To try and regain footing here, I will try to chronicle some of the bigger events that took place between way back when, (really, only September) and now.
We had a very special visitor to make the transition back to reality more fun! An amazing woman by the name of Pachy who we (my mother and I) met five years ago when we visited her sheep ranch (Blue PInes Ranch, to be precise) in Ione, Oregon. One of Pachy's most notable characteristics is her ability to run and talk circles around you. Now, I consider myself a pretty good mother, which means that multi-tasking is a skill I have perfected. My ability to juggle, Lily, laundry, cooking, cleaning, shopping, socializing and teaching is no small feat. I will say this though, Pachy juggles thousands of sheep, a ranch that runs like a well oiled machine and her ranch hands from Peru who help her maintain the ranch. And unless you have visited and experience exactly how much work running a ranch entails, you may not understand the gravity of this particular task. In short, my point is that Pachy has the energy of a five year old and enthusiasm of QVC salesperson. And I thought I was tired at the end of the day! She is pretty incredible. And she does this on her own. I thought I was the only one who could survive on five hours of sleep each night.
Anyhow, Pachy came to visit and stayed with my parents for a few days and FINALLY met Lily! I cannot wait to take Lily to visit Pachy's ranch! I can just see her frolicking with those precious lambs in the bucolic fields. Don't be jealous, you can come too. Really! The Blue Pines Ranch, in addition to being an operational, full-time ranch also serves as the setting for Pachy's educational program, "Jam to Lamb". She opens her ranch to the public every Spring when all the lambs are born. One pays a nominal fee to cover their room and board while they visit and, in essence, become a ranch hand and are thrust into the muddy and very fun ranching lifestyle. Ranch work is a lesson everyone should learn from. Work ethic is huge. So is the need for coffee.
After Pachy returned to her lambs in Oregon, we founds ourselves a few weeks away from Halloween. This year was especially fun as we visited the Woodland Park Zoo with some family friends, The Moore's! Lily and Ruthie each moonlighted as animals, Lily as a cow and Ruthie as an elephant! They were too adorable running around the zoo, "trick-or-treating". Jaci and I ate most of the candy though (because we're good parents and closely monitor our daughters' sugar intake). On the actually eve of Halloween, we went Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhood with our neighbors and good friends The Weavers. A great time was had by all. And the candy tasted that much sweeter because my toddler dressed as a bovine, was made to ask for it. Is that bad?
Zoo shenanigans with the cow and the elephant!
Honestly, do children come any cuter than these two?
Ama, our little moo and the rest of the Olsens
(Courtesy Caitlin Weaver, thank goodness!
I am not a camera mom, but wish I was!)
So, that was all Hallows Eve. Laundry, play dates, cooking, fast forward to Thanksgiving.
We spent the Sunday prior to the actual day with the Chris's side of the family so none of the eight of us were made to leave, mid carb coma, to see other family, so a BIG thank you to my ingenious in-laws! It was luxurious to be able to stay and relax and simply enjoy each other's company.
On Thanksgiving my side of the family celebrated with friends and family and one very special guest, my friend Jeremy, who I've known since college. He is like the older brother I never had. He stayed with Chris, Lily and I for a few days and joined us for the feast! He lives in San Francisco so we don't see him nearly as often as we'd like, but we really enjoyed getting to hang around and eat crepes and catch up!
I would put of a picture up illustrating what a good time we had, but, alas, as aforementioned, I never seems to be holding a camera (and as much as I'd like to think, an iPhone doesn't count). It was so great to see my old friend, along with, my new (almost six months, new) niece, Stella! She is the perfect baby, she reminds me of Lily! My mother has decided that my sister and I will alternate between having children each year until we are the equivalent of the Duggar family. Sorry mother, that may not happen. In fact, it definitely won't happen.
It makes complete sense from her point of view, she adored being a mother so much, she sees being a grandmother as equally thrilling, even more so because she consistently gets enough sleep. Therefore, she would love for Chris and I to have a flock of 10 little ducklings following us around one day. Maybe I'll show up with a box of actual ducklings. That would distract her for a moment, anyway.
So, here we are at December 8th, 2011. I am slowly preparing for Christmas. This year Chris and I wanted to simplify things and really try to remove some of the stress and chaos from the holiday equation. The Olsen's decided to do a name draw and that entails only buying a gift for the person whose name you drew. I love this idea! It is simple and straightforward. We all exchanged wish lists with everyone and I am excited to be going to a total of two stores to shop for the Olsen side of the family! Hurray! This also means less waste, less gree..ahem, consumerism and less time spent chasing things instead of visiting with those we love. It's so easy to get caught up with what Target tells us we should be doing. You've seen the commercials starring that insane and creepy woman who is obsessed with accumulating as much junk as she can get at 3:00a.m.? That's not healthy. Or fun. (But it is funny and makes for a catchy ad campaign, I'll give them that) Don't get me wrong, I like Target as much as the next person. I don't however, enjoy crowd surfing/mosh pitting through aisles to get some pillowcases for $3.00 less than normal.). Instead we'll spend the time with family that would have been spent shouting expletives at minivans in the mall parking lot. I mean...I don't do that. (I actually must stop doing this as my toddler is always listening now. And absorbing.
So, we hope everyone has a great time this holiday season with those you love. We hope to see many of you, since that is truly what this time of year is about. We are thankful for your presence in our lives, you are our favorite gifts!
Xoxo
Wing
(And the other two)