Thanksgiving

Between the many Corbin, Harmson, and Rudd 'Gatherings' we enjoyed a decadently long (but not quite long enough) visit with our Kirkland cousins, Philip & Joy, Nora, and Everly who all drove together from Philadelphia with Rachel, and Nicholas & Rebecca (We missed seeing Stephen and Hilda).
Having most of our family living close, we don't often get out of town visitors to spend the night at our little house. So we loved the happy noisy mornings...and the really late evenings (which lasted into the mornings) we spent story-telling, philosophizing, and laughing.

My mother's sister, Nancy (who is equally? fun, quirky, creative as her sister) also had three boys and a girl. So as we shared cousin stories we rediscovered how very similar our childhoods...and adult-hoods have been. But our families have always lived hours apart, usually in different states or countries. The one (or two) time(s) a year we did see our Kirkland cousins was full of offbeat, ingenious, uproarious merriment and usually produced some sort of fantastic video creation.
But we all grew up, went to college, and spread out...too far to see each other and too 'busy' to keep in touch. So getting the opportunity to get to know our cousins again (and all our spouses and children)...as adults was *really* fun.

And our children LOVED playing together...

Big Cousin Nora leading her band.

Maya and Everly looking to their "Drum Major" for musical direction.

A quieter cousin activity, reading time.

Maya and Everly....they shared the same due date, but Everly decided to come out a month earlier than Maya. They met once before, when they were babies...but this visit was the start of an intense new friendship.

Though the Maya-Everly hugs were plentiful over the long weekend, I never got a great picture of one with the camera.

Maya still asks if we should save a bagel or a snack for Everly...just in case.

Thursday:

Breakfast with our house-guests, then....
a quiet drive while the girls napped in the car.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Corbins.

Thanksgiving Dinner with Rudds.

Wild (and somewhat unsupervised) Cousin Fun

Friday:
Grandpa Andy's 90th Birthday Celebration.

The Harmson Thanksgiving at Cousin Sam's house.

Maya loves the attention of her very patient and doting cousin.... and all the dress up clothes!

And Sophia enjoyed being passed around to all her cousins, great aunts, and grandparents.
Someday, she'll know about her Great Aunt Jo's pie-baking talent.

It was one of those intensely-fun-but-not-quite-restful extended weekends that left us feeling happy, encouraged, exhausted, and very very Thankful.

And now...we're all excitedly anticipating the wonderful chaos of Christmas.

Very unique...

...but definitely sisters.

Maya & Sophia & Bampa
October 31, 2008

Maya & Uncle Daniel
October 31, 2006

I guess crawling is getting boring.

So...Sophie decided today to stand up. She was crawling towards her walker (which I just brought upstairs from the basement hours earlier) and I was across the room helping Maya get dressed, when I looked up... just in time to watch Sophie grab the top of her walker and pull herself up. She was so proud of her new ability. She even stood there...holding on with just one hand...(while chewing on a toy she held in the other hand) long enough for me to grab the camera and capture the moment on film. However, I don't usually post topless photos here (she was only wearing her diaper)....so you'll have to just enjoy the re-enacted photo version that happened later (when she was fully clothed).




...She's been happily growling a lot today too...I'm a little afraid of her strength.

She DID roll over on day 4.

Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother

sweet seven month sophie

Sophie just might be even more dramatic than Maya. She seems to savour extreme emotions. Wherever could that trait have come from?

When she is upset, her cry is heart-wrenching, her face conveying desperation, anger, betrayal, impatience, disapproval. And when she is amused or excited, her eyes shine and her delighted shrieks carry the exact sound of perfect happiness.

All other times, she is just plain loud. Yelling, babbling, grunting....waiting for someone, anyone to just look at her. If you are the lucky one that looks,... the smile you receive is (seriously) healing, pure contentment, wonder, love.

A few times this week, she's been waking up around 3AM... very unhappy, uncomfortable?, mad, hungry? Not fun.

Hopefully tonight is a peaceful one. Though I do kind of miss her, now that she's sleeping... I really need the sleep.

This video is from a couple of weeks ago (I might be 'stretching it' a bit to call this actual vocabulary development... but she DID say it:) ...she's actually crawling now too (you can see her eagerly rocking on all fours here)... a little unconventionally at times, and kind of slow, but definitely crawling.