Meredith Carson... Across the Pond and Back Again...

Pumpkin carving got a little wild tonight.  It all started when George accidentally dropped a little bit of pumpkin goo in Emma's hair.  She was not amused.  The rest of us were a little amused... especially Sophie... so we fixed her... She doesn't actually appear to be too upset, does she?  Sophie is very comfortable being the center of attention even if getting there requires piling vast gobs of pumpkin guts on her head. Sophie wasn't the only girl keeping us in stitches tonight.  A discussion about Halloween gravestones which always seem to read "RIP" led to talk about other modern day acronyms such as LOL and ROFL.  Emma decided aloud that TOL ought to be added to the list.  She immediately followed this assertion with an exceptionally loud burst of flatulence.  Needless to say (although I am saying it anyway), the "T" in her acronym stood for "toot."  What well mannered young ladies we are raising at this house! "Do not take life...

Over the weekend, George and the girls bought a griddle, some fancy food coloring and a big ole box of Bisquick.  Breakfast will never be the same.   The breakfast of clever little champions? A good breakfast can improve your observational skills.  "Did you see that giant squirrel, Lili?" *British friends, these are obviously American style flapjacks, also known as pancakes.

We need more sleep at our house...  

I have always been fascinated with birth order studies.  All that I have read declare that last born babies are prone to fall into the role of class clown or family comedian.  I think those behavioral researchers are on to something, by golly! Lili LOVES to make us laugh, and she often has a completely smitten audience here at our house.  Noticing how excited I become when she addresses me as "mama," she now calls everyone at our house "mama."  This is reinforced since Sophie and Emma  laugh in response and hug her while saying, "I'm not mama.  I'm Sophie/Emma!!" Lili has also learned that laughter is contagious.  She belly laughs ridiculously anytime we are laughing just so she can be a part of the fun.  She will often bring forth a chesty "HA HA HA!" anytime things get a bit boring and inevitably one or all of us will join her in laughter. She has also gleaned that sweet little smoochy kisses are always positively received.  ...

My British friends will understand the title reference. The rest of you can just go with it. Lili is terrified by the sound that our blender makes, but she finds the end result to be wonderful and refreshing.  Baby loves chocolate-banana milkshakes made with healthy wonderfulness.  And just as importantly... Baby knows when she's had enough, and she knows how to communicate it. Knowing when to say when (particularly when chocolate is involved) is an important life lesson, and as usual our Lil is ahead of the game.

Before living in the UK, I had never had a "chocolate apple," but one autumn day while wandering the Tesco looking for something comforting to remind me of home, I came across a Chocolate Apple Kit.  It basically contained a few lollipop sticks, a large pot of milk chocolate buttons, and some festive Halloween sprinkles.  I was, of course, ON IT, using the contents but making my own rules.  I prefer to melt chocolate on the stove top in a double boiler rather than in the microwave.  My double boiler is homemade: a metal bowl that fits neatly over a small pan full of simmering water.  Easy peasy. The apples are stabbed with lolly sticks and then dipped or rolled in the melted chocolate.  It is fabulously festive to add colorful sprinkles but not entirely necessary.  The apples then need to go into the fridge for at least an hour.  (I do love a cold apple.) When I was living abroad, I longed for all of the seasonal decor and candy and crap that is...

I have spent this past week looking after sick children.  Sophie was the one who started it all last weekend.  Then she shared with Lili who has been utterly miserable all week.  By yesterday it seemed as though everyone was on the mend and feeling better.  We started the day with a healthy breakfast... These are George's most clever pancakes yet.  Yes,  Dad is great. Once we had eaten our fill of disguised breakfast, we decided we were all up for a day out in the autumn sunshine.  Grandma's pumpkin patch beckoned... Lili was the littlest pumpkin (by weight) in our wagon. I know.  I just want to squeeze her too.  (And I do regularly.) We are abundantly blessed indeed. So after a great day out and a good dose of sunshine, we all felt refreshed and ready to take on the world, right? Oh dear, it looks like my girls have been sharing again.  Not even an hour after returning home, Emma was tucked up in bed with a ...

...Here I am, right where I belong!  My little legs are getting stronger everyday. I'm so good, I have to applaud myself.  Sometimes you just have to be your own cheer leader. But wait!  Did you do something unsavory to deserve THIS look?

George left us early Thursday morning and headed off for a "Lads Gone Mad" weekend in Cancun with his brother and a friend, so all of the Carson girlies have been here enjoying the beautiful Michigan autumn on our own.  That George does not know what he's missing. Back by popular demand: Everyone's favorite green, fleecy hoodie with ears On Friday the kids had the day off school, so we went out to a petting farm in Freeland called Baby Acres where Emma and Sophie got to pet and feed all sorts of friendly farm animals.  Everything about it was excellent apart from the incident in which two pygmy goats took offense to my sheepskin lined boots.  They repeatedly headbutted my ankles and rubbed their foreheads menacingly all over the sides of my boots.  We were visiting the farm with a Mom's group, and all of the other Michigan Mommies who were standing by me laughed and said (in that unmistakable Michigan accent), "OH MY GAHSH!  That is SOOO cute!"  Yes...

Living in the UK for the last five years, I really missed having seasons.  There was some vague semblance of seasons with leaves in October, barren trees in January and daffodils in April, but mostly we could count on it being cool-ish, grayish and rainy all year.  Each year as the summer months approached, everyone would whisper hopefully, " They say this year will be different.  The jet stream has changed and we might have sun this summer," but that was not the typical end result.  Nine months of anticipation almost always ended with three months of disappointment. Here in Michigan we are now making up for lost time.  Here there are four distinct and proper seasons (with winter being particularly distinct, proper and LONG).  The day the calendar said it was autumn, the weather became crisp and the trees began to obediently drop their leaves.  We are now surrounded by beautiful autumn colors, and we wake up to frost.  In other w...

You only turn ONE once, which is why you should celebrate the occasion at least twice ! We had a few friends join us on Friday evening, and we celebrated Lili's big event one more time.  Why not?  She is now a serious expert on the subject of cake. It's your birthday!  Happy Birthday! It's for real though; not for play play. So I am now the mother of a one year old, a six year old and an eight year old.  The only problem is: they keep changing their ages on me.  Just when I get used to saying, "Emma is eight," she will have gone off and become nine.  It is never ending.  Sometimes I wish childhood came with a pause button, but of course it does not.  That means, Moms and Dads, you must savor all of those little precious, golden moments.  You know, the ones like this... Hold on to those babies while you can.  Tomorrow they won't be quite as little.