merry christmas and eva lost another tooth this morning (both bottom middle teeth are gone)! a second tooth in about 12 hours! she is a little hesitant about how her mouth is feeling right now. she wondered how good it could be for you to loose teeth, whether that hurts you? could you die if you lost a tooth? she is anxious for the new teeth to come in and also feeling nervous at that new sensation as well. so many changes for eva. she feels at once proud and excited that she has lost her first teeth and also apprehensive at what this means for her (and her teeth!).



fun christmas games with aunt ellen and new barbie- GRRR! ROAR! (oh yeah check out ellen in her new hat!)

eva lost her first tooth!

Oh how exciting to lose your first tooth and on Christmas Eve no less! As family lore goes, it is a pretty good story as well. Eva and Samuel went to give Jack his special bone shaped sugar cookie they made for him. While giving him the cookie, Samuel apparently blocked Eva from view (so the story goes, they have been at each other all day...) and she bit him. When she bit him, her loose tooth popped out! I heard first, "Hey! No! I wanna see!" and then "Hey, she bit me!" and then "Momma Momma my tooth came out" (while consoling the bitten one). Truth be told, I believe she did bite him but it was more of a scare tactic because it didn't leave an indent in his clothes or anything (smile).

And now the Christmas pullah which the kids braided this year and which gave me yet another good lesson on what matters and letting go-



Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Eva dressed up as a Christmas tree.

three knit fairies

I took a whole camera full of pictures yesterday of the snow and just didn't have a chance to put some of them up here. The kids and I took a wonderful walk in the snow and went sledding. I pulled Eva (and often Samuel as well) in the sled and we took Jack who is really loving this weather. It turns out every time to be a little far to walk to the sledding hill for little legs. Taking the sled helped quite a bit with that.

A few photos from out and about in the snow-



our yard back and front (maple, spruce, pin oak)



our street, one way then the other



commonwealth park



pulling the kids on the sled and winter patterns

Eva has been enjoying reading different ballets, particularly The Firebird, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty in the Usborne Ballet Treasury. When I searched for some more Firebird stories I found Imaginary Menagerie which we enjoyed reading last night. And we are just loving reading Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson, our first Moominbook! I finished up Oscar Wao and then read Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I am looking forward to my next book on hold at the library. I have to say I am really enjoying reading some fiction after mainly reading non-fiction for so long.

Lots of knitting and baking today, getting ready for Christmas. Who can believe it really is the day after tomorrow! Also hoping for a snowman today to round out the snow time.

Last night we had a summer feast. I got out peaches I had canned and frozen upicked marion berries and my really yummy tomato dill soup frozen over the summer with delicious summer tomatoes (from the Moosewood cookbook...). Exceptional. No produce deliveries due to snow for the next couple of weeks and they will be out of town. Lots of oppotunities to eat thawed summer fare! And of course I have some kale!

backyard birds

Seen at the feeder, on the cracked corn pile or even in the apple tree feasting on leftover apples (and over in that bush with the greyish purpley berries)-

today's highlight spotting was a varied thrush, so like a robin and yet different, coming down from the mountains to check out my apple tree!
juncos galore
black capped chickadees
flocks of robins
spotted towhees
nuthatches
sparkly starlings
raven pair or mother and baby (from this summer)
pair of northern flickers!
mourning dove
bewick's wren (I think, some wren for certain and probably this guy)
white crowned sparrows
bushtits in groupings
scrub jays
red winged black birds
house finches
honorary squirrels