Open Studio {Penelope}

Penelope
5"x7"
graphite pencil

Merry Christmas Day!

They did try to wake Abby. They shook her, in fact. When she came down later, she asked why no one woke her up.

Last year, We got the Adventure Family Book for Christmas, and we decided to pull it out and scratch off an activitiy to do last night.

We gathered all of the hardcover books we could find on our first floor (I'm sure there were many more on our basement and second floors) and delivered them to Mike, who propped them up one in front of the other.

See the end result in action

Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas season! It has only just begun!

Christmas Eve escapades

This one and Opal were playing in the sunroom, when she hit her head on the couch. There was blood. Lots. And when I cleaned it off, I saw that it was deep. I put some Neosporin on a bandaid and tried to pull the cut together, but the hair was preventing it. We realized it wasn't going to work. I ended up cutting some hair out to get the bandaid off. When Abby, our resident CNA, came down, questinging why Penny was so upset, we had her take a look at the wound. She immediately said, "I would take her in. That's her skull." You could definitely see her skull through the little gaping wound.

So we got her ready- the bleeding had stopped, and she had stopped crying. I drove her down to the Monroe Hospital and didn't even think to grab anything to eat, that it was almost lunch time. She seemed just fine while we waited, other than hungry. We both were. All I had in my purse were a roll of Mentos. We split that for lunch as we waited to be admitted to a room. As soon as we were taken back to a room, it didn't take long for things to move along, though. Soon, a nurse came in to clean her up. A doctor administered some lidocane, which was the hardest part. They had wrapped her up in a blanket like a burrito, and I put my arms on top of her so she felt secure. Then, they cleaned they wound with saline using a special squirting device before giving her two little stitches. She didn't shed a tear, our brave little girl!

We were home by 2.

Post-Mass family pictures

The rest of our afternoon was slightly less exciting. We attended a beautiful Mass, had Asian food (courtesy of the Costco frozen foods section) for dinner, opened secret siblings gifts, watched Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, I read our traditional Christmas Eve books, the kids put out milk, cookies, and carrots for "Santa and the reindeer" (they all know the truth but still like the tradition) and and we helped make Santa's job a little more fun...

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called
'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.'" Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas Eve!

Early Christmas present

Ever since we got rid of our old upright piano (that we got free from my old college roommate) during our renovation, Mike has been kind of sore that I got rid of it. We had an electric, and I guess I didn't realize how big of a differce it would make to not have an acoustic one as well. I thought moving it would be more of a hassle. But over the years, I've come to see that he would really like an actual piano, so I thought that would make a nice Christmas present.

I found one on Marketplace not far from here and made sure Max and Jack were available to help me move it. I was going to round up some more muscles. But then Max's mom came and I told her of my plan. She asked her what kind of piano I was getting, and I showed her. She soon had me looking at Yamahas on Marketplace, which are, apparently superior and well worth the price when it comes to pianos.

There was one in Platteville, in excellent condition, that could be delivered (three days before Christmas). The kids helped me clean and rearrange some things to make space for it, and Mike was, fortunately, working late on Monday night, so he was not around when it was delivered.

(Some videos)
"A new piano"

Trying it out

Piano Duet

Iris Practicing

We all love it (Maple, not so much). I've loved hearing Iris and Jack, my piano players, playing beautiful tunes on it, and little people, plinking out non-intelligible ditties on it. It adds a certain hominess in here.

Getting ready