The Teacup-Sized Ultimatum

By now you have read a little about us and you might be thinking, "sure, all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average, but is it REALLY all sunshine every day?"  Well ... no, I'm sorry to say, it is not.

While we are extremely attached to our beautiful daughter Molly, she has recently informed us of her intent to move out of our house in 30 days, unless a Long-Haired Teacup Chihuahua is provided.  The source of this woe, I'm also sorry to say, is Molly's very good friend Thea, who though a very charming girl otherwise, has introduced her to these furry gremlins and started the whole domino effect of angst.  The plan, Molly tells me, is to just set out on foot and start knocking on doors until someone agrees to 

1.  adopt her, and 

2. buy 36 ounces of dog, with 

3. several very small sweaters.  

We wish her well on her new endeavor, and beg that warm boots and proper winter clothing be worn as she sets out.

Other news:  Pink and green dotted bedroom for rent, with cushy double bed and down comforter, and large assortment of stuffed toys.  Please call for an appointment.

I saw FERGUS kissing Santa Claus!

If you are newly six, there isn't anything funnier than singing "I saw (insert sibling or dog name here) kissing Santa Claus!"  Over and over and OVER!!!

Jake is showing great restraint opening only one tiny cardboard door on the advent calendar each day.  Packages are piling up under the tree, and it is cased regularly for any new additions, especially waaaaaaaay back in the corner, where I stack some presents that mysteriously do not have any tags, and they are very hard to reach.  To their credit, I have not witnessed any present shake-downs as of yet.

It's starting to sound like Christmas here too, with Molly practicing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and other wonderful songs on the piano.  Parker played Christmas music on his cello for a performance with all the Suzuki cellists last week, and they were terrific.  Doug and I could just about burst we are so proud of them when they play.  It nearly makes up for the constant nagging to get them to practice!

Reflecting on how the kids have changed this year, I decided to interview each of them for this entry. It's nice to have some control over what your mother says about you in the Christmas letter. 

Parker, 11, revealed that the weirdest thing he has ever eaten is squid legs, the best smell in the world is potatoes cooking, and the best book ever is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. If given a chance to have any wish come true, he'd just wish for more wishes.  He'd like to be a doctor or a chef when he grows up, thinks the Borg is the most despicable villain he could imagine, and if there was only time to grab one object if the house was on fire, would not want his dad's iphone to perish (handy for summoning the fire department).  He would accept an invitation to spend a day with Harrison Ford, would like to play Risk more than any other board game, and if he could do one little thing to change the world, he'd talk to his teachers about giving less homework to save the trees.  

Molly, 8, would like to be a large animal veterinarian or a horse riding instructor when she grows up.  Her favorite movie is Hairspray (2007), she loves to eat lo mein, and she would like to possess the superpower to morph into any object or living thing.  Molly's favorite book award is tied between Ivy & Bean and Clementine. Her favorite tv show is Spongebob Squarepants, she can't decide if Sorry, Monopoly, or Go Fish is the best game of all, and she says the best thing about her dad is that he is very snuggly. 

Jake likes playing Legos with his cousin Will more than almost anything.  His favorite food is macaroni, his favorite place to shop is SuperTarget, his favorite movie is Transformers, and he says the best smell in the world is french fries.  (Actual french fry quote from Will:  "Hey, Jake, did you know they put POTATOES in these things?") And if the house caught on fire, Jake would get some water.

Doug and I would both use our genie wishes to cure diabetes.  Chicken feet are far and away the weirdest food he has eaten (in Japan), and he'd much rather have a plate of crawfish étoufee, which is a little bowl of heaven.  The best smell in the world is warm baby hair, one of the best movies of all time is Fistful of Dollars, the worst villain is Freddy Krueger, and on the way out of a burning house he'd grab the photos.  No Limit Texas Hold-Em is his favorite game, he'd like to spend a day with Sean Connery, he'd recommend Winston Churchill by Martin Gilbert as a very good read, and if he could wave a magic wand and solve one of the world's biggest problems, he'd stop people from 

going hungry.

My favorite food would have to be soft pretzels or naan bread.  If I could wave a magic wand, I'd solve the crisis in the middle east.  Currently my favorite tv show is Pushing Daisies, my favorite board game is Cranium, my hero is J.K. Rowling, and I wouldn't mind if Jimmy Fallon called me to hang out some day.  The most evil villain I can think of is the Grinch (before he reformed, of course), I do love finding a bargain at TJ Maxx, and the best smell of all is apple crisp in the oven.  And lastly, if the house were to burst into flames and everyone was safely outside, I would try to save some of my dad's art.  (Purely hypothetically, of course.  We are all serious about fire safety around here!)

"Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas, A LOT."

The first Nebraska snow came right before Thanksgiving this year. Molly taped a snowman on the window the night before with a "Welcome Winter" message, so we attributed the snow to her. (The next day we had her write "Welcome Money" on a lottery ticket and tape that up too, but it was not as successful.) Jake was delighted with the snow and greeted the official arrival of winter with much jumping around and enthusiastic chanting of "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" We hated to curb his excitement with the very grinchly news that 33 long days would have to be endured first, and tried to break it to him gently. But he could not be convinced. First, he and Molly produced a fleet of snowflake decorations. Next, he asked to get the tree out. We told him we needed to get ready for Thanksgiving first.

On Thanksgiving the whole Durham family joined us for a lovely dinner with a big turkey prepared by Doug. Armed with only Bon Appetit for guidance, he slathered it liberally with herb pancetta butter under the skin and tucked it in the oven with very tasty results. Along with Mary's rolls and Mom's stuffing and Carolyn's green beans and Terri's pies, we ate and ate and then relaxed in the living room  patting our bellies. Jake bounced over to me, wrapped his hands around my neck, and whispered with alarm, "NO ONE HAS BROUGHT ANY PRESENTS!" Uh-oh. This family gathering was quite reminiscent of Christmas one year ago, but we thought he had heard us when we mentioned the THIRTY-odd days part! I showed him a calendar.

In the next 24 hours Jake asked to put the tree up about 50 times. So Saturday, for the first time ever before mid-December, out came the boxes and out came the tree parts, with Jake heading up the assembly. Three minutes later, Parker and Molly peeled off to do something else, but Jake pressed on, and proceeded to complete nearly the whole thing alone using his finely-honed Lego engineering skills. I managed to persuade them to wait on the big tree decorations, but did let them get out their own mini-trees and decorate them. After everyone is put to bed, I go back upstairs and find that Jake has arranged the mini-trees next to the fireplace with a helpful note on each one like this: "Santa. Molly. Girl toy." And there are cookies on a plate.

Just 31 more days to go.

School starts!

Goodbye, summer. Though it's still very hot out, baseball has come to an end along with many days of swimming in the pool at the Knolls. The camps are done (Parker attended Camp Kitaki, Scout Camp, and for cello, Sail Camp. Molly went to Camp Hertko Hollow in Iowa, and both kids did some Bright Lights experiences where they explored Laura Ingalls Wilder, Harry Potter, Mask Making, and Robot Building.)

We had a few journeys, a trip with the pop-up camper to the Black Hills, the long, long drive to Whitefish Montana for the JDRF ride, and then a 4-day trip to Washington DC where we toured the sites and had lunch with a senator.

Hello, Sheridan. This week all the kids have started school in a new temporary building while the old school gets remodeled. The new building is further away but the nice part is a/c! Everyone is pretty excited to see their friends. I am excited to get back to normal too. Everyone will go to the same school this year, and it's the only year this will happen.

The biggest change is Jake going to Kindergarten all day. Jake is very enthusiastic about it, and has not mentioned the lack of legos or anything StarWars there. The parachute in gym was very impressive to him, and after the first day's small glitch of forgetting he brought cold lunch and eating the pizza, all is going smoothly. He looks very grown-up with a backpack, and in Mrs. Clark's room he sits at a table with our adorable friend Lisle and some t-ball guys. Jake made us laugh and laugh with a couple funny quotables this week. He was trying to call Molly a really disparaging name when he was frustrated, and he screwed up his face and blurted out, "Molly, you're a ... a....a....TINY HUMAN!" So that has become one of our favorite phrases around here. We were also discussing how chocolate chip cookies were his very favorite, and he revealed "if I was a VERY delicious and GIANT chocolate chip cookie, I would probably try and eat MYSELF!"

Molly's first week was mostly fine but she is trying to get over being placed in Mrs. Healey's room without her closest friend, Thea. The good news is that another close friend Quinn is in homeroom, and that is great. At the moment, the seating chart has her placed with boys all around, and that just will not do, she says! She finds something to worry about most days, at least, this is what I hear in the after-school car report. She is already worried that the school's annual egg drop will not be able to occurr with a single story school. I assured her that we could build egg ships ourselves if that should happen. She's been waiting to be a 3rd grader to make an egg ship for quite awhile, where you decide how to cushion an egg using any material that will fit out a 3rd story window, which are ceremoniously flung by a teacher while the school waits breathless below. Good times.

Parker is, as always, happy-go-lucky and finds school fun and interesting. Both of the big kids seem very tickled to show Jake around, walk him in, and look for him after school.

What is next for me, you might ask? Suddenly I have my days free during school hours. Here is my first day of school (at the Mill). I am getting ready to get back to writing, and might look for a part-time job.