Christmas with the Palmers!

Reindeer Run & a New Mattress

Back in December, on the 19th, our family participated in the Reindeer Run in Tempe. When I say "our family participated," what I mean is that Lizzie, Eli and Adam ran, I took pictures, Ivy cheered. We made our kids run the full 5 Kilometers, in the hopes that we would actually find the limit to their energy levels. None of this sissy "Kids Fun Run" 1 mile stuff for them.

We met the Andrews there - here's all the runners before the race!

Coming in for the finish at 40 minutes! Lizzie ran the whole way. Eli sprinted and walked. And balance-beamed on curbs and jumped over rails and zig-zagged around the trail the whole way.

Ivy gets to talk to Santa:
It was right about here that I overheard Ivy and Santa's conversation. Let me share with you what I heard:

Santa: What's your name?

Ivy: Ivy

Santa: Have you been a good girl this year?

Ivy: {Smile and Nod}

Santa: Do you keep your room clean and help your mom?

Ivy: {Smile and Nod}

Santa: What do you want for Christmas, Ivy?

Ivy: A New Mattress

Santa: What??

Ivy: A New Mattress.

It was at this point that I whisked my daughter away from Santa Claus. I didn't realize that Ivy had changed her Christmas request to "a new mattress" but I understood why:

We'd been rearranging the kids' bedrooms all month to prepare for the arrival of the baby. Earlier that week, we'd had a scary incident - a table lamp had been left on, directly on top of Ivy's bed. When we found it two hours later, it had singed the sheet into a perfect black circle. When I lifted the sheet up, it revealed that the mattress too had been singed. Ivy watched in horror as I got a spoon and scooped out the black burned part of her mattress. It looked like a cupholder had been inserted into the mattress.

Ivy was rightly traumatized. We flipped the mattress over and put on fresh, unburnt sheets, but she cried when we tried to put her to bed for three nights in a row. Then we thought she was over it.

Until her encounter with Santa. But, I convinced myself that maybe it wasn't that weird for a 4-yr old to ask for a new mattress and we went off to watch the race start.

While we were waiting for the runners to return, Ivy found Santa again. She wanted to say hi. I agreed.

Santa didn't remember Ivy. He went through the same drill as before, and when he got to the part about what she would like for Christmas, Ivy's answer was the same,

"A New Mattress."

The lightbulb went on for Santa, "Oh, I remember you. Don't you want a Barbie or something?"

At this point, I felt I needed to intervene..."You see, her mattress was accidently burned this week when a lamp was left on..." I started, but then never finished because I realized that the words coming out of my mouth were making Santa look at me with a look of pity and concern - pity that we were such a W.T. family and concern that I was obviously bringing a new child into this pathetic situation where all our 4-year old girl wanted for Christmas was A New Mattress!

Well, Santa must have forgiven us, because lo and behold, on Christmas morning, Ivy got a very nice pillow-top New Mattress with a big red bow on it. And the best part is, she didn't even notice it next to the new baby doll and crib he also brought for her.

2 excerpts from concert weekend:

Eli's moment of Glory:

group shot:

more later...!

Float-tacular at the Parade of Lights

Click HERE to see what we did last Saturday night! (Skip to picture #3) Thank you, Arizona Republic, for the great picture! And to the Tumbleweed Tree Lighting Event that gave us our Award. What's that? You're reminding me that I have made fun of this Weed Tree Tradition in the past? On past searchable blogposts, even? Well, if I did, it was out of LOVE. Because I love Chandler's Tumbleweed Tree, piled high with Tumbleweeds; what most people think of as, well, weeds. We Reuse, Reduce and Recycle here, we make Weeds into works of Art, and then 10,000 loyal citizens (including me!) gather round, sing "Bah-hoo Doray" and watch it be lit. I love Chandler, AZ. :)

Some behind-the-scenes photos:

Would you Carrot all for some Veggies?

The girls harvested these yesterday from their own little plots in the garden. Freshly grown carrots are a different breed from bland-store bought, and I'd forgotten how delicious they were!

Thanksgiving Polar Bear Swim

This Thanksgiving, the Club consisted of One.

This One:











Sixty-two Degrees, Friends, Sixty-two Degrees.

Eli tells Mom how babies are made

Eli was in his room doing his timed reading for school.

He was reading this:

I was rushing out the door to pick Lizzie up. He ran out of his room to stop me.

"MOM! I found out how you got pregnant!"

Of course I had to stop and find out, because, you know, I'd been wondering.

Eli holds up this page:
Looking directly into my eyes, Eli tells me declaratively: "You have been pregnant ever since you married Daddy. " {Dramatic Pause, so I can let this information settle in}

For proof, he shows me this chart. "See, it says 'the male sperm cell' - that's Daddy - 'and the female egg cell' {Eli gestures to my stomach like, duh, that's obviously you} 'join together and form a zygote' {he pronounced it "zig-got"}."


"Zygote," I corrected him.

"Yep, and then, see this picture? A baby starts forming, and right there, that's the baby's face when it starts growing!"
{This is a child's view of the beginnings of a baby. A circle for a face, and two circles for the eyes. The rest is ancillary.}

showered with love!

Lisa threw me the most darling baby shower last night. I felt so loved! And I was so happy to be in attendance since I have missed two of my last three childrens' baby showers because I had the baby early. Good planning, Lisa! :)

Lizzie was so excited to come - she helped facilitate smooth present opening, as well as submitted at least 100 ridiculous baby names.

Here's me filling up my plate. I ate an unladylike amount of delicious food...

Thank you!

Irritable Ike Update

We thought concerned readers would want to know that we received the following letter yesterday:

Dearest Adam, Aimee, Lizzie, Eli, and Ivy,

It has come to our attention that one of our employees, a Mr. Ike P. Irritable, has insinuated himself into your household and proven a considerable nuisance. We hope you appreciate that our policy here at Honeycomb Turkey Industries, Int., has always been to bring joy and delight to our customers - not unmade beds, choral discord & automotive disfunction. Our turkeys are meant to sit quitely on a mantel or perch on a dining room table and BE NICE! We are distressed to have seen your video - oh, oh, we forgot the part about the torn up homework - horrible, horrible! Or as we at Honeycomb Turkey say at times of great dismay - Gobble horribilis! Gobbilis horrible! OR gobble, gobble, toil and trobble! (Hunh?!)

Please accept our sincere apologies. Rest assured that next year you can expect a much better behaved Turkey. We've already set aside a coule of suitable candidates: Mean Maniac Mike or Peter Pesky Pest. Until then, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sincerely - Cyrus B. Wonkel Bottom, President & CEO

In a show of good faith, we thought we would publish Honeycomb's apology letter, to avoid any further damage to their company's reputation our turkey and his exploits might have caused. But be assured that we will think twice before inviting Maniac Mike into our home next year...

A Rare Sighting

The elusive couple, Erin & John, were rumored to be spending the weekend in balmy Tuscon. Reports circulated of a celebrity sighting of them in Phoenix when they took a day trip to the greater metropolitan area yesterday. The were able to be bribed to take pictures with common civilians. Later, the jet-setting couple were spotted dining at the urban pizzeria, Cibo's, and then hobnobbing at Symphony Hall to see the avant garde concert, "Nixon in China."

In other, lesser, celebrity sightings, Lizzie had her picture taken with the past president, Richard Nixon. He's shorter in real life.

Cheers!

The latest Symphony project has been a concert version of an opera called "Nixon in China." It catalogs the historic event of 1972 when, yep, you guessed it, Pres. Nixon visited China. Strange topic for an opera, you say? Wait till you hear the music! It's written by the American composer John Adams, and they call his work "post- minimalist" music, meaning that there is a LOT of repetition, and steady rhythmic pulses. It's a little out there. But it's actually really fun to sing, and I think I might love it.

Click here for the Phoenix Symphony's Video preview of Nixon in China

Cousins!

When you live far away from your beloved fam, it's SO nice to have someone you're related to nearby! (Photo credits: Ivy Stewart)
And even more fun when you're only 1 month apart in your pregnancies...

And how fun is it when your kids are only 6 months apart and become instantly inseperable?

Thanks for a fun afternoon, Kim and Boston!

Print this if you're lost. Except if you need to find North.

Here is a writing sample Lizzie's teacher sent home with me tonight at Parent/Teacher Conferences. Sadly, it appears that Lizzie has inherited my sense of direction.

"Direction Hunting"
Telling the direction you're facing is actually really easy and a good habit for hiking and long trips, and you don't even need any tools! But before you start, make sure it is either sunrise or sunset, or close to one of those. Next, think of this poem; it's always handy:

'The sun rises in the East and sets in the West"

What's important about this rhyme is that it's true wherever you are in the world. If it is sunrise, look where the sun is/is supposed to be. The direction you are looking is East.

If it is sunset, look toward the sun or pink clouds. That way is West.

If you'd like to put them all together, or find all the directions, guess where you think South ought to be. If it is fall, look for a big flock of birds that are flying South. That way must be South.

North is the last direction left. To be frank, I don't know how to find North. But if you're doing all directions, North is the last direction.

Good luck on you're direction hunting!"

Yes, honey, good luck! You'll need it! ;)

And since I've teased Lizzie, I will share with you a compliment as well - her teachers love her creative writing! One said that not only does she have an excellent voice and word choice, but she is able to keep her writing focused without rambling - a tendancy of many writers her age. There you go. Who needs to know North and South when you can write stories about those places instead?

Pretty Kitty, Fruit Bat, and a (sometimes) Deflated Kickball