"Dear Santa
I have been very good this year.  Please can I have a princess suitcase.  Noella would like a baby dress up.  Please take care of the kids we are going to help this year.  Please bring my daddy and mommy dress ups.  Love, Mariel
PS Please be nice to my doggies."
She thinks email would be the fastest way to send the letter, but Patrick was concerned that Santa would miss her drawings.  Also her "word" of BAW1 on the top of the letter (she is not too clear on what she thinks she is spelling).  As a compromise between email and regular mail (which she doubts will get it to Santa with due speed) we left it in one of the fireplaces for the elves to come pick up. 

Happy Holidays...

I am thankful for many things.  On the list is a week "off" (not driving to Edwardsville counts as vacation, even if I am working from home!), parents willing to regularly drive 1800 miles to come visit us, kids who are healthy, bright, and generally well behaved (I did consider boarding preschool earlier this week, but we are doing well today), and a very fortunate life.  I am also thankful for a successful portrait session earlier this week- somehow the photographer managed to capture a number of very sweet pictures.  Here are some highlights!

Its been a good weekend- busy in an unusual combination of being both fun and productive.

We had friends over for dinner on Friday night.  They brought delicious pizza, some mozzerella sausage roll creation that makes me wonder how I ever lived as a vegetarian, and one of Mariel's favorite friends and playmates.  The two "princesses" had great fun in their imaginary world, spending a lot of time spinning in circles, falling on the floor, and laughing hysterically.

After dinner, I got to go out with more friends to a karaoke night downtown (I was an excellent wallflower).

Saturday was incredibly warm and nice, and we managed to rake up 10 yard bags of leaves, clear the backyard and driveway of all of the piles of construction debris (some of which predated us), and Patrick fixed a rotted windowsill.  He got to go out to dinner with Tim and then to a Blues game, which they won (the Blues, not Patrick and Tim). 

Sunday has been a good day, too- our basement is all organized and relatively clean.  Patrick and Mariel put together an early Christmas present from Aunt Carla and got to sit outside after dinner and make smores (Noella got graham crackers) under the stars.  There are some advantages to daylight savings and having dark outside at 5:30!