eternally chaotic » Violet

Red Delivers Christmas Eve

Isi — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:57:35 +0000

Christmas this year introduced a new member to our family named Red. And NO to those of you thinking the unthinkable – the family head count remains at a solid seven, including the dog. This little persons name, after much enthusiastically and somewhat fanatical debate among existing family members was determined to be “Red”. Red the Christmas Elf. He would only be around for a few weeks out of the year, didn’t eat much and pretty much remained stationary throughout the day – at some point during the day, when our eyes were cast elsewhere, he would just vanish until the next morning. Red had some specific rules about being touched or bothered as well – certainly the kids were to strictly forbidden to touch him and to leave him alone lest he lose his observational and somewhat magical powers granted by the spirit that is Christmas. Red’s job was to cast a watchful eye upon his family, take score of the good versus bad and report back to some higher power a recommendation as to which list each household member might befit. Somehow during his strictly “observational” process he would always find a way to cause mischief and leave a mess.

Two nights before Christmas however, Red left something additional in each of the stockings of the Children of the Corn. A gold dipped envelope containing a silver inked letter from The Man himself. Now was the time of reckoning. The time of knowing. Was it the good list or the bad. What did Santa think? What did he know? When we opened our weary eyes the next morning would they sparkle and shine from majestic reflection of silver and gold or be dim from broken hope and disappointment.

Each of the Children red aloud so that we might know.
Only two more nights to go.

We must have been doing something right,
As when we gathered together for Christmas night.
We found a letter attached to our tree.
A letter that could only be from He
Was attached to our tree.
What might it say, what could it be,
this letter attached to our tree.
Opened and red by Carol Lee
Was this letter attached to our tree.
Inside was a riddle that brought us to glee.
A mystery that we must unravel to see,
why the letter was placed in our tree.
Through the house the children did chase,
To find the wrapped boxes Red did place.
Each in turn leading back to the tree
Where displayed for all to see,
was a cleverly disguised box holding a Wii.

After the paper was cleared and calm was restored, midnight munchies were set out for Santa and the reindeer. A concoction of cookies, fresh oats, granola and some whole milk – a taste that goes straight to the mid-section and was likely the reason there are nine reindeer instead of eight….also a taste shared by Uno. He sampled the goodies but we didn’t mention that to the kids. It’s hard to tell the difference between teeth marks from a Red Nosed Reindeer or a Sheppard.

In the end Red delivered his report to the Big Man at the north pole and at some point during the year, unbeknownst to their parents, the Children of the Corn must have been good little boys and girls!!!

Merry Christmas Eve.

Sheep with the Curly Horns

Isi — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:06:12 +0000

Today Violet performed in her school nativity play as the “Sheep with the Curly Horns”. They have been practicing on and off since the end of October and it certainly showed. She was very serious about her performance and we even saw her lip-syncing other classmates parts while they were singing or talking. Violet thought the Sheep with the Curly Horns was very cool and was excited to play this part even though it meant she would have to do a solo part. We are very proud of her.

A Gift of Myrrh

Violet Turns Four

Isi — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 01:48:52 +0000

Getting an answer as to what Violet wanted for her birthday dinner was a challenge. She has been staying with Grandma and Grandpa the past few weeks prior to her birthday and upon asking her she offered as many different options as there were nights that she was away. In the end it landed on Corn Dogs and French Fries, one of her favorites. It is amazing how many corn dogs and batches of yummy fried potatoes a crowd can devour. It is also great that Costco sells them in bulk. It was weird for us this time around. All of the past meals the kids have chosen have required some amount of time laboring either at the grill or on the stoves. This time the oven and deep fryer did all the work and we got to relax and hang out with the family.

With full bellies we moved onto let Violet open her Gifts. I think the only way Violet could have been more focused on opening gifts or on the attention she was getting was if an actual horse happened to pop out while she was tearing away layers of wrapping paper. It would not have matter if it didn’t weigh in at a certain number of stones or wasn’t so many hands tall. She wouldn’t have cared. It would have received a huge hug and she would have declared: “It is exactly what I was asking for”. Now there was no real horse of course ~~unless you count the adhesive in the tape~~ but that did not discourage her. Violet was quietly excited sitting behind the little table as she received and opened her birthday cards and gifts.

After Violet was through opening gifts we sang “Happy Birthday” and ate some cake. Yeah, yeah we know we do it backwards but it is what helps keep the house at least somewhat calm and orderly. Once the kids devour their slice of cake they magically disappear. The cake was our first chocolate cake ever and Violet was adamant that she wanted a “brown cake with blue icing and horses”. Interesting choice and the combination make us think for a bit before deciding on a cake design. Carol even went and found a special icing tip so that I could make grass. I don’t think Violet noticed it all that much. Her and John were too busy licking icing off of the horses to care about what color the icing or cake was.

Violet loves her gifts. She has spent most of the day, along with Piper and Isaac, playing with them.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl !!!

Violet’s Moment of Zen

Isi — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:27:00 +0000

It has been a long while since I took these pictures but each time I run across them I cannot help but smile and laugh. Just prior to the Christmas shopping season of 2009, Violet was still learning ~~to crap in her frogs mouth~~ to use her potty and would sometimes spend long periods of time taking care of business. We peaked in on her “getting ready for bed” and saw her sitting there on Mr. Frog reading the Toys ‘R’ Us Christmas catalog. She had to have specifically dug it out of the cabinet and was none to shy about sitting there in her birthday suit figuring out what Santa might add to his list. Specifically the “Pink Princess Castle”.

Daddy’s Little Girl !!!

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Piper’s Kindergarten Concert

Carol — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:04:43 +0000

Tonight was Piper’s first concert in kindergarten. She has been excited about it for the past few weeks, continuously singing around the house and wanting to show us her “moves”. It was very important for her to wear a ~~formal~~ princess dress during the performance.

In anticipation of the concert Violet has been learning the songs and moves from Piper. Tonight all through the show she was insistent that she should be on stage performing. It wasn’t until afterwards though that she got her chance. Both girls wanted to get on the stage and show us one of the songs from the concert, they decided on “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” as their masterpiece.

Missy, Violet and I enjoyed cheering Piper on throughout the show. Afterward we tried for a photo op with our celebrities but they were famished and ready to head out for the post concert festivities…..dinner, bath, bed !!!

Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch

Isi — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:43:55 +0000

Fall and Halloween are now a touch behind us but I still wanted to share a few moments we had together at Jaemore Farms in Alto, GA in early October. It was a perfect day for picking up pumpkins, taking a hay ride, playing some festival games and generally enjoying the perfect weather. The games were pretty cool. Our favorite two were the Apple Sling Shot where Isaac made a bullseye and won a free pumpkin (that got to be my pumpkin) and the duck race where you had to pump a well handle to make the water flow as fast as you could so that your duck would get to the big pond on the other side the fastest – the CoTC loved this and did not want to leave.

The last thing we did was head to the corn maze figuring it wouldn’t take more than thirty minutes or so to work our way through. We even had a system to let each of the kids, in turn, pick which direction we should turn when we came to an intersection. As backup we had a color coded map, blue and red, that when viewed with 3D glasses revealed the correct path out of the maze assuming you could first figure out where you were at. To help in the process there were a number of stations describing various wildlife native to Georgia that could be lined up with the map. All this was well and good until the sun went down and we learned quickly that the meager light of our iPhone was just not enough to illuminate the map so that the harmonious path to freedom could be viewed. We tried for a while, a long while, and finally had to stumble into track down one of the staff who continuously roamed through the maze and ask them for some direction. We likely could have worked it out eventually but we had to head back to civilization so that we could feed our army and put them down to rest. Still a lot of fun. Next time though I think flashlights are in order – flashlights, energy bars and water….no excuses!

A Gift of Myrrh

Isi — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:25:52 +0000

Violet’s preschool put on a Nativity play recently where all the kids had a chance to participate and play various parts. Violet was insistent upon the role of a “Wise Man” as her part – interesting choice but she is always running around the house pretending to be the prince while Piper plays dress-up like a princess. It was a pleasure to see her perform in her first play. She did well with her part, a few songs, a one liner and most importantly she even stayed on the stage with the rest of her class.

“This is my gift of Myrrh which will keep your skin soft”

Fun in the Snow for Christmas

Isi — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:11:03 +0000

It is rare to get snow in Georgia, or well normally it is, but the past few years we have received at least a little, normally after the turn of the new year when winter is in full swing. This year however we were surprised that the weathermen were actually right for once when it started snowing on Christmas Day. It didn’t take long before the temperatures plummeted and massive snow flakes started to stick and accumulate. It was a wet snow to start with, wet enough that Dad and I were able to chase off Autumn, pummeling her with snowball after snowball when she had to leave Christmas night – I guess next time she will stick around

The day after however much of the wetness had dried up and all that was left was a nice power – little icy for skiing but nice nonetheless. The CoTC could take it no longer though and wrapped themselves in layer upon layer to head out into the arctic cold. Great times ensued !!!

It was great to have snow and even better to have it on Christmas Day.

Cooling off at the Duluth Fountain

Isi — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:41:30 +0000

We had a great time this past weekend spending some time cooling off at the Duluth Town Center Fountain. The Sun was blisteringly hot and the air might as well have been dripping water, but the water coming from the fountain was refreshing and cool. We grabbed some Chick-Fil-A along the way, ate on the curb, and headed in. Once they all got used to the water they had a great time. Isaac didn’t need any warming up and was racing in circles as fast as he could swallow his chicken and fries. Piper was on his tail but needed her hand held for the first few minutes – that was until she got wet and started play. Violet needed a bit more prodding and she wasn’t having anything to do with me taking her through. Carol grabbed them all took them on a few laps to get them all good and soaked – that’s all it took to get Violet all revved up as well.

Full Throttle

Isi — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:43:30 +0000

Jacob received a remote controlled car for Christmas this past year. One that can drive over nearly anything, spin in circles, do wheelies, and glow in the dark. Piper loves this car. She has only just started learning how to drive it with any control, but half the fun is figuring that part out. Her and Violet both took the car for a turn around the house. I followed them around with the camera while they had a blast. One turn for Piper and one for Violet. About a week after this we saw the same car on Woot and decided to get one for Piper as an extra gift for her upcoming birthday.