10.31.20 - Joy status: delightful Halloween newsfeed

I love seeing all of your pictures of how you did Halloween for 2020. Love the adorable little kids costumes, the family themed costumes, the candy shoots and other clever ways to leave candy for people with minimal interaction, and just the creativity and cheerfulness in general. My newsfeed was a delight tonight. So thanks!

6.17.18 - My birthday & Father's Day

A few days before Father's Day I was working at Picasso's and decided to walk down Main Street and see if I could find any good gift ideas for Jack. I went to this really charming bookstore called Main Street Books and they had all kinds of unique, thoughtful, and funny greeting cards. I picked out a sweet one for Jack and then also found a pair of Hungry Caterpillar socks, which I figure is kind of Father's Day-themed since our kids love that book. I imagined him wearing the socks and pretending his feet were caterpillars. Who knows if that will ever happen but it was the best idea I had so I got them.

Anyway so this morning I gave him those gifts before he took the girls to church, and he seemed to like them.

While everyone was at church I relaxed and enjoyed the quiet and time to myself. I made a plate of nachos (with the mango peach salsa I have been really loving this trip) and watched 2-3 episodes of The Office uninterrupted. Frankly it was awesome. I also tried to remember Pachelbel's Canon on the piano but I couldn't quite get the whole thing. Still enjoyed playing it without little hands pounding the keys on either end.

I went ahead and got dressed and prepped a couple things to take to Mom's house later. Jack came home with the kids and the sermon had been Father's Day related and church had given all the dads bags of M&M's with a little card, so that was sweet.

We all caravaned to Mom's house for my informal birthday potluck. Jack dropped us off and ran to Costco to get rotisserie chicken (from us) and canned chicken for Everett's buffalo chicken dip. (Side note: I like how proud Everett is of that dip. It's freaking delicious and all of it always gets eaten at get together's, which he likes to point out.) Ellen made Sunshine fruit salad and she was so thoughtful as to make one version completely gluten free, which means a lot to me.

Thanks to Ellen and Everett the basement was already totally clean and prepped for company. Good thing, too, because Zoey forbid me from going down there while she worked on my birthday gift, haha. But once she was done we all moved all the food and drink to the downstairs table. The Bairds came over with bacon wrapped smokey mini sausages in a crock pot (which also all got eaten), Don & Merlene brought gluten free chips and cheese, and I think Julie brought a bunch of veggies and hummus. Later Linda got there with apple fritters.

Blurry pic Mom took of everyone visiting. I'm having grapefruit juice with white wine, mmm.

We all hung out and chatted, and we played a few games of Quiplash. One of the questions was what to name a cheese shop and I won with "It's all Gouda." Lol. Everyone loves puns. Zoey and Malcolm stayed upstairs for this part because the game is not always kid-friendly. Clara is too young to understand, though, and she stayed with us and happily danced to the background music and watched the animated characters as we entered our answers. At some point Katie Jackson came over and joined us, which was really great because I hadn't been sure if she'd be able to make it (Aaron is home with poision oak, but the kids were napping so she snuck away for a bit). She played Quiplash too and laughed a lot.

Zoey's sweet card.

We were able to play only a few games because the Bairds had to go tend to other things (alas), but then it was time to open presents. I actually wasn't really expecting presents because I'd told everyone not to worry about it, but I had several anyway. Zoey made me a handmade card all taped shut, and inside it was her gift: a drawing! Very very sweet, and she was so excited for me to open it. Ellen got me a stainless steel baking dish (I am slowly converting all bakeware to stainless steel for ease of cleaning and gluten free cooking), Don & Merlene got me a sweet card with some cash, Jack got me a book on teaching our kids to read, and Mom painted me a fresca based on the lyric book "It's a Wonderful World" that my girls enjoy. That was especially creative and touching and she even copied the exact style of the birds and butterflies in the book's illustrations.

We didn't have any cake, but Mom stuck 7 candles in an apple fritter (3 and 3 for 33 and "one to grow on") and then everyone sang "Happy Birthday" and I blew out the candles with Clara's help. I was pleased to see that Clara has evolved from being shy and intimidated by everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to enjoying it and wanting to aslo blow out the candles.

I think it was after that Linda had to get going and so did the Jacksons and the Wolks. Everett, Jack, and I hung out and chatted in the basement for awhile and then quickly cleaned up. Jack and I took the girls back to Don & Merlene's so we could hang out with Dave while he was there after work. At some point Merlene put a candle in half a gluten free fig bar (lol) so that the Jacksons could sing me their much more professional, harmonized version of "Happy Birthday." Clara loved that too, and again helped me blow out the candle.

3/4 of the Jackson singers that night.

Oh and of course I got a lot of well wishes via text and on Facebook. My favorite this year was from Nick Reynosa:

6.11.18 - Pool day & Polite Society

I woke up around 7 a.m. and went to Mom's. We used the Starbucks app to mobile order some iced grande mochas, then I walked in and grabbed them on our drive over to City Hall, and we walked all around the City Center and park talking. It was early enough that it wasn't too warm and we had a really nice time. I haven't been up there in years so it was nice to see again.

On the way back we stopped by Walmart Neighborhood Market and Mom picked up some groceries for herself and some gluten free food to keep around for Clara, which was very sweet. When we got back to her house I took off in a hurry so I could get back to the Jacksons and help get the girls ready for all of us to go to Mark & Linda's pool!

First of all the girls' suits were absolutely adorable and I really enjoyed that. And while I'm feeling a little worn out from all the supplies we have to pack (food, diapers, back up clothes, etc) every time we bring the girls anywhere, this outing was totally worth it. I also haven't been to Linda's in years, and I love spending time with her, and I haven't seen Mark in forever, so all of that I was looking forward to.

Clara's ballerina-like swimsuit

We got there and she waved us to park in her driveway. We went inside and there were not one but three cats (Santino, Mikey Fredo, and Purrrrl), and Clara was psyched  about that. She kept pointing them out and petting them, and Jane started crawling around chasing them, and for the most part the cats took it in stride.

Before we had even got outside the Wolks (minus Denny) and Ellen arrived, so we got everyone sunscreened up and ready to go. Incidentally the sunscreen Merlene bought us is excellent--it's not only gluten free but it's spray on yet still lotion (not aerolized spray) and seems pretty effective. Anyway as we were prepping all the kids Clara noticed the pool outside (which I also have never seen finished and which is gorgeous) and she kept saying "Swim?? Let's GO!" So excited haha.

Yet when we finally got outside she was of course a bit hesitant about getting in, which is fine with me as I want her to be cautious, although I'd also like her to see how fun swimming is. Zoey and Malcolm got in right away, and Jack waded in with Jane (who was perfectly content to be in the water), but Clara mostly stayed at the top step on the shallow end. I tried to entice her with various pool toys or by sitting next to her to get her to go in at least one or two steps more. At one point she stood near the edge of the pool and I got her to jump to me, but when I dipped her in to her waits (where her life jacket reached the water) she got scared and yelled "NOOOOO!" so I put her back on the top step. After that she didn't even want to go on the steps and spent a long time (over an hour at least) walking around the pool perimeter watching everyone, sometimes throwing balls back and forth, sometimes cheering for Linda and Ellen (and Jack) playing pool volleyball, but certainly never actually getting in the water.

Clara is cautious with the pool and perfers to walk around it.

Zoey is happy to get right in.

I was a little disappointed because I think if she tried it she would love it, but I tried to remind myself that she was having a great time anyway and there's no hurry. Zoey and Malcolm were loving it and Mark and Linda are great hosts and seemed happy to share and to tell us about how they put it together (along with other cool aspects of their lovely backyard, such as Mark's very organized garden which Julie really liked).

We had corn on the cob and strawberries and even some delicious vegan bread Ellen brought back from her friend's bridal shower weekend. Mark grilled hot dogs and had his homemade relish and dilled carrots (which Jane liked) and other treats. It was all so pleasant. Of course we had gluten free food for Clara (the muffins she loves, string cheese, oranges, PBJ) and she seemed happy with that.

At one point Clara was sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet on the top step, and I was spinning a yellow beach ball in the pool, which she found very exciting. Most of the rest of our crew were sitting at the patio table eating lunch, and on the radio Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" came on. I've always liked that song largely because of its inclusion in the soundtrack to "Almost Famous," which I enjoyed in high school. Something about being in Missouri in the summer, at a pool, listening to a nostalgic-sounding song that reminds me of high school--man, all of it was nostalgic in a very happy way, and I started singing along while swirling the beach ball and Clara seemed to enjoy it. It was really lovely.

Jane tries to inhale a corn on the cob.

Eventually Jane was rubbing her eyes so I went upstairs and nursed her in the guest bedroom and she completely passed out. Jack joined her and I went back down to the pool. Julie, Ellen, and I were goofing around while Linda took some pictures, and it was then--when no one was paying attention to her that she could tell--that Clara tentatively got back in the water. She layed down in the water on the first step and let her legs dangle over the other steps.

Getting braver.

I brought one of the pool boats over to her and she seemed interested but just before she was about to try to step into it Malcolm jumped in, so I launched him off and grabbed the other boat for Clara. I don't think it hurt that she saw Malcolm do it, and she was ready to get in. "Clara boat??" I picked her up and put her in and she loved it! I pulled her boat all around the pool for at least 45 minutes. She had her sunhat and eventually also Linda's sunglasses, and she was very happy to just keep floating. If I ever dragged her nearer the stairs again she would protest with "Oh! Oh! Clara boat!" meaning she wanted to keep floating. I was thrilled, actually, that she was in the water so much. I eventually dipped my hair in too, which incidentally is definitely in my joy inventory. Such a wonderful feeling.

She wanted to check out the fountains.

Eventually Jack came back down with a refreshed Jane and I had her on my hip in the pool. I took Clara out of the boat and held her on the other hip, and she was scared for a second but then seemed to really enjoy it.

By now we had been at Linda & Mark's for nearly 5 hours, so we decided to pack it in. Clara passed out on the way home but did wake up when we got back, which was fine because I figured it meant she wouldn't stay up too late with Don & Merlene watching her.

Jack and I took turns taking showers and watching the kids. Dave dropped by after work and visited briefly and saw the girls. Then Jack and I left the girls with Don & Merlene and we drove to Saint Louis to have dinner with Mike (his treat). On the drive there we were on the highway and I saw a woman next to us with her windows down singing along to whatever she was listening to. I couldn't hear her at all but it was a pleasant sight. At Jack's insistence (sweet of him) I slept on the way there, and I woke up when we parked in a beautiful area with tall old style houses that reminded me of San Francisco. They were across the street from a large beautiful park with wrought iron fences.

We walked down a super clean sidewalk and found the restaurant, and Mike was in the lobby waiting for us. He introduced us to the owner, Bryan, and we were sat immediately. Turns out Mike knows the owner from years before the restaurant even opened, and he spent weeks helping set up various IT and electrical framework, he continues to help maintain the restaurant, and in exchange he eats there for free probably about once a week. So that was amazing and made me feel more comfortable with him treating us to such a nice meal.

The food was good but the drinks in particular were great, and they all had funny pop culture names like Thai Fighter and I Am Groot. The restaurant has a steampunk theme which I really liked, including gears and pipes holding up lamps and bookshelves, etc. The whole thing is in a brick building which doesn't hurt. We had some fried portobello mushrooms for appetizers and dark chocolate pretzel bread pudding for dessert--those were probably my favorite parts. And we talked and laughed and had easy conversation the whole time. It was very enjoyable.

Then on the way home Jack was talking to me about things he'd been thinking about inspired largely by the sermon he heard at his parents' church on Sunday. And he told me that (paraphrasing) he finds me so attractive not just physically but as his wife and specifically because I've "kicked ass" keeping our family afloat the last couple years while he finished nursing school. It meant a lot to me to hear him say all of that. In fact I think it's one of the more profound and kind things he's said to me, so that was a nice way to top off the night.

6.10.18 - Parish Picnic

Despite prepping as much as possible for the heat (frozen water bottles, sleeveless shirts and sunhats, etc.) the weather was a bit too much for us and we were all ready to go home before we'd even used all our tickets. Nevertheless I want to remember some good moments from the Parish Picnic.

(This pic actually stolen from Julie's blog from last year, but same idea.)

First, it was fun to see Clara get excited for different rides and to ride those rides unafraid. She rode the helicopter ride twice (once with Jack, once with Zoey and Greta), the fire engine ride, the spinning monkey ride, and the dinosaur ride. She seemed to really like all of them and I really liked that she had young kids to ride them with and share in the enthusiasm.

It was also enjoyable and slightly nostalgic to be at All Saints and especially to go in the gym, where I haven't been in years. I still remember the mirror backing to the trophy case, which I would glance at basically every time our classes entered or left the gym, same when I was older and left gym mass.

Jane tries to keep up with the big kids climbing all over the bleachers.

But the best part of the Picnic was riding the Scrambler with Jack. That has always been my favorite ride, and I've never gone to a theme park or fair or anything similar with Jack before. I sat on the inside because he's bigger, and he still tried to smoosh me against centripedal force, and his whoops and sound effects made me laugh a lot, actually. He also really wanted to give the ride operator a high five but we had to wait until our cart lined up just right with where the dude was standing, and then the guy wasn't ready for it and missed, which also made us laugh. The ride was like a really enjoyable three minute date, haha.

6.6.18 - Mom's actual birthday

I worked in the afternoon but left early to pick up supplies for gluten free chocolate cupcakes. God bless Schnuck's and their entire Gluten Free section making my life so much easier. I went by the Jacksons to get Jack and the girls and stuff for nachos. Clara knows when we put on her shoes that we're going somewhere. She said "Go see Zoey and Malcolm?" I didn't know if the Wolks were coming over because Z & M had been feeling sick the day before, so I told Clara "We're going to see Jama, Ellen, Everett, Abigail, and Myrna!" but she just responded "Go see Zoey and Malcolm?" So I texted Julie to ask and yes, they were going to come over! Yay.

So we headed back to Mom's. She was off work early (5pm) and she happily played with the girls in the living room while Ellen helped me make nachos (one gluten free pan, one regular) and then I also made gluten free chocolate cupcakes (thanks largely to Merlene keeping gluten free dishes for us to use).

We enjoyed the food and Mom sat at the front door showing Clara and Jane the birds outside. Mom has a great setup of bird feeder and bird bath and some kind of distraction (corn on the cob?) for squirrels. Her front yard is lively, and the kids liked it. Although once Clara remembered the basement was there she kept wanting to go down there. I went with her once and she remembered Mom's touch lamp and a few other things from Christmas, and I can't remember if all that is in videos she's seen since or if she's getting old enough to have a longer memory, but I suspect the latter and it's pretty cool. Hopefully it means she'll remember more at Christmas. And in general I like the idea of her getting old enough to remember grandparents' houses between visits and start really anticiapting and enjoying visiting.

Clara was way in the back of the basement following one of the cats around when Julie and her kids arrived. I told Clara Zoey and Malcolm were here and I could see her little head bobbing quickly up and down as she ran past the back white wall to hurry and go see her cousins. I love it.

All the kids played in the living room for a while and then we moved the party outside. It was late enough it wasn't too warm anymore. Julie, Ellen, and I mostly sat around the porch table sipping drinks while Mom got out some soccor balls and things and played with the kids in the yard. I showed Zoey how to use my video camera and she practiced a couple times. Mom got Jane used to walking in the grass--a feat in itself--and Clara and Malcolm practiced throwing the balls as far as they possibly could. At one point Clara threw a ball over the fence, so Zoey ran round to the neighbor's yard to throw it back.

Eventually I went back inside to get the cupcakes, and Zoey helped me with the candles. I was going to just do one candle in a cupcake but Zoey said we needed six because Jama is 60. So then I was going to do one candle each in six cupcakes but Zoey objected. We put six candles in one cupcake, and Zoey made a point of making the swirly candle the tallest because "it's the fanciest." Once Everett and Jack came out we all sang "Happy Birthday," (which Clara seems to be getting used to and not intimidated by) and then enjoyed cupcakes. Mom got some great pics of the four grandkids with chocolate all over their faces.

We cleand up, I left Jane with Jack and Everett, and the rest of us went on a walk up to All Saints. On the way there we played "I spy with my little eye," which Clara has gotten the hang of thanks to practicing with Mom the night before. All the little kids were holding our hands and excitedly pointing out different colors. I was especially touched that Clara loved it and started to understand it. When she said "I spy little eye something that's white" I was excited/impressed.

Up at All Saints the rides for the Parish Picnic this coming weekend are already set up but of course no on was there late on a Wednesday. Clara was really taken with the giant bears and monkeys for one of the spinny rides, and she and Zoey and Malcolm wandered around checking out everything. It was great. She was upset to leave until we started playing "I spy" again, and on the way back we heard bats and saw a lot of fireflies. Zoey even caught one. Such an idyllic midwestern summer night.

12.25.17 - Christmas Day

With help from Don and Merlene, we managed to get the girls (beautifully) dressed for Christmas and make it to Mom's by 9am. That's a Christmas miracle all by itself. The Wolks also got there about that time, so we had a solid 1 - 1.5 hours with everyone there at once. (The Wolks had to head to the other side of the family's shortly after so Denny could get to work that afternoon.)

Love dressing up my kids for holidays.

We opened gifts - Zoey very helpfully handed everyone's out. Clara still doesn't really get excited about opening presents, but once one is open she's interested in exploring the new item. Jane of course has no idea what is going on but she was happy to sit in Jama's lap and observe. Zoey and Malcolm are more the age for this, and they both were excited to open their own gifts and help everyone else with theirs. I have to say I was pretty excited about some of my gifts this year, especially some extremely comfy Ravenclaw PJ pants from Jack and a really cute Hogwarts hoodie from Mom, complete with fancy hood.

Behold.

Mom got the grandkids a figure-8 type train set that was very popular. Malcolm and Zoey were really excited about it, and after the Wolks had to leave Clara played with it for a very long time. The other siblings and Jack played Betrayal with a new expansion Mom had gotten Neil for Christmas, and I hung out with Mom and Jane in the kitchen, enjoying the french toast bake Mom had made and gathering screencaps of the Christmas Eve festivities from yesterday and laughing to myself. It was really quite fun. Jane kept herself busy with various kitchen items Mom brought to her in her high chair. It's so nice having grandparents' houses with all the baby stuff already around to use.

Goofing around after opening gifts.

(Unfortunately I am actually writing the rest of this in early February, as I never made it back to this post.)

After visiting at Mom's we went back to the Jackson's for dinner and their Christmas family traditions. Merlene made an extensive and completely gluten free meal, even including GF bread and GF french onion rings for green bean casserole (among much else). She hadn't realized the oven had gone off while the turkey was in it, and so dinner got pushed back a bit and she lamented that a lot, but she didn't need to. She had shrimp and cocktail sauce for appetizers and frankly none of (I think) were really starving to get going anyway. Christmas always involves eating all day long.

While we waited for the turkey to catch up, the family played Buckets of Doom, which involves making up elaborate scenarios for how you are going to use random items to get out of dooming situations. It involves a lot of creativity, which the family has in spades, and they were laughing until tears in some cases.

Eventually we ate, sitting down around the bigger table in the dining room. I think it's the first time I've eaten in there since we had a fancy meal before a high school dance. Strange life.

After dinner (which was great), we tried to do Santa photos with Jack dressed as Santa. We had him get dressed in front of the kids so they could see the transition, but ultimately it didn't do the trick. Even before he put on the fake beard, Clara was nervously standing behind the couch. Josiah and Jane were too young to be concenred, but Naomi kept declaring bravely "You're not scary!" while refusing to go anywhere near Jack. After many different strategies and attempts (and some tears from Clara), we let go of the Santa pic dream and came away with this series of photos, which I actually think is hilarious and probably better than any posed pictures:

We won't sit in his lap but we will happily sit *on* him on the floor.

Jane tips over.

Josiah doesn't appreciate being adjusted.

After giving up on Santa photos, we moved on to exchanging letters and going through all the goodies Merlene always stuffs our stockings with. This is the first gluten free Christmas, so she found GF treats to replace the Christmas tree-shaped cakes she got us in the past. I was really touched by all the effort and details she thought of to make the whole celebration inclusive and safe for Clara.

Don & Merlene also got the grandkids gifts, including some pretty sweet, cozy, warm PJs, a clock puzzle for Clara, and I can't remember what all else right now. We also had some surprise gifts mailed to us from Renata: a magnetic Santa doll set and an animal puzzle that makes the noises of the animals when you put the pieces together correctly. Clara was pretty interested in that.

The letters were sweet too. In particular I like how Don & Merlene write individual letters to each of the grandkids, even though they are not yet old enough to understand. I save all those letters to show them one day.

Oh there was also gluten free cheesecake in multiple flavors for dessert, so that was awesome.

Aaron and Katie had cleverly planned ahead and brought PJs and night time stuff for their kiddos, so they put Naomi and Josiah down in Don & Merlene's room, and the rest of us (minus Dave, who was exhausted) stayed up and played some Quiplash with relatively few interruptions. Clara peacefully stood in front of the screen dancing along to the background music.

Overall it was a really relaxing and enjoyable day.

12.24.17 - Christmas Eve

This year Mom's wish list included going to lunch or dinner with the five siblings, so we arranged to go to Bradden's in Old Town St. Charles on Christmas Eve. We were originally going to go to Magpie's, but they aren't open on Christmas Eve. Bradden's would be open but they weren't taking reservations. We knew that "Christmas Traditions" (in which people dress up as famous and historical Christmas figures and act out their roles all up and down the street) would still be going on, and we suspected Main Street might be very crowded. Originally I offered to get to Bradden's at 11:30 a.m. and hold our spot in line, and I asked if anyone would come and wait with me. But it turns out that Mom was going to Christmas Eve mass later in the day (instead of in the late morning, like I thought), so actually all of us except Julie drove to Old Town together.

Mom with Christmas Traditions' Jack Frost

It was snowing when we left Mom's house. In fact I think it had been lightly snowing most of the morning. It was the best kind of snow: pretty and powdery and not really sticking to the streets (perhaps because it was so cold outside!) Not only was the snow pretty but I think it meant fewer people were out and about, so Old Town wasn't as jammed packed as we'd anticipated. There were still a lot of people there, making the place seem bustling and fun, but not so many people that we struggled to find parking or even had to wait long at all once we got to Bradden's. In fact I think we waited less than 5 minutes before getting seated at a round table in the corner by a window.

The place was charming. They had holly and stockings and other Christmas decor over the brick walls. The window next to us was oddly bright because of all the fresh snow outside (still falling as we sat there). From my seat I could easily see the street and the horse drawn carriages and the Charles Dickens costumers and so on. It was ridiculously Christmasy. I loved it.

Carolers

We split some portabello mushrooms and cheese sticks while waiting for Julie to get there (since we had originally planned on meeting at noon and didn't realize we'd be seated so quickly). Our server's name was also Monica, which seemed to delight Mom, haha. Monica the server was friendly but not overly so, just down to Earth and easy to talk to. She was nice. The women (except me) had some wine (I had Diet Coke). Ellen and I had some lobster bisque and I think I had a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. It was all delicious. Julie ate nothing but wine and a piece of lettuce, I kid you not. We talked about kids and Betrayal and the Thanksgiving trip and who knows what else. Laughed a lot. It was a really nice lunch.

Julie talks about Zoey resolving to be good the last day before Christmas.

Afterward we had planned to walk up and down Main Street and check everything out, but it was so cold just walking from the restaurant to the car that we changed out minds. We invited Julie to come back with us to Mom's to hang out a while but by the time she would have gotten there she would have had to go back home in about 30 minutes, so she decided just to go back home after all.

After we got back to Mom's, Ellen and I went out to get Mom a Christmas gift. Even though the lunch was supposed to be the gift we wanted her to have something to open Christmas Day. I wanted to go to a craft store and look for some Christmas decor for her, but the JoAnn's fabrics I thought was nearby appears to no longer exist. Instead we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, which was almost a bust. We walked through the entire store pretty much uninspired, but we settled on a Snoopy-themed Christmas welcome mat that was actually pretty cute. (I had noticed Mom's current welcome mat was just plain black.) As soon as we got back to the house I hurried downstairs to wrap it, and it had to go in the largest box I could find. I was a bit tickled by this because I suspected Zoey and Malcolm would be excited/intrigued when they saw such a huge present. They are still young enough the present size equates to awesomeness, haha.

Not too long after that I went back to the Jacksons so I could spend at least some time with the girls that day. I very briefly did a bit of work (construction payroll).

I went back to Mom's around 7 p.m. Ellen was making a potato soup and gooey butter cookies and Julie was cooking wassail (a word she loves to say repeatedly). I finally got around to wrapping my secret santa gift, but we held off on our gift exchange because Denny was coming over with Zoey and Malcolm to say hi (we hadn't seen him yet since being in town). Sure enough, when they got there the kids went into the living room to examine JaMa's many wrapped gifts, and they were excited about the huge present in front for JaMa herself. Bwaha.

We all went downstairs to play some Quiplash and eat too many gooey butter cookies. Julie has pretty consistently answered all Quiplash questions with Game of Thrones references, which has led to her pretty consistently getting dead last in every Quiplash game. She seems to think it's hilarious though, and we tend to think her own amusement is pretty funny. We couldn't figure out how to turn on "family friendly" Quiplash, so if a slightly pervy question came up it became a game of finding the answer to best turn the question on its head. For example:

These answers were especially funny because they are the same exact humor, yet the people answering (me and I forget who now) couldn't have known in advance what similar answers they were putting. We laughed pretty hard.

Soon it was time for Denny to take the kids home to get to bed. As they were getting ready to leave I asked Zoey, "Can you believe tomorrow is Christmas???" And she was so excited she started hopping in the kitchen. She is the perfect, peak age for this, I think. Julie and Mom explained to Zoey that Santa won't come if she stays awake so she has to go to sleep easy.

After they left, the rest of us did Sibling Secret Santa. The best part of the whole tradition is standing in a circle, trying not to look at the person you're about to shove your gift toward, counting to three, and then shoving the gift as quickly as possible. 

Julie had me, and she gave me this lovely poem (helpfully colored by Zoey):

A couple weeks prior Mom had transferred me a decent sum of money she said was anonymously donated by a family member. Turns out that was Julie, out of nowhere. We are very paycheck-to-paycheck right now while Jack finishes his degree, so it meant a lot. Julie told me that evening that she wrote the poem while at work, haha.

I had Everett and gave him the only gift he asked for, which was a large desk calendar that he could actually hang on his wall. He liked it. But even better, Everett had Julie, and he had wrapped a giant box filled with tissue paper only for her to find it had nothing in it at all. She then realized that the bow on the box had a tiny note taped to the back that just said "I donated to the thing" (meaning Amanda Hitchen's CERBC work). It was such a hilarious presentation for a gift Julie really did want. I was impressed.

Everett laughing at his own handiwork.

Not long after gift exchange Julie headed home, but I stayed to play what turned out to be the only game of Betrayal I played the entire trip. It was Neil, Everett, and me, and I ended up being the traitor. I transferred the house to some other dimension filled with poisonous gas, and Neil and Everett had to roll for damage at every turn. Ultimately Neil was so weakened that when he had to try to roll to exit the junk room, it killed him. Everett started joking that he is on the first floor basically punching himself in the face (rolling for damage) trying to get to the organ room to play some magical song that would take them back to the other dimension, and he calls up to the second floor (where Neil's character had been) saying, "Neil can you come help me?" and then he just hears "AHHHH!" *sounds of junk falling all over Neil* *silence*. Both boys were acting out the potential scene (while in the background Ellen kept singing the organ music from Ghost and Mr. Chicken) and we were all laughing so hard. My stomach actually hurt from laughter. It was great.

Goofing around during Betrayal.

By the time we finished the game it was 11:30 p.m. (Betrayal never goes as quickly as the guys say it will), so Everett took me back to the Jacksons. We were going to take Mom's car since it was under the carport and had already been driven that day, but it was out of gas. So we went to Everett's frozen, covered-in-snow car, and with two scrapers we both cleaned it off. Right before Everett got in the car he realized he'd gotten snow all over himself and as he brushed it off he said "Minus two points Sanity" (a Betrayal reference) and we laughed.

Overall it was a wonderful, Christmasy, happy day.

10.8.17 - Julie's Sacramento visit

Julie and I don't get to see each other in person very often. Not only do we live in different states, but we both have children, limiting our travel schedules more than those of our other siblings. I see her perhaps two or (if we're lucky) three times a year. We also don't talk as often as I talk with at least Neil and Ellen, mostly because (I think) Julie just isn't online as much. That's the venue where I talk most with the other siblings.

So since she was within driving distance of us (since she and her kids came out for Fleet Week), the day after the Fleet Week party Julie rented a car and brought Zoey and Malcolm with her to visit Clara, Jane, and me (Jack had to study. Nursing school, psh.) As a side note it's a little surreal that any of the siblings is now making enough money that renting a car for a day is a casual affair. I'm glad we are starting to collectively eek into that life phase.

Anyway, they got here at like 11 a.m. or something, and Julie very thoughtfully asked if she should eat the lunch she packed (pizza = gluten) outside before coming in. I told her if she just ate it over the sink it's fine; I mostly just don't want crumbs in the carpet, but sweeping is easy. Clara had recently gone down for a nap but Jane was wide awake, and we all hung out in the living room area. Zoey and Malcolm were very happy to explore all the kids books and toys unfamiliar to them, and Julie was happy to be able to let her guard down a bit since were in a kid-friendly environment (meaning both that it's kid safe and that it has a lot for kids to do so she doesn't have to keep them distracted).

Julie and the kiddos a couple days prior, about to explore SF.

Both kiddos were very sweet with Jane, but Malcolm in particular seemed interested. Mom (JaMa) thinks it's because Jane makes him feel like a big guy. He kept offering her different objects and she'd bobble her head and stare at him curiously or even try to grab the objects. It was very sweet. Eventually she was ready for a nap in her swing, and he kept gently putting objects on top of her there too, even as she slept, ha.

Waiting to see Jane's reaction to the monkey.

Once Clara woke up she joined us in the living room. She didn't take long to warm to everyone. (I like to think it helps that she's seen them all many times over in her Youtube playlist of family members.) It was funny to me that Clara located and was immediately drawn to the few kids books Julie had brought: the only foreign toys in the room. At some point we all migrated into the nursery where there was even more to explore, and the kids played with the expandable tunnel for a while.

Reading everyone "Little Red Hen" in the nursery.

Julie and I of course visited throughout the whole thing, but for me the most enjoyable part was when we put on some of Clara's videos for everyone to watch, and while they were absorbed and Jane was sleeping, Julie and I were able to sit at the dining room table uninterrupted and sip Merlot and have more in depth conversations. That was so nice. I know a lot of people would prefer to plan outings or events when they get to spend time with loved ones they don't see often, but for me it's pretty hard to beat getting to have uninterrupted, engaging conversations (with wine). As is typical with Julie and me, we mostly talked about kids and husbands, and a bit about careers. But it's great to have a sibling I can talk to about those things who is in a similar life phase. (I also talk to my other siblings about those things and enjoy those talks, but it's still a difference in kind to talk to Julie about it, particularly about the kids.)

The kids watch Super Simple Songs while Julie and I visit.

They headed out in the early evening since they still had the ~2 hour drive to the bay area and then a flight the next day. I'm so glad Julie took the time to come visit and that we got to spend the whole day together.