We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

There are so many things I didn't get done, but we are leaving to spend Christmas with the grandparents in just a few minutes. So instead of dwelling on what didn't get done, I'll leave you with these sweet and silly pictures.

Merry Christmas from Lilly and the Brothers!

May you find comfort and joy this Christmas, for the Lord is come!

See you next year!

Love,

Greta

More Cardboard Box Art: James Builds a Robot

James likes to build things out of boxes. Remember the diorama we built? We still play with it, and have added real rocks, and leaves to the set, as well as brown felt for a hill and green felt for a meadow. Toys you can make with your own 2 hands are especially fun to play with.

Although, for James, I'd argue that the fun is more in the creating than the playing.

This time he was creating a robot.

He saw the empty box and said, "Mommy, will you cut out a robot for me?" Could I say no to that? He figured out the design himself and told me exactly how to cut it.

And then he decorated.

When it was dry, he tried it on and was pleased as punch

Is this kid his father's son or what?

Th only hard part about James and his cardboard box art projects, where to store them? Because of course they must be kept. Who knows when one might need to become a robot?

I foresee this boy sharing the studio with his Daddy before too long.

Winter Storm--California Style

We woke up last week to a rainy day. Our first real rainy day of the season. It was fun at first.

By 10 am we had already built 2 forts and a reading cave.

We drew, read, snacked, and told stories in the cave.

By noon they were ready to go outside. But it was still pouring and we have no rain boots, hats or jackets.

Luckily Granny is getting them some for Christmas. Although that doesn't help much right now.

Noah and Natalie were coming over for the afternoon so that was our saving grace. Strangely enough, 5 kids shut up in the house was better than 3.

In the afternoon, when the sky cleared, I searched for a rainbow. When I found one, we all ran outside to see it. It was cold and wet, my kids were in their socks, but I didn't care.

You should never miss a chance to see a rainbow.

That night it was freezing.

We woke to frost on the roof.

Temperatures in the 30s!

And this view down our street.

I love the day after a cold winter storm. Since it is a longer drive to the mountains, we usually head to the beach.

It is pretty magical when you look in one direction and see the waves and the other to see snow covered mountains. It is one of my favorite winter moments.

But, it would also be fun to drop everything and say, "fresh snow! Let's go!"

So I've decided that one of my goals for winter 2010 is to assemble a snow outfit for each of us. All stuff of our own, instead of borrowing from a bunch of people for our one trip to the mountains.

My kids have seen the snow once. I'd like to bring that number up to 2, 3 or even 4 this winter.

That's crazy talk for a California girl.

Belmont Shore Christmas Parade 2009

We have not missed the Belmont Shore Christmas parade since we moved to Long Beach. Even the year that it was pouring down rain all day--it cleared up in time for the parade. It is always crowded, crazy and fun. We all love it.

There are thousands and thousands of people there. Aaron heads down early to set up chairs for us. This year there were some guys who wanted to claim the whole island where we always sit, even though they arrived at the island the same time as Aaron. When he told them they'd have to settle it with elbows, they finally agreed to share.

Sometimes people forget about the Christmas spirit when they're claiming spots for the parade.

A big part of the parade fun is going with the same people every year. Uncle Mark and Auntie Jess and the cousins are always there. Lilly and Lizzy are all bundled up. And being silly.

Uncle Greg and Auntie Jana always come too. And our best buds, Noah and Natalie. Uncle Greg sat right behind William and Natalie so he could keep and eye on William. I don't blame him. I mean, look at that kid. He's always trying to sneak a kiss from his Natalie.

Even Lilly knows what's on his mind.

When the parade begins, the kids love the bands, especially the drums. There are the favorites that appear every year: the Grand Prix race cars, the jr. ROTC groups with their rifles, the mini race cars being driven by little kids!, all the floats that throw candy, and especially the syncopated drummers.

Another year of good times at the Christmas parade!

Happy Christmas 2009 from the 5 of us!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

We always get our tree the first weekend in December. I wish we could go out into a snowy field, chop down our tree, and carry it back to our house. Once there we'd warm up by the fire, sip hot cocoa and enjoy the delightful smell of our fresh cut pine tree.

Alas, we live in Southern California, by the beach. There is no snow. There are tree farms where we could cut our own tree, but getting there requires a lengthy drive on the freeway. We live in the land of suburban sprawl.

So we go to Target.

It's not nearly as romantic, but we make the best of it. The trees still smell good. The kids love hiding in the trees, finding the best one and helping Daddy carry it to the truck.

The next night, after making pizza for dinner, we put on some Christmas music and get out the ornaments. I feel bad that we didn't let Lilly stay up and help us this year, but I really wanted to be able to enjoy going through the ornaments with the boys, not spend the whole time taking every ornament from Lilly's hands so she wouldn't break it. Next year, Lil. We'll let you help next year.

I have a pretty great collection of vintage ornaments. Many are 50 years old or more. They are beautiful and all different. I love them. They didn't go on the tree this year. I just knew that the chances of them getting broken were too great. So, they stayed in the box. I also didn't put up my other favorite decoration: the paper dot garland I made for our tree the first Christmas Aaron and I were married. It too, would be such a temptation to pull on. And break.

I have to say no to so many things already. Do I really want to add to the list?

So we have just about the ugliest tree around this year. We have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Most of the decorations are on the top half of the tree. The few that are on the bottom, at Lilly height, are constantly being rearranged and hung crooked, or just stuffed between branches somewhere. It's a mess.

But, like the Charlie Brown tree, our tree is much loved. We had such a great time remembering each ornament before we hung it on the tree. There were ornaments from grandparents, friends, Lilly's Hello Kitty ornament, James' Peter Pan and William's first pair of shoes. Taking each one out is like seeing an old friend. I still love to hang the Snoopy bell that says "Baby's First Christmas 1976", my first Christmas ornament. I know one day my kids will hang the ornaments from their childhood on their tree.

It really doesn't matter how our tree looks. It matters that it is already full of memories.

Decorating the tree is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I am so glad these boys are already loving it as much as I do.

A good time was had by all.

And...as is the way of the Eskridge Christmas curse, William woke up the next morning throwing up. It just doesn't feel like Christmas around here without a little barf, a trip to the ER, some upper respiratory infections and antibiotics.

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!

Bird Watching at Bolsa Chica Wetlands

We have been holed up in the house for a week. 2 storms dumped enough rain to keep us indoors, but mostly we've been sick. Well, William and Lilly have been sick. Just too sick to go anywhere, or do much of anything but lay around--as much as a 1 and 3 year old lay around.

James and I haven't been sick, but we are suffering from cabin fever. The other day James said, "when are we going on a nature hike? We haven't gone on one in forever."

Actually, it had only been a week, but I was still glad to hear him say it. It's nice to know that one of the main events in our home schooling is not just done cause I say so, but is looked forward to and enjoyed. Of course they love the running on the trails, the gathering of and playing with sticks, the trees to climb the dirt to find. But it is becoming more than that.

The more time we spend in nature, the more we notice and appreciate. It has taken a bit of coaxing, but the boys are actually starting to sit and draw the plants and birds we see on our nature hikes.

We call it nature study. We're all learning a lot. And we like it. Who could ask for more?

Our last nature hike was at Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach. Bolsa Chica is a bird sanctuary and there were lots to enjoy. Here is William's favorite bird, the Snowy Egret. We see him, and his "cousin" the Great Egret all over the place. William is always so excited to point him out.

This guy, whose name I have still not looked up, is an amazing diver. See those back legs? They look like a frog when he swims under water. The kids loved watching him dive for fish and were amazed by how long he stays under.

And of course, we all liked the funny looking pelican.

But the most fun to watch were the Terns. We were up on a bridge where water was flowing in from the ocean and so there were a lot of fish swimming around. There were all different sorts of birds swimming, diving and catching fish. The Terns, though, did these amazing dive bombs and consistently came up with fish in their beaks. What a treat for us to watch.

Looking for fish.

Getting ready to dive.

Going under!

Got one!

Here's some of our crew. I love how dirty they all get during our nature hikes. It seems like dirt = fun for these guys.

On our hike back to the cars, our cactus whisperer found this piece from a prickly pear cactus. She is the same one who touched that velvety looking cactus on another hike, but wasn't bothered one bit by the tiny hairs covering her hand. These didn't bother her either.

She happily took this one home to show her daddy and display on her nature table.

It was another great day of home schooling. Out in the sun and the wind, with out friends and enjoying creation. When I was in school we went on only a few field trips a year. My kids go on one a week. How fortunate we are to be able to do this.

And how thankful I am that tomorrow we'll be able to join our friends on another adventure. We all need to get outside!

Some of Boyhood's Simple Pleasures

We just brought out the Lincoln logs again. They've been hiding in the garage for a while.

We like to do that occasionally. It makes the toys like new when they are reintroduced. When Aaron got these out and the boys began playing with them, James said, "I forgot how much fun these Lincoln logs are!"

I, however, am not a huge fan of the Lincoln logs. It's purely selfish. I don't like toys with lots of little pieces to scatter all over. It's the clutter. My mom says I'm fanatical about clutter. Perhaps because I lived in a 600 square foot house for 8 years? She's right, I am fanatical.

Legos? Don't even get me started.

But the boys love them. Little pieces are incredibly appealing to kids. As are these simple, old school action figures. So fun to set them up in the dirt, to build them a fort and get everything really, really dirty.

Oh yes, that dirt. Another thing I am not a fan of. But playing in the dirt is one of their greatest joys. So I let them enjoy it, along with the Lincoln logs, the Legos, and the Playmobil toys. Because they are only little boys for such a little while.

And walls can always be wiped down. And floors swept. And dirty clothes washed. The little pieces put away. And.....

I'll try not to complain too much.

Because even though I am fanatical, I am trying to let my boys be boys and revel in the simple pleasures of boyhood.

Meeting the Neighbors

We visited out old neighborhood last night and it made me homesick. I still miss it. It was an amazing place to live. I loved it there. It wasn't just the 15 minute bike ride to the beach. Or the 10 minute walk to the kids' favorite park. The fact that I could stroll down the hill and be on 2nd st, an old fashioned down town where I could have dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, get a coffee, a new sweater or a light bulb . It wasn't the beautiful homes or tree lined streets.

It was our neighbors, the people we saw everyday. We knew people just because they walked their dogs by our house each day. Like Jeff, and his Jack Russel Terrier, Widget.

We knew our mail man. His name was Mann. And the boys cheerfully greeted him each day, "Hello Mann, the mail man!" He knew their names, too. When he was gone for 3 weeks, he apologized and explained he'd been with his wife. She'd had a miscarriage.

We'd have so many chili parties to go to on Halloween that it would take us hours to trick or treat 2 blocks.

When we brought our first born home from the hospital, neighbors came out of their houses to see him on our first walk around the block. "Oh, you had a boy!" And when one neighbor, Bobby, asked if James liked being rocked, we confessed we had no rocking chair.

"What? You can't live without one. You can use ours. We rocked all 3 of our kids in it." He promptly went inside his house, came out with a rocking chair hoisted over his head, and carried it down the street to our house.

When William came along, neighbors we didn't even know showed up with food. "We saw you had a new baby," they'd say.

It was lovely.

But this is Southern California. And we are a single income family. And even though the real estate prices have fallen, when we were finally able to buy a house, we couldn't buy in Belmont Heights. It was a hard reality to face. The day we moved, I was really sad to leave.

I've known my whole life that when I had babies I'd stay home with them. That decision doesn't come without certian sacrifices. And though I don't regret for a moment my choice to be a stay at home mom, I would be lying if I said that I was less that thrilled when I had to admit we couldn't live in the Heights any more.

This house we bought, I love it. From the outside, it's not much to look at. But we've done a lot inside. It has our handprints on it. And we've got big plans for the rest of it. I have said that I wish we could pick up our house and transplant it to our old neighborhood.

You see, I'm still pining.

We've met some neighbors, but it's not the same. There aren't any other little kids. People have bigger yards here, so we don't see everyone out walking their dog. We don't run into them down on 2nd St. When our neighbors asked us over for 4th of July we said we couldn't and went to celebrate with neighbors from the old hood. And, in one of my lowest points of parenting thus far, when one neighbor came over and asked me to keep my kids quiet in the morning, especially the screamer, I just decided, I love my house, but I don't really care about this neighborhood at all. My heart wasn't here.

Now it's Christmas. One of our traditions is to make up triple batches of lemon bread and deliver it around the neighborhood one evening. We'd stop and visit with people. The kids looked forward to it as much as we did.

I was getting ready to do the same thing this year. To go back. We've been gone 6 months. It's time to see everyone again.

But then I stopped. This is my home now. These people are my neighbors. These are the people I need to open up to. To give them more than a courtesy smile and wave as I drive by. These are the people I'd like my kids to help, to rake leaves, pull in trashcans, hang May Day bouquets and give lemon bread to. I needed an attitude adjustment. I needed a change of heart.

So we got to baking.

These were my helpers. If you've never baked with a 5, 3 and 1 year old, I don't reccomend it. Unless you are comfortable with a lot of chaos. And the chances that you will loose count while putting in the sugar or flour.

We used my Mom's sweet Myer lemons. There is no better variety. Both the peel and the juice are needed for this recipe. That is why the boys love this bread. They get to use tools.

Into the oven,
They came out lovely, like always. We bagged them still warm and tied on a handmade tag.

And then we set off. All three of the kids wanted to hold the basket. Making deliveries is fun.

Lilly was the first one up the steps. Even Sally cat came with us. It was the whole family.

We told the kids to shout, "Merry Christmas!" when the door opened. Lilly was really into it.

We walked from house to house to house together.

Sometimes people weren't home,

and we'd just leave their bread on the door step.

But the people that were home seemed happy to see us. They loved hearing the kids yell, "Merry Christmas!" When they held the bread, they all said, "mmm, still warm." We chatted for a minute or 2 and made a connection.

We let them know we cared. That we are glad to be their neighbor.

We came home to our house aglow with Christmas lights and the kids bouncing all over the place. It was fun, we decided. It is fun to give. Even something as small as a loaf of lemon bread, to say, I'm glad to be here and be a small part of your life.

We're going to do the whole block.