Karis's Wedding:
Karis had a play date with her "besties" one Tuesday afternoon, during which she and Everett somehow decided to get married. As it happened, Everett and Marissa were due to come over for dinner the following day, so Karis decided that would be a great day for the wedding. I had no idea what we were in for when she laid out the wedding clothes the night before (flower girl dress for her, white polo shirt for Everett). The next morning began a full day of wedding planning, which involved:
- Washing hair with mommy's shampoo
- painting fingernails during Judah's morning nap
- Bringing the clothes downstairs
- Decorating the family room
- Setting out the Bible and arranging a sitting stool for "Pastor Trevor"
- Planning the wedding feast (buttered noodles, donut holes for dessert)
- Choosing a dance song ("Little Drummer Boy")
- Making the toy room the "golf course" (reception location)
- Choosing me to be the bridesmaid and photographer, Marissa to be the flower girl
- Making a bouquet
- Setting the table
For real, this was an all day, all-consuming world of imagination. Sadly, I didn't properly prepare Karis that Everett might not be as excited as she was . . . and so when he arrived, she asked over and over if he was ready to get married and he was more into the stuff in the toy room. I did corral the kids to the "fireplace altar" for a quick ceremony that involved singing the doxology and then shuffling everyone to the wedding feast.
To be honest, I could tell Karis was sad. She was quiet that night and didn't talk anymore about the wedding. Sigh, how I wish I could protect her always.
She does often say now, "Marissa says I'm her best friend, and Everett says he loves me". It's such a joy to have friends with whom there is mutual admiration, between moms and dads and kids. We are blessed.
A few weeks later, out of the blue, Karis informed that "Mom, singing one song is NOT a ceremony". There is no fooling this girl.
Brother's Engagement:
Not even 3 days later, we were thrilled to celebrate Uncle Tay & Aunt Kate's engagement! What a gift to have a growing family in such beautiful ways. Trevor and I snuck out after the kids were in bed to attend the surprise engagement party at Pracna on Main. Besides me forgetting my ID, the night was magical, young love is so invigorating and it was a gift to watch their two worlds get together and share the joy. Kate, we're so excited for you to be a Pope.
Which leads to . . .
Flower Girl (to be or not to be, that is the question):
We were blessed to have most of this area's family join us to watch Karis's preschool Christmas program. Adorable, of course. But relevant here is this: after the show, Karis found us all and was clearly a bit overwhelmed. Kate and Tay pulled Karis aside, knelt down, presented her with flowers and asked her to be their flower girl. Karis - repeatedly - answered "no". Oh goodness. What?! She loves being a flower girl, and even coyly asked Kate the weekend before if she has one (you know, "not that I want to be it or anything - just wondering"). !!!!! Komplicated Karis, as my mom says.
And one more event to record, before the Christmas and Birthday Boy post to follow . . .
Girls'/Guys' Weekend:
Trev and Drew headed to ND for a mid-December duck hunt (read: guy time). So "Aunt" Sarah (really a cousin, but we call her and her sisters aunts) and Aunt Cassie came to spend the weekend here. Bliss! We enjoyed a girls gathering pizza party here, and on Saturday the beloved women in Karis's life loved on her while I stayed home and took care of a barfing baby boy (sad! short lived, thankfully). Aunts Melanie and Sarah took her shopping and to Chipotle, and then delivered her to the "theodore" (Karis speak for "theater") to view Frozen with Aunt Cassie. This was a life changing event, and I have listened to hours of Frozen talk since. We then all met up at IKEA for dinner, a memorable and marvelous weekend.
Lastly, some outdated updates!
Karis-isms:
- "So, when you come to someone's house do you sometimes bring presents? I don't want one, I was just wondering" (said to Aunt Cassie upon her arrival to our house)
- "So, do you sometimes serve snacks when people come to your house?" (said at a friend's home, asked of the mom hosting us)
- "So, do you have a flower girl?" (said to Aunt Kate, a few days before she rejected the idea. Komplicated)
- "Mom, singing one song is NOT a ceremony" (I cannot trick this girl with anything)
- "Mom, let me tell you another story of the prodigal son"
- "I was thinking me and Judah could be best friends"
- "Summer is my favorite season. When will it be summer?"
- "I wish I could be a mommy. I wish I could do whatever I wanted to do" (yes Karis, it's the best being a mommy, I'm glad you can see that)
- "Mommy, do you know what my favorite amimal (sic) is? Elves. I love elves"
- "Should we all just drip off to sleep?"
- "So, what are my options?"
Judah updates:
- He loves to crawl around with something, anything in his hand: favorites are a play microphone, a remote, one of Karis's fuzzy pink boots
- He adores his "pootsie blankets", small blankets with polka dots on one side, burp cloth material on the other, and ties on the ends. He immediately puts his thumb in his mouth when holding the blanket, and this small thing is necessary for his sleep
- He kicks like a frog when he's excited. Many things make him excited, including looking at Trevor (or anyone) at the dinner table, seeing anyone come in the door, seeing an animal or another baby
- He wants to be where the action is, and if he sees kids playing he scoots as fast as he can over to them
- He still scoots on his belly, crossing his legs and practically getting into the air as he army crawls around. He has shown us the ability to crawl on all fours and is using that method more and more (especially when any kind of animal is in sight)
- He still goes by the nickname of "squishy"
- He loves to go for the stairs and can get up at least two until I find him and bring him to safety. He will go from anywhere I put him and scoot to the stairs as quick as he can
- He loves to flip to the back of board books (little interest for what's inside)
- He loves to crawl around with something in his hand. The object obsession changes, lately it was a hairbrush (anyone know the song "Oh Where is My Hairbrush?")
- He had his first barf, which is actually quite a relief. It was short lived and he was happy as can be right after spilling his stomach's contents all over my clothes and then taking a long nap (for the record, this all happened before 7am, when we had guests here . . . and Karis laughed when I got vomited on)
- He can climb a full set of stairs (supervised, of course). He LIVES for doing this, and bee lines for stairs anywhere he is. He also melts down when we put up the gate.
- He kind of barks at dogs. When he sees one, he does this "woo - woo" sound and his body jerks in correlation with the "woo"
