Pear Trees and Paint Chips.

I woke at 6:37 and we made a mad dash to get Oscar up in time to catch the bus which usually arrives at 6:44, we made it but just barely and he left with furry teeth but there are worse things. Packing cold lunch for anyone was not even an option since there was no bread (or fruit, or vegetables) available. Brendan let them have bagels for breakfast which they thought was better than birthday cake since I'm pretty strict lately about their morning choices; oatmeal, yogurt or eggs. Here's the thing though, they don't eat dinner. I can't figure out if it's my cooking or the fact that they've filled up by 6pm or a combination of the two. Either way, I don't feel as bad about dinner if I know for a fact that they packed a ton of nutrition into the first two meals of the day. Do you have any idea how much stuff you can load up into a bowl of oatmeal? Things they wouldn't eat otherwise. Chia, flax, hemp seeds, pecans, etc. So, after morning drop offs I took the two little ones to the store and refilled the larder so to speak. It was 10 cent day on bananas, onions, red potatoes and oranges. Gotta love the random price cuts at the Fresh Market. I got home and was greeted by a Partridge In A Pear Tree on the kitchen table and texted Brendan to inquire:

"Hey, what's up with this tree?"

"What tree?"

"Uh, the tree on our kitchen table"

"Oh, I don't know, it was on the porch this morning" 

Of course it was. It took me forever to figure out that the faces on the ornaments were cut out photos of The Partridge Family cast. Cute. He swears it wasn't him. Meanwhile Maija is texting me FROM SCHOOL (GO TO CLASS) to tell me that her teacher (Ms. T) told her she can have a snake. No. An argument ensues at which point I take the high road and tell her to ask her dad. Hehehehe. And the Nielsen Rating people are on the phone (Please don't hang up~was the first thing she said and so I didn't) and somehow I have agreed to take a survey except I'm not sure I did, agree that is. It was relatively painless since we don't watch actual television and they're sending me $5, plus I photographed the Pear Tree while she talked. Brendan wants to know if I have work photos loaded onto the hard drive yet because he wants to swing home and pick it up. Oops. I really meant to, but then I got stuck in the dining room staring at paint chips, why is picking out paint so darn impossible? 

Meanwhile I discover that Brendan put Tadhg's ornament on the south side of the tree and I can't help it, all I can think of is that line from Dirty Dancing: Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner and I giggle and move him to the front of the tree so he's facing the living room. It's so silly, but I want him to have a front row seat, literally looking down at us. One of the little kids asked me this year who the little angel ornament belonged to and I didn't make a big deal out of it, just said "that's for the baby we lost". We don't talk about it and sometimes I wonder why. But mostly I know why. Still, what an amazing difference time can make. Four years later and I'm quoting movies and repositioning the angel ornament with a smile, and still a small sting~always a sting, but also a smile. 

Aislinn fell asleep in my arms while I was eating lunch and now both babies are sleeping and I'm sitting here trying to figure out how the heck it's already 2:30pm. Micah joined yearbook (yay) and needs a ride from Far Far Away (the exact location of his school) at 5pm (booooooooo). I'd really love to start a Christmas book tradition. Maybe St. Nick can bring one each year and then the collection is only out during December? Do you have any favorites? My mom recently brought over a really beautiful vintage edition of The Night Before Christmas and I gotta say they just don't make em like they used to. I can't stop listening to holiday music, Charlie Brown Christmas has played 5 BILLION times in this house, even the little kids are growing tired of it, so this year I bought a few new albums, Michael Buble, the Little Women soundtrack and Leona Lewis~Christmas, With Love (which surprisingly is my new favorite). Also, just in case you're tired of sleigh bells and mistletoe, the new Damien Rice cd, My Favourite Faded Fantasy, is beautiful. So far I haven't even been able to really sink into the entire album yet because I keep getting stuck on "It Takes A Lot To Know A Man". Listen to it, you won't be disappointed. Of course, just to give you a point of reference my favorite albums last month were Adele's 19 and Taylor Swift's 1989 (which I never thought would ever happen to me but it did and I'm not even embarrassed. Mostly not.). Time to go prep dinner and pray a baby doesn't wake up.