometimes singing the words helps too. Unfortunately, your child will probably protest this if they are older than 2, so enjoy it while it lasts.
• Skip pages! Skip them often so your child doesn't notice that they're gone. If you are bored reading a book, it is officially no longer worth it. 
• Don't be afraid to paraphrase. Unless you're teaching your child to read because then they'll just get confused. Or something.
• It is okay to hide books if you don't want to read them anymore. Sometimes your kid finds them anyway, but it's worth a shot.
• If you have read a book verbatim many times to a child (even a little little one), pause before you say the last word of a line or sentence. They might say it for you, which makes it so much more fun to read.
• If a book has detailed illustrations, learn to enjoy them, because your child will probably want to point everything out to you. It's as fun as you choose to make it.
• 26 letters is a lot of letters. Keep that in mind before checking out detailed alphabet books.
• Use open-the-flap books sparingly. They are good for keeping 1-year-olds' attention (and, well, every kid's attention), but you also spend a lot of time worrying that your child is going to rip the book. And usually they have lame prose.
• Avoid books written before your parents were born as much as possible if you don't like wordy books. I have a soft spot for Runaway Bunny, but that's about it.
• Don't give up! If you make it clear it's part of a routine, your child will eventually conform, and you'll both be happier.

So, I just went through my checkout history which I started recording in May 2013 and these are the books that I think I actually looked forward to reading. Either that, or Joseph really, really loved them. I kind of guessed at the age recommendations, but they're probably mostly accurate. I have some recommended for 6 months, but 9 months might be a better starting point.

• The Monster at the End of This Book -- regardless of your child's age, it's fun to try to talk like Grover. I checked this out near Joseph's first birthday and he didn't really like to listen, but I liked reading it enough that I didn't mind reading it to an audience that usually crawled away.
• Babies on the Bus -- works for a 1 year old. High page skippability.
• Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type -- 2 and older. Fun to do the voices.
• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (Laura Numeroff) -- 18 months and older.
• Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree (Eileen Christelow) -- 1 year and older.
• Hop on Pop (Dr. Seuss) -- 18 months and older.
• A You're Adorable (Martha Alexander) -- 1 year and older.
• Little Blue Truck (Alice Schertle) -- 1 year and older. Fun to do the voices.
• Diary of a Worm (Doreen Cronin) -- 2 and older. High page skippability. Just kind of a funny book.
• Moo baa, la la la  (Sandra Boynton) -- 6 months and older. I generally like the older Sandra Boynton books better, this one included. I did like Your Personal Penguin and Barnyard Dance which are newer.
• The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear -- 1 year and older. Can be very dramatic while reading it.
• We're Going on a Bear Hunt -- 1 year and older. More fun if you do motions with it.
• No Sleep for the Sheep (Karen Beaumont) -- 2 years and older. Fun to do voices.
• Pete's a Pizza -- 1 year and older. Fun to act out.
• Sheep in a Shop (Nancy Shaw) -- 18 months and older.
• Oh, no!(Candace Fleming) -- 18 months and older. Learned lots of new animals from it. Usually skipped pages.
• Hand, Hand, Finger, Thumb (Al Perkins) -- 1 year and older.
• Chicks and Salsa (Aaron Reynolds) -- 2 years and older. Just a funny premise.
• Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox (Erin Dealey) -- 2 years and older.
• Toy Story: The Bunny Surprise -- 2 years and older. This one just made me laugh every time. Not a classic by any means.
• The Duckling Gets a Cookie? (Mo Willems) -- 1 year and older. Okay, so I really don't like this pigeon, but I do like doing the voices.
• On Market Street (Anita Lobel) -- 6 months and older. Recommended mostly because of the bizarre illustrations and the cat at the end.
• Dragons Love Tacos (Adam Rubin) -- 18 months and older.
• Tyrannosaurs Drip! (Julia Donaldson) -- 2 years and older. I think I just like the phrase "bellyfuls of duckbill dinosaur."
• What a Good Big Brother! (Diane Wight Landolf) -- 18 months and older. This was the best book we found to prepare for a new baby. 
• I knew two who said moo (Judi Barrett) -- 18 months and older.
• Planting a Rainbow (Lois Ehlert) -- 1 year and older. We also like the similar Growing Vegetable Soup by the same author.
• Numbers Everywhere (Elliott Kaufman) -- 18 months and older. Also Alphabet Everywhere, but it's longer (have to get through 26 letters).
• Ten Apples Up on Top (Theo LeSieg) -- 18 months and older. You might want to skip pages for this one.
• Punk Farm (Jarrett Krosoczka) -- 2 years and older. It's really fun to do the voices. 
• The Seven Silly Eaters (Mary Ann Hoberman) -- 2 years and older. You will feel really bad for the mom after reading this.
• Alpha Oops! The day Z went first! (Alethea Kontis) -- 2 years and older.

Here are some other books we own that I like (too lazy to find the author but you can look it up):

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom -- 6 months and older. Good rhythm.
• Green Eggs and Ham -- 1 year and older. For a highly repetitive book this one is pretty fun, especially when you try to read it fast or dramatically. (side note: Red Fish Blue Fish is way too long, so don't read that one.)
• LMNO Peas and 1,2,3, Peas -- 1 year and older. These are just cute and have just the right amount of detail.
• The Pout-Pout Fish -- 1 year and older. Fun to do different voices. I like it better than the sequel.
• Hooway for Wodney Wat -- 2 years and older. Not 100% sure about the message in the book, but it's still funny.
• Bark, George! -- 1 year and older.
• Turkey Trouble -- 2 years and older. Don't read it right before Thanksgiving or you might feel guilty.
• How Are You Peeling? -- 1 year and older. How can you beat anthropomorphic vegetables?
• We are in a Book! -- It's pretty hard to beat this (most Elephant and Piggie books are fun, but this is the best):
  

And, of course, there are many, many other books that are worth reading. What do you recommend?

I come to Alabama with a Bon Jovi CD

When you're going to go on a long road trip, it is imperative to have the right music.

If I remember correctly, there was once an invention called an "iPod" which allowed people to listen to songs without burning CDs. Clearly, I never had one, so even now in the smart phone digital postmodern age I still had to make a few CDs for the car full of songs Joseph has (sometimes inexplicably) become attached to. Like "Africa" or "Believe it Or Not" or "Livin' on a Prayer" or now "The Pretty Song" (that is, "What Makes You Beautiful").

Armed with 80 minutes of Joseph's favorite songs, some downloaded games, lots of snacks, and a few clothes, we embarked on our journey to the very bottom of Alabama to visit Kaylie and Derek for Thanksgiving. Why do such a whirlwind trip? We were enticed by the cheap gas prices, warmer weather, and the chance to add 3 more states to the list. (And to see family, of course.)

We left right after Kevin passed his PhD proposal (the end is in sight . . . yay! and eek!) and spent the night with our friends in Columbus. As is traditional, we played the ever dramatic and poorly

shuffled Killer Bunnies while sampling divine homemade chocolates.

This probably means nothing to most everyone . . . but Kevin really had a lot of bunnies

The next morning, we headed down, and down, and down, and down. I could tell right when we had entered the South not just by the water tower that said "Y'all," but also by the lady at the convenience store who pleasantly ambushed me the minute I walked in with a cordial "hello," and caught me on the way out to compliment my hair (it was unbrushed). Usually I try to pretend that I am invisible at gas stations, but I had to admit this was a pleasant change.

And down, down, down we continued. Kevin and I took turns squeezing into the only open seat in the back to help take care of the boys, but they generally did pretty well. We would get a laugh when Joseph would say, "I never heard this song before" to a song he had heard less than 2 hours before on his CD. (We would also get a laugh out of his requests to get out of his car seat when he said, "My bottom isn't very good," and we would try to acquiesce when possible.)

There must always be a selfie.

Both boys also did a pretty good job napping, though there was one part right as I was driving through construction-ridden Nashville (ugh) that Matthew woke up extremely upset. Not my fave. Also, who does construction in late November? I think every state except Michigan had a substantial amount. (Incidentally, it's comforting to know there are terrible drivers in states other than Utah . . . though not so comforting when you're actively being tailed by someone who is following you from lane to lane or flashing you in a construction zone.)

Before we knew it, we made it to Alabama! Only . . . Alabama is a really, really long state, so we still had 5 hours to go. The freeway was a lot busier than I was expecting, even in the rural parts of the state. And especially around Birmingham. But we kept going, and going, and going, and before 8 pm we were in a cute little town called Daphne. We had made it!

Although it wasn't terribly late by even Eastern Time standards, we were so exhausted by the drive that all attempts at conversation with Kaylie, Derek, or my aunt Megan were unsuccessful. The next morning I said things like, "I vaguely remember something about . . . " and they'd be like, "Yeah, we talked a lot about that for a long time and you said stuff too." Ha. Guess I'm not cut out for 14-hour car rides. The next morning we also discovered that Derek's friend Andy had also joined the party, which meant there were 6 adults and 3 cute little kids celebrating Thanksgiving.

While Derek and Andy were playing football, the rest of us walked down to the bay, which was more fun to explore before I saw the "Beware of alligators and snakes" sign. On the way back, Megan and I caught up on each other's lives after having not seen each other for 5+ years, bonding over things like secret identities of 100 Hour Board writers and past trips to Disneyland.

Oh, and while we were on the walk, we discussed how Thanksgiving is Derek's favorite holiday. We decided to give him something to make it extra special this year. After bequeathing him his turkey feather crown (renamed the more politically correct head loop), she made some for the rest of the menfolk.

Before we all knew it, the turkey, rolls, stuffing, and everything else was ready to eat! Thanksgiving was here for real!

If you don't take a picture of the food, it never happened.

After a delicious meal I seem to remember eating basically one-handed (thanks Matthew), we all fell into food comas. Except, when I woke up from my nap it sounded like I was the only one who really slept. When dishes made it into a manageable state, we all went on a walk to a nearby park for Joseph to play at.

So much for that

Hi Megan!

Can you spot the ornaments in the tree?

This cool swing lets both mom and baby swing together.

Sweet, sweet girl.

Back home, we watched football, played the person game and gratitude scattegories, and acted pretty lethargic overall. Despite my nap, I was still really, really tired. At one point Kaylie asked, "Kyra, can I have one of your fruit snacks?"

In my groggy state, my train of thought went something like this: Fruit snacks. Yes, we do have fruit snacks. They are something we eat in the car. If we don't have enough then there will be sadness. But maybe we have enough. I don't know.

Me: "I'm not sure."

Kaylie: "You're so nice to say it like that. You could have just said no."

"No, I'm really not sure."

She counted them, and then she ate a pack. It was all fine.

We went to see some glittery lights in nearby Fairhope and some un-glittery lights at the park we went to earlier (we considered finding an outlet to plug the lights in), and that was Thanksgiving!


The next day, we had fun playing with cute kids,

got ready, and headed to the beach at Fairhope to enjoy the bright sunny 70 degree weather. We planned our outfits to look good for casual family pictures, but the minute Joseph saw the water, he ran right in with his jeans still on. It didn't affect things a ton, but it set a tone of "whatever happens, happens" for the pictures. We still managed to get a few good ones.

Not a bad view for late November, especially when it's 75 degrees.

His jeans were already wet, but we figured he'd rather play in the water in real swim shorts.

At one point, a local family walked by and remarked that he was brave to be playing in cold water. Kevin said, "We're from Michigan. This is warm to us!" The mom responded, "Yes, I thought you were Yanks." (After playing in recently-melted-glacier-water at Lake Michigan, nothing is cold anymore.) Oh, and speaking of having a different accent, I failed to mention that at a gas station in Tennessee a man asked Kevin if he was French. "No, just congested."

But we got to speak a little French when we headed over to the French Quarter in Fairhope for lunch. Words like "beignets" and "macaron" and "panini." There was just something about the charming outdoor setting that made Kaylie say, "It's just like Disneyland!" (Actually, since it wasn't humid there, it basically was like Southern California with more trees and Spanish moss.)

While we were eating, Kevin let out an audible gasp and an "oh no."

"What?"

He pointed to a little shop right by our table.

"We have to get some of those chocolates," he told me. He had brought some home after his conferences in Belgium and Paris last year, so I agreed with him.

and so did Matthew.

After splurging on our favorite chocolates ("My birthday is coming up," said Kevin), we walked around a little more and then headed back to Kaylie's apartment to pack.

Once we were all packed up, we headed up to Megan's house in northern Alabama. On the way, we were pleasantly surprised to run into each other at a gas station. After a little bit of safe racing (ie we passed her, she passed us a few minutes later, and we passed her a few minutes after that) we all arrived safely and went to bed. The next morning, Megan made muffins and some sweet potato casserole since we were the two people that missed having them for Thanksgiving. We packed some with us, and then we were off!

There was less traffic on the way back, but there was plenty of rain from Nashville to Cincinnati to make up for that. Again, both boys did a great job in the car, especially when The Pretty Song was on. Which meant it was on a lot. Before we knew it, we were getting off the freeway and onto familiar roads. We had made it home!

And after a trip like that, we might stay put for a while.

Everyone else in the room can see it

Baby you light up my life like nobody else

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed

But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell

You don't know, oh, oh,

You don't know you're beautiful

(this was in a stroller, not the car, if you're wondering about the lackluster strap job :D)

Take it from your brother.

Tummy time selfies

So about two weeks ago I got a smart phone. Joined the 21st century and all that. I'm even blogging on it currently.
It's been nice to have, especially on our trip to Alabama for Thanksgiving. But even before that we've put it to good use. For example:

He stopped fussing when there was a baby to look at.

Thank you, technology, for the latest milestone. (He still isn't consistent at rolling over. But he protests tummy time less.)