Today my mom and Clara and I did a little Christmas shopping, and we visited a favorite local used bookstore. I was surprised by how refreshed and energized I was just being around so many possibilities (of course, also it is also a little paralyzing). I ended up with two gifts and high hopes to go back within the week to spend and hour or three.

When we are waiting for the boys in the carpool line, Clara likes to take my order. It’s really quite a place–she’s got about anything you can think of on the menu, served up with a smile and a “Sure! Comin’ right up!” Today I chose seven tacos because apparently the contraption she’s looking at is a taco smasher–and also, mmmm, tacos.

The days are dark early and getting colder, but Ian still puts on his “football uniform” every chance he gets. I’m thankful the boys want to get out and seize every last bit of daylight, and I’m okay with putting homework off a little longer so they can run some plays together.

Clara: Mommy! Can I sort all these buttons into colors?

Me: Sure, babe. Go for it.

[A few minutes later]

Clara: I’m going to sort them by shapes instead.

[A beat]

Clara: So mostly circles.

[A moment later]

Clara: Did you get all [the pictures] you need? Cause I’m just going to put these back in the jar.

Today we headed up to Omaha to the Lauritzen Gardens to see the Holiday Poinsettia Show. The gardens are pretty amazing any time of year, but they were extra magical today. And as if it wouldn’t have been fun enough to stroll the beautiful gardens today, we ran into some of our very favorite friends and got to spend the afternoon with them. Poinsettias! Lights! Trains! Fish! Bananas! Friends! It doesn’t get much better.

First snow photography good news and bad news: the bad news is that, no, Simon was not overcome by the magic of the first snowfall, and he did not spontaneously try to catch snowflakes on his tongue. The good news is that he will still humor his mom and pretend to be overcome by the magic of the first snowfall and try to catch snowflakes on his tongue.

Project Help is absolutely one of my favorite things I get to do. I have been sad to miss several of the projects this fall, but I’m so glad I got to participate today: this project felt like a jackpot. We scraped (and steamed) several layers of wallpaper down to the plaster. It surely was a tedious and dirty job, but oh so very gratifying. A morning sipping mint tea, chatting with friends, searching for that illusive long strip that comes off easily, making a little progress, yes, that was a morning well spent.

It’s that time of year again that the long-neglected blog gets a fresh pic every single day. Oh how we all love the December Photo Project!

Lately all the kids, but Clara especially, have been asking Jason and me to tell them funny stories about themselves when they were babies (or littler kids than they are now). Some days it’s easier than others, but when I’m distracted or especially tired, I can only remember the same handful of stories they’ve already heard. However, I’m also finding the more we comply with their requests, the more I do remember (I’ve heard this about writing a memoir–that once you start writing it down, memories come back).

I like to imagine that a few years (or months or days) from now, today’s walk will be one of the stories I’ll tell Clara about herself. I’ll remember how she rode ahead to the next mailbox or tree and came back when I called. And how she said, “Race ya!” when she knew I wasn’t ready and then giggled like a maniac as she left me in the dust. How she asked me to lift her up into the tree and then laughed when I laid down on the ground to get a picture. And especially how she told me to kiss her neck until she told me to stop but that I actually ran out of kisses before she ran out of giggles.

Clara measures her weeks by Thursdays. Is it Thursday? How many days until Thursday? Okay, so Tuesday, Wednesday, then Thursday? Thursdays are when she has dance class with Joie. We are so thankful for our beloved friend who has built a joyful and loving community, thankful that she pours her giant heart and considerable talents into teaching our kids to love dancing, thankful for the friendships that have been formed, the discipline and skills that have been learned, and the fun that has been had.

Last week the students put on such a creative and sweet recital, The Runaway Bunny: A Ballet from Studio 139. I realize that some of these pictures are less than perfectly sharp: that’s okay, I’m just going to go ahead and claim partial/total blindness from the stunning cuteness. Seriously. Good grief, too much. And, although the shards brought me to my knees, my favorite part was still the reverence. Traditionally, the reverence is the last ballet exercise of the class and is directed toward the teacher to pay respect; at Studio 139, the reverence is directed toward God to honor him.