Funnies

During this winter's first packable snowfall, Maizey and I built this masterful snow lady - Millie or Lily - depending on when you ask.

I sent the photo to family and Uncle Paul responded, "That's a championship snowman."

I read his text to Maizey, who asked to see the picture of the "Champagne and chip snowman."

I showed her the above shot and she said more forcefully, "NO, MOM - the CHAMPAGNE and CHIP snowman..."

LOL. The girl loves language.

The same afternoon, Will picked Lucy up from school.

When she saw his briefcase in her car seat she promptly asked him to move his "work purse."

(Pictured here - taken last night - riding a bumblebee, pulling a vacuum and pushing a stroller.)

Life is definitely not dull.

Thankful

gobble gobble

Please excuse my abrupt departure from the blogosphere. I opted for the opposite of an Irish goodbye. Which, as you know, is kind of my M.O.

The reason?

There was simply nothing to blog about. Nothing to write about. No photos to post. My/our life/lives have been boring, boring, boring.

Yep. Humdrum. Lame.

But, I miss blogging. And more than that, I miss having a record of my crazy, good, sometimes sob-inducing life. It seems the long crazy days will truly do culminate in short crazy years, and my addled mom/wife/daughter/friend/sister/entrepreneur/person brain isn't up for memorializing or logging the every day, which really, is the important shit. Right? So, as we head into Thanksgiving week, I am stopping to profess my thankfulness. For my health. For my children. For my best friend. For my family. For my busy life.

In the coming months I hope to revive Enlarging Marge, at least a little, so that I can remember exactly what I spent these crazy days doing, and how good they really were.

She sleeps!

Lucy must read the blog. Either that, or I'm a sleep training ninja. Probably the latter.

"smile, lucy."

YAY for an four time consecutive all night sleeper, after 6 a.m. waker!

ISO Pitch and Tone

Volume up, please.

She is in the tub. 

Lucky Lovely Lucy

Oh, Lucy. Poor darling second child. I'd feel awful for abandoning the blog if you didn't shoulder some of the blame. Because, my dear, you don't sleep. Not well at least. Just okay. You don't want to miss out on anything. (Not that I blame you, but honestly, at 2 a.m. not much is shaking in Milford.)

 But, that said, you are awesome at 18 months.

You have a succinct vocabulary:

"Uh-Oh" - uttered when you remove your shoes and socks every.time.we.drive.anywhere.

"Bubbuhs" - indicating you want some suds with your nightly soak

"Hi" - in your case, works for both coming and going

"Moor" - everything else (except "Mama" and "Dada")

You've also mastered a variety of animal noises and can identify nearly every creature in your multiple animal books. By pointing. And grunting.

You LOVE your dog.

You LOVE yogurt and cookie crisp.
(which is in our house as a result of a grocery store bribe - and the bribee has now lost interest. lucky you.)

You LOVE your sister.

You LOVE my boobs.

You don't love stickers on your feet or hair ties in your pockets.

Favorite activities are anything fine-motor, or Maizey-related.

You are funny and lovely and we are lucky to have you.

Just please, start sleeping.

2014: Beautiful Times

Diary of a Rough Life

Our birthday gift for Papa Bob...a three minute snapshot of six years of retirement travel:

 
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,
To gain all while you give,
To roam the roads of lands remote,
To travel is to live.”

― Hans Christian Andersen

So this guy's comin' over tonight...

  

A very Merry Christmas to all.

Though I'm on the naughty list for neglecting EnlargingMarge, I'm on the nice list for dedicating that extra time to my family, my health and my passions. 

(Kinda) carving it up in 2014

Anybody who's had the unfortunate experience of being a Maggie cohabitor come late October knows my penchant for pumpkin carving. Street cred? I was into pumpkin carving before they made those patterns. (Full disclosure: I'm into it but I'm not that good. Totally full disclosure: 80% is about the pumpkin seeds.)

This year I pushed a record-breaking pumpkin home from Farmer's Market in our stroller. I scored two free pie pumpkins at the fall festival and participated in the 2-for-1 Kroger deal. Twice. And, Betty gifted me one. Basically, I had no excuse not to carve the shit outta some orange gourds and feed the town of Milford with my delicious Worcestershire Sauce seeds. No excuse except for two littles and an incredibly stressful carving session #1. 

I knew it would be difficult, I mean, I didn't have umpteen hours to plan my design, break out the pottery tools and then, at the end, separate each seed. But, 2011 was good. And 2012 super fun. (I don't really remember carving anything in 2013, but apparently I did. Thank you, blog. And, thank you for giving me a record of Will's awesome hair.) Both produced heaps-o-carved gourds and seeds. But, this: knives, a "let me do it" toddler, goo, an "exploring my world orally" one-year-old, and an obsessive carver do not a happy family make.

So, for the record, we turned out one Maizey-designed, Mom-produced pumpkin and one sad, but delicious, batch of seeds. Which I unabashedly hoarded. At least it was great weather. (Especially nice to remember considering it snowed today.)

Pre-Halloween Haps

Given the weather on the "real" Halloween, October 31, was a HORRENDOUS Elsa-inspired mess, I'm thrilled we got it together (amazingly) and participated in the Milford Main Street trick-or-treat. 

Though Will's costume wasn't quite as elaborate as years past (here and here), he still got in the spirit, with a little help from Disney on Ice and the cotton candy tchotchke. 

Anna's marvelous togs were provided by Gramma Betty.

Since our real Sven is dog reindeer aggressive, Olaf has to pull the sled.

Thankfully he had some grog in this to-go cup.

And then, my sister wife, Jaclyn, nestor Will, and I took on the grand event.

Ryan's costume was eerily familiar.

 Jack was awarded best supporting role as Farmer.

And once again, we marched down Main and slipped into line at random intervals.

It was fun(ny).

Lucy Anna did some walking crawling.

And, three members of the OG represented.

Mason, Maizey and Jack.

Once she tired of walkcrawling, 

Lu took it all in from the sled.

And Elsa sang a few bars,

though luckily her powers hadn't reached full potential .

After a jaunt to the YMCA, Elsa and Farmer gave Olaf a break 

and ferried Anna home.

Happy Halloween indeed.

(And that day I gave thanks for to-go cups, like-minded neighbors, a husband with a sense of humor, unseasonably warm autumn weather, and hot-n-ready pizzas.)