Our Christmas Tree

Let me say that brownies plus candy plus short nap plus Christmas tree equals crazy, silly kid! Putting this tree up was a blast. Evelyn just dashed about hanging and then re-hanging ornaments while Billy Bones did his best to keep all ornaments off of the tree. To me, this was what I have waited years for, my child to be absolutely beside herself with happiness at Christmas time. I know that Bean seems to others like a quiet withdrawn child but nothing can be further from the truth and if you could all watch the video we made while decorating the tree, you would know exactly how much Ev talks. Les always sets the video camera up on intervals that record for a second , in every frame Ev was in the middle of some story or fussing at Billy- it was so funny. I love that she is so exuberant and happy, I love all of that talking, I even love when she is so nutty that she can't hold a single thought in her head for more than 4.8 seconds.
There was also a hilarious moment, before the decorating when Ev had a beater to lick and she was standing there trying to tell me how Billy Bones had licked her beater and attempting to relay that she was mightily displeased about this.... I look down and she is holding her beater about half up and half down and it is swaying as she is gesturing and Billy is standing there on his two back feet, swaying in time and licking that thing clean!! HA!! She never even noticed until she tried to lick some more and the thing was shiny and clean, then she just looked at Billy, sighed tossed the beater in the sink and walked off, as if to say " well, I can see that I am going to get no help here", then I could hear her in the other room trying to convince Les just how sinister Billy and I are.

Accessories in a Row OR My Daughter is OCD

So last year my Mom got Ev these cute little snowman magnets for the fridge. They came "naked" but with magnetized clothes and such so you could dress them and play with them. This is currently Ev's new obsession, dressing them and changing the little shoes and keeping things neat and tidy. Please note that there are no other non-Christmas magnets on the fridge, they had to go- completely excommunicated for a distinct lack of spirit, will they return? Only the Empress knows...... When the sun is shining in the kitchen windows, Bean dashes in and takes tiny magnet hearts and places them over the snowman eyes because " that snow face will melt right off in the sun is shining in the eyes " .......okay. The snowmen get a wardrobe change about 6 times a day, I am acutely aware of this as I am required to dash in and give commentary on EACH new combination - 6 times a day. Please note how the accessories are kept in a line together- OCD much??? (In the second picture, Evelyn is helping the snowmen keep still)

A December Day at the Beach

Evelyn and I spent the afternoon at the beach today. It was wonderful! The weather was warm and sunny, we were the only ones there except the birds and we had alot of fun. Butter Bean was in her element- sand. We dug holes and buried feet, ran along the water's edge, did Jumping Jacks, made sand angels.... I got alot of pictures but they were all so good that I just put them all in this big slideshow. Enjoy!

Swing!

This is what we call in these parts, a "Swinging Tornado" because The Bean just can't swing normal anymore, it has to be extreme swinging. If you watch you can see Billy dart through the yard and right up a tree , you can't miss Bean fussing at him though.

Papa and Bean and TV fears

I know that this isn't a new picture, I just love it though. Leslie has made such a great Father. He always takes the time in his day to make Evelyn feel special. They have a couple of activities that they always do together: Playing the peeetar (guitar) and swinging in Evelyn's little red swing. Everytime Les heads upstairs to practice on his bass, Evelyn is right behind him, sometimes you can hear him up there strumming and she is singing her made up songs at the top of her voice, He even has her sit on his lap and strum away herself. Les and I particularly enjoy when she is picking and singing at the same time, with her eyes closed and her face showing deep emotions. She is usually singing something like " Well we just have to do it and do it right you know. That's all we are just gonna do it right...."
When they go out and swing together he has the patience to push her as long as she wants which is in the neighborhood of 30 mintes or more. I love to hear them out there talking and laughing, trying to out-do each other in the joking department. I too swing with Evelyn, I Just don't have the patience to do it endlessly like that.
I have also noticed that when Les is around, Ev will be more adventurous , whether it's with trying a new food or a new game or even tolerating a fear, she is always better with that sort of thing when Les is around. I think it's just that he is so much more patient than I am. Well he's patient with a little hint of "Dad-ness", you know a bit more committed when he asks her to do something.
Oh! Another thing that they do is smoke pipes together. She has a child size corn cob pipe and they sit out on the front porch together while he smokes his and she pretends to smoke hers. That's always great fun for her.


An aside here.... Last night we were at a local restaraunt and the only seats that were open were right in front of the tv. Not good as we are still having trouble with Bean and her tv fears. So i get her all settled in and she is copacetic and then WHAM!!! Shrek the Halls, the Shrek Christmas special comes on and she absolutely freaks the hell out. Now think about this from Bean's point of view: nice dinner, tv is neutral and then suddenly there is a big, ugly green man talking loudly and being upset and belching and hollering , then there was a scene where the gingerbread man was screaming in terror over something, Santa I think. So we spend the ENTIRE meal talking Bean dowm from a major freak out. Then as we were getting ready to leave at 8:30pm what comes on??????A Pooh Christmas!! WTF!!!! Who plays Pooh for the younger kids AFTER Shrek for the older ones?!?!?!!? ABC that's who. Now if Pooh had been on while we were there, no problemo, Les and I could have even had a decent adult conversation. sigh.
Now we are not huge tv folks. We do have tv, we watch movies. Bean has watched bits of tv her whole life, it's just that recently it freaks her WAY out. It seems silly to me and it is so hard for me to be patient with it. It really took everything that I had last night to remain calm and comforting and not just start griping and being "Nag Mom". At this point I think it's just that she is a bit used to acting afraid and then she is afraid. She just can't seem to take the quick changes and wierdness that is inherent in about 95% of tv shoes and movies these days I can get her to watch and enjoy old musicals, Charlie Brown Christmas, Pooh movies and Big Big World ( I know sis, but she loves Snook. ) and she will watch musical concerts and live performances of Bach's Mass in B Minor. Another thing is that she can take some imagery but if the sound is strange or threatening or loud- she's gonna freak. Like last ngiht, the loudest Bean reaction came when there was a big loud burp from Shrek, which was hard for me becasue to me it was funny, and she wasn't even looking at the tv.
Any advice out there? I am stumped as to what to do next. This seems so silly and it's going to be a problem over the holidays as I do not expect or want anyone that we may visit to turn off the tv's and re-arrange what they normally do. As we were headed out the door for a birthday party , Bean asked " Mama is there going to be a tv on there?" - this is how it is. There was a tv there, and it was on, playing Cinderella, she acted afraid for like 2 minutes and then when the other kids weren't bothered, she wasn't either so that was cool and maybe that's the key- other kids who are not afraid. Then agian Cinderella is mostly innocuous.
Sorry to go on about this but it has been a pain in the ass. I really would appreciate any advice.

Billy and Random Pictures

It has been very warm here these past few days and we have all been taking advantage of it. These pictures are from a day in the yard together , just the Three Musketeers ( Les was on duty and Stella always sleeps, in the house on the softest piece of furniture that she can haul her carcass onto). I got a few good pictures of Billy Bones. OK I know enough about the cat, but if you are a cat person and have ever had a super cat , then you understand while we go on and on about him so. He is always around us and always participating in what we do. The other Day Evelyn was in trouble for something and she was getting a taling to and Billy was not happy about this, so he stood in front of Ev and chattered at me while trying to nudge me away. How can you not love a cat that protects your child- even if it's from you? So anyway, here are some shots of Billy Bones.
I didn't take any pictures of Evelyn on this day, she had been through a major photo shoot the previous day ( Christmas stuff ) and I didn't want to push my luck. I got some video though, like the one of her being taken down mid-run by her cat ( I know that video isn't the best quality, I am not sure why You Tube couldn't get it any more clear).
We found a tattered and fluttering Monarch too. He was beautiful and I got a few pictures of him before I helped him to a safer place than the middle of our yard just waiting for the resident hunter to find him. Yes, my hydrangeas are that color now, the blossoms from summer are still on the bush and they have gone from a dried mess to that pretty pink. I am not sure if I was supposed to take those blossoms off or not, so I just left them and now they are adding some winter color.

Bushwhack!!!!

No one is safe.