12 days 'til Christmas....

First. as promised, a photo of the tree. I set it up in the library so that people can see it from the road:


Then, a funny picture from the "Saoirse is silly" collection. Here we are making meatballs for our spaghetti the other night. The girls actually both wear this piece of Tupperware around, Saoirse just happened to be wearing it this time. What I love about this pic, though, is that it captures how nonchalant it all is. Like it's a normal hat, not a really silly thing to be wearing on your head.


Chris and I took the girls out the other night to finish up some Christmas shopping. It is awesome to be able to shop for them without even trying to keep things a secret, since they don't understand what's going on anyway. While we were shopping, we stopped at My Urban Toddler, a place I've mentioned before. Usually we just shop there, I've never been brave enough to take the girls to the playspace alone. This time, Chris was along, so we tried it out. It was awesome, and now I feel guilty for not having tried it out before. It's set up like a little town, with an open space in the middle, a "road" running around it, and little stalls all around the outer ring that are different stations. There's a market, a library, a theater, a house, etc...each one filled with toys and stuff that go along with the theme. Here are the girls playing in the fire station:


Chris went to Cleveland yesterday to help his parents with some stuff, and I didn't feel like being cooped up in the house for over 24 hours with the girls, so we drove over to visit my parents last night. This afternoon we took the girls out sledding for their first time. Saoirse kind of liked it. Rowan loved it at first, until she tipped over rounding a corner and faceplanted into the snow.




And while we were in G.R., I saw a sign last night advertising that Kate Gosselin (of Jon & Kate plus 8) was signing books at the nearby Barnes and Noble. I already owned the book, and I thought it sounded like fun. So we stayed an extra night, and Chris drove over here this afternoon to join us. I was a bit nervous about going to the booksigning, because I had a bad experience at one in NYC. I know, dorky, right? Most people have bad experience stories about bars, or one-night stands, or vodka (well, I have one of those too, actually). But I have a "bad experience" story about a book signing. But I used to like the author Jodi Picoult. She wrote a couple books I really enjoyed, and I was reading most of her stuff for a while. It's nothing that's going to win any awards, you know, but it's enjoyable. Then she came to the B&N by our place in Manhattan, and I dragged Chris there with me. We sat through a reading, for her new (and pretty weak) novel. Then we stood in line for ages. And you know how when you're standing there in line, you're kind of thinking...what am I going to say when I get to the front? Well, the guy right before me told her while he got his book signed that he lives in Hanover, NH, went to Dartmouth, his mom sees her around town. (Apparently that's where she lives). I hadn't known that before. So I get up next, like 10 seconds after he says this, and I say, "Well, I didn't go to Dartmouth, but my freshman year roommate at Michigan was from Hanover." Kind of in a "what a small world" kind of way. Hanover isn't a very big place, I thought it was an interesting coincidence. She doesn't even look at me, says, "You don't have to try to impress me." Seriously. I thought I might punch her. I said, "Uhh...I wasn't trying to impress you. I went to Michigan, and I'm proud of it. I was just making conversation." Then she handed me the book she signed, and I left. And I have never bought, or even read, another one of her books. Was I being too sensitive? Chris laughed about me being so pissed, said he'd hate to get on my bad side. And he would. ;) But seriously, what a bitchy thing to say. So...I'm wary of meeting people that I like from afar.

But Kate was nicer, I had no trauma. I told her that I have twin girls from IUI ( as she does) and that because of her my husband is terrified of my "just one more." She laughed, said, "As he should be! Maybe he can learn something." And that was it. Okay, we won't be best friends, but I still like her. Here's a cheesy picture of me talking to her to prove that I'm not making it up out of some stalkerish psychosis. :)