all right, so it's the near future, and still no pictures in promised posts have materialized. i apologize. allow me to dazzle you with text instead.
recent events:
Tuesday before Thanksgiving we went to Disneyland as a family. Troy even took a day off work. :) Crowds were a bit lighter than expected, and a good time was had by all.
Thanksgiving we spent with Aunt Mary Alice and company, which was very fun. We haven't seen much of her crew for a long time, so it was fun to catch up and just be comfortable extended family. Plus, any event with pie at the end is a good event.
Once December was upon us, we had to get a tree. Yes, a real one. And yes, it is impossible to go cut your own if you live in LA. But we also didn't need snow boots or four-wheel drive. We satisfied ourselves with going to Target. Except they didn't have trees. So we headed to Home Depot instead. And so did everyone else. But we got a tree, and Troy manfully hauled it through the makeshift forest while we waited in line to pay for said tree. And we're hoping that in the process we didn't discourage anyone around us in line from having children in the future. Maybe everyone just enjoyed the jollity. We got the tree home and discovered that the trunk was a mite too large for our stand. Troy retrieved his faithful ancestral blade (a buck knife with "T. Walker" engraved on its sheath, inherited from his grandfather, Troy Walker) and whittled down the trunk until it did fit in our stand. Our living room is still not satisfactorily arranged to accommodate the "living" and the tree, but we're making do.
Reed managed to turn two without a single shot taken of him, big moment or small. I have failed him as a mother, and all of you who wanted pictures of him. He hasn't changed much since those pre-Thanksgiving pics taken at Disneyland. Although it is a shame that we didn't take a picture of the cake either. It was straight out of a magazine, I tell you. One of these days I'm going to take a class and get really good at it. For now my technique is purely gleaned from TV.
Reed opened several presents on his big day, the contents of which have mostly been commandeered by his older brothers. I'm hoping by Christmas they'll let him play with his own stuff. The winner among the presents, as measured by playtime since, is definitely the motorized trains. Thank you, Grandma Corinne! When they decide that sharing is a good idea, it's pretty great. :) Tonight, I asked each boy what part of the day was their favorite, and Max answered, "when i got to play trains with Dean and Reed."
We even had a little party here, and then a reprise on Monday to further spread the cake joy, since otherwise I would have finished it myself and felt guilty for a few minutes. :)
I really enjoy Christmas and everything that goes along with the season. My favorite, though, is being able to participate in as much music-making as possible. (okay, it's neck and neck with all the yummy treats people bust out right about now) We've already had more than one Family Night that involved choosing favorite Christmas songs. This year I am involved in more music than in years past, probably because we're not traveling! Whatever the reason, I'm extremely happy to be able to play my flute, play piano, and sing, in choirs and solo, music that I love so deeply. Troy encourages me in all of this, even though it means I'm gone for chunks of Sunday afternoons and evenings and he is putting children to bed alone. It makes for a strange schedule, and I'm glad it won't last, but it's been really fun.
That's all for now, folks. Tune in next month I guess. :)
