Embiggening all over.

Christmas happened and then a birthday happened and Eleanor turned five

and got a new bed

which means THIS one got a new bed

and also started potty training, and then the day before yesterday she chewed through her last soother and I was like WAIT IT IS TOO MUCH ALL AT ONCE. But, like. It was the last one! So for the last two nights, this brave mcmuffin has slept in her big-girl bed, with no soother.

Or not sleeping, whatever. Everyone is getting so grown.

Matching or get out

Matching jams.

Matching mugs.

Matching jams.

Matching playmobils.

Matching jams.

Matching movie faces.

MATCHIES!

Santas all over.

We are barreling down the pike. CHRISTMAS IS A-COMING. This has been the year of Many Santas. There was a santa at Eleanor's Christmas concert!

I love Geneva's little Applause Hands, she takes applauding so seriously. (This is back when her eye was rill bad still.)

Excellent job concerting, you tiny festive pirate.

There was a santa at Eleanor's field trip to Petey's Country Christmas!

He was the most thorough santa, and there were so many kids waiting, and he just kept talking and talking and his elves kept coming by to let him know the kids had to get to their crafts

and their hot chocolate.

A+ for thoroughness and also setting, grade lowered for lack of expediency.

Last but not at all least, the santa at Dicken's Sweet Shoppe, this bonkers little British Things And Some Food museum downtown. It's free! They have a winter wonderland! It has a horse you can ride!

There's a santa! Which is why we came!

But we stayed for the enormous dollhouse

and the Very British Cows

and the ceiling full of old-timey egg beaters.

Tomorrow we get to be santa, showing up with a bag of gifts and crying HO HO HO. I'm so excited I may die.

Perpetual decking machines.

These tiny trees have earned me dozens of minutes at a time.

Dozens!

Look at them decking.

Deck, deck, deck.

The games

Another snew day! Preschool was cancelled, we went nowhere, we cleaned the house and made soup and had tea while wearing our Santa hats.

The girls are such a rumpus together right now. Look at them reading this look-and-find book, and Eleanor finding stuff but not pointing at it until Geneva finds it!

They have devised a series of complicated games to play together. A while back it was 'detective,' where one of them would hide things in the front room while the other one waited in the living room with a triceratops backpack and a magnifying glass, and then the hider (the 'thief') would hide THEMSELVES and then the detective had to find them and make them tell where the missing items were.

Then it was 'vacation walk,' where they would load up every bag and purse they could find with random toys and then go 'on vacation' into my bedroom and I'm sketchy on the details here because I would just let them do it while I hung out by myself in the living room for tens of minutes (wheeeee!). I know at least part of it included fake-sleeping, and part of it was playing 'up-down' on the bed (when one of them is standing up, the other one is lying down! And then they switch!).

Lately, they've been playing 'tap dance.' They each put on a pair of 'tap shoes' (i.e. shoes that they found while I was looking for something else. They are much too big) and, if possible, an apron on their heads. Eleanor will sometimes wear a belt of mine if she can find it.

Then they go 'tap' in the kitchen (this used to involve actual tap-stomping but is now just really aggressive jumping) until one of them 'wins.' Eleanor declares the winner, but she alternates between them so that it's fair. The winner picks what they do next, the options being: decorate their trees, play the Shopping Cart Game (a board game Eleanor got for Christmas a few years back), go on an Ornament Hunt (where they go around the house pointing out all the Christmas decorations they can find), or 'run crazy,' which I feel is self-explanatory.

The best thing about running crazy is that Eleanor has gotten it into her head that they need to clean up both the living room and the front room first, so that they don't trip over anything. 'Mom, where should we put this box of diapers!' 'In Geneva's room, please.' 'Ok!'

It's like Geneva made a leap in her ability to follow directions and Eleanor made a leap in her ability to tailor a game to someone else's ability and now they're off to the races (and sometimes having literal races).

Gingermansion

Also! We completed the gingermansion. Once again many thanks to Josie's mom, who texted me pictures of her recipe because the link I had been using is now broken, and I neglected to write it down. I HAVE WRITTEN IT DOWN NOW. So get yer supplies.

Dump in some stuff.

Pour that molasses, you teeny dextrous baby.

'Gonna wick dis mowasses.'

The more things change, the more Geneva is always eating my lemons.

Supervise it, but don't touch it because then your hand will get mixed right in and then we'll have hand-batter. (What?)

Sugarbaby.

Evening and morning, the first day. Day two! Get yer tools.


Roll some stuff, cut some stuff.

Look at all this fun we're having.

(Also look at this.

And this.

It's not a proper gingerbreadding until everyone has thrown at least one tantrum.) Evening and morning, the second day! Day three: Decorate like fools.

The success of this day depended on whether Geneva could figure out the squirt bag, because she needs to do things herself and her fuse is v v v short right now. But look at this tiny pastry chef!

Eleanor, you old pro.

Geneva's walls.

Eleanor's walls.

Joel's wall.

My prerogative as the one doing all the work here is that I get the front wall.

And then everything dries for almost 24 hours because I know better by now. I put the house together over naptime because I have to say every swear word I know or it won't hold, and then Eleanor shingled it when she woke up.

We had some outdoors situation to play in, so it wasn't until day five that we planted the lollipop forest and made it to snow upon the house.

Gingermansion, you look so good.