Charlotte flittered about and made up a long, winding story about being a homeless little girl. I decided to adopt her into my family. She was quite into the narrative.

Calvin held on tightly to his little Brio train car and did really well with the hills, divets, cracks, and bumps along our walk.

Calvin’s first steps were not that long ago–early October. He’s come so far already. Can’t wait to continue watching him take on the world.

On New Year’s Eve the girls asked me for a couple of sheets. They said they were making a tent, which is an activity they do with some frequency. But a few minutes later, I heard them using their fancy British accents and being super-polite so I knew that something else was up.

Evelyn created a gown for each of them from a queen sized sheet. Char is the bride, and Evelyn is the bridesmaid.

—–

Charlotte: “It tastes like hot dog but its name is baloney.”

—–

Evelyn was poking at her advent calendar. Me: “Evelyn, what are you doing?” Ev: “I’m just giving some of the little doors a head start because they’re hard to open.”

—–

Ev: “In my class last year that was a boy who was really short. He was about one and a half Calvin.”

—–

Char: “Can you get me a bucket?”
Me: “Does your stomach still hurt?”
Char: “Yes. But… it’s not about the food. It’s that my eyes don’t feel right, like I saw too much light.”

—–

Me, talking to myself: “Hm. Curriculum vitae.”
Charlotte: “What’s that?”
Me: “It’s a document with information about your academic work.”
Charlotte: “Oh. What’s on your ‘vit-ee’?”

—–

Workshop week at Evelyn’s school. Me: “How did you sign up for the workshops you wanted?” “I signed up for almost all of them. I wanted to sign up for making cinnamon rings, but then I saw them and they had way too much cinnamon. And I was like, ‘no thanks; I’ll pass on that.’”

—–

When I am perfectly accessorized, Charlotte gets jealous and says, “Mommy, you don’t have to look PERfect!”

—–

Driving down Main Street at 5:15. Me: “Look, there’s your school, Charlotte.” Charlotte: “Yeah, but Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Nichols aren’t there. They’re at home in bed.”

—–

Evelyn: “Can I have… can you pass… Char, can you pass?… Char can you please pass… Can you please pass the plate of pancakes? (Smiles) I don’t know what I’m saying!”

—–

Char, popping edamame pods open and dropping the beans onto her plate: “Everyone in town is having babies.”

—–

Child wisdom. Charlotte and I were talking about what items can be returned to the store and what items can’t. She said, “Sometimes you can’t take things back. You have to choose what you picked.”

—–

On December 22, Charlotte: “Mommy, can you add something to my Christmas list? An American Girl doll.”

—–

Evelyn: “Nitrogen is my favorite gas. It’s also my favorite liquid.”

—–

Charlotte, on Christmas Eve: “I can’t WAIT for tomorrow morning to open presents!”
Evelyn: “I can. I’m focused on enjoying this moment right now.”

—–

Evelyn: “Summer is a long way away.”
Charlotte thinks it over. Christmas is over and her birthday is past: “I can’t wait for summer.”

—–

Me: “We’re taking down the Christmas decorations today.” Char: “Not the tree, though. We can take down the little things.” Me: “When do you think we should take down the Christmas tree?” Char: “I’d say… June.”

—–

On New Year’s Eve: Me: “We have some cookies to make today!”
Char: “We also have some TV to WATCH!”

—–

We moved the girls back into the same room together. Charlotte: “Mommy! On Evelyn’s side of the room she wants vampire stuff, and on my side of the room I want My Little Pony.”

—–

Evelyn: “Washable isn’t an excuse, Charlotte.”

—–

Evelyn, playing Wii with her sister: “Charlotte, you’re the queen of catch-up.”

Loving the baby boys!

The girl cousins!

Zach, though sniffly, was so sweet and happy and tolerated all the love.

Here they are in front of the stockings:

The girls were very excited about the tree, being at home, Santa’s gifts… Evelyn said to me, “Mom! There’s a box that’s for me that’s just the right size for a sewing machine!”

And it was.

Calvin wasn’t into the photo op. But he was into opening a present or two.

—–

Ev: “In my class last year that was a boy who was really short. He was about one and a half Calvin.”

—–

Char: “I want to have a turn on the computer, please.”
Me: “Is your room clean?
Char, whispering: “I don’t know… and I don’t want to go check.”

—–

Evelyn was poking at her advent calendar. Me: “Evelyn, what are you doing?” Ev: “I’m just giving some of the little doors a head start because they’re hard to open.”

—–

—–

Charlotte: “It tastes like hot dog but its name is baloney.”

—–

In the car, the Christmas music station we were listening to was playing Delilah. She purred, “So stay tuned all night.” Charlotte: “I can’t do that. I can’t do what she just said to do. If I did that, I would be really tired tomorrow.”

—–

I just came across a little notebook Evelyn was writing in on Thanksgiving. It’s a lot like my journals–started with the best of intentions but incomplete. “We are getting ready to go to my Grammy and Grandpa’s house for a feast.” “We are now in the car waiting for Dad to fill up the oil tube.” “We stopped at a gas station.” “It’s another hour till we get there.” And that’s all.

—–

Evelyn: “The problem with Netflix streaming is there aren’t really that many movies that I’m interested in.”

—–

Calvin is walking around holding a red wall clock, kissing it and repeating joyfully, “CLOCK! CLOCK! CLOCK!”

—–

Char and Evelyn wanted some new colored pencils from the store. I told them we were not buying them today but they could think about it and come back if they wanted to use their own money for them. Evelyn, on the way home: “I want to buy them myself with my own money.” Char: “I’m going to ask Santa for them.” Evelyn, exasperated: “Oh come on. You shouldn’t rely on Santa for EVERYthing.”

—–

Cal, pointing at James’ Macbook: “Dada. No-no-no-no-.”

—–

Charlotte, watching Cal crawl between James and me toward the foot of the bed: “Calvin is travelling through the hot savannah toward the basket.”

—–

—–

I had a headache and asked Charlotte to get me a cup of water.
She brings one to me a minute later, and says, “Here you go. Just look out for the bug in there.”

—–

Charlotte: “Are baby fairies’ wings made of satin?”

—–

Charlotte, in the backseat of the car: “Awwww.”
Me: “What?”
Charlotte: “I’m holding a pretend picture of my cute new baby cousin!”

—–

Charlotte: “I want to meet Aunt Lauren’s new baby.”
Me: “Me too. I’m going down to meet him, but you guys aren’t because it’s just going to be a really quick visit and you’re all kicking colds around.”
Charlotte: “Awww.”
Me: “I know. You’ll meet him soon, though. Want me to take lots of pictures?”
Charlotte: “How bout just one?”

—–

Char: “What does infinity mean?”
Me: “It means without end, going on forever and ever.”
Char: “I wish that I had an infinity slide.”

—–

Evelyn: “I’m an alto. Then below that is a tenor. And above is sparta, which is really high.”

—–

Overheard: girls are on their own in the den. Thump, thump. Ev: “Would you stop that?” Char: “I’m not doing it!” Ev: “Okay. Whoever is doing that, can you please stop.”

—–

Evelyn: “Let’s play Rock-Paper-Scissors.”
Charlotte: “OKAY! I’ll be Scissors!!!”

—–

Ev: “Poke Char. It’s on my list.”

—–

Char: “Can we go to Garage’o's Pizza for lunch?” (Grotto’s)

—–

Charlotte: “I can’t wait to go snowball picking.”

—–

Me: “Yeah, so [this publication I love writing for] is not going to be printed anymore.
Ev: “MOM! You could just write another BOOK!”

—–

Jingle Bells came on my Pandora Christmas station this afternoon. Char, eyes bright: “Hey! Don’t we know this song?!”

—–

‎”Here Comes Santa Claus.” Char: “How can they see Santa Claus? He’s scarce.”

—–

Evelyn: “Char, I don’t know what you’re so scared of. It’s like you think Voldemort is coming out of our neighbor’s compost bin.”

—–

Charlotte: “I don’t want to be good. I want to be bad, because then I get attention.”

—–

‎”Here Come Santa Claus”: Evelyn: “Why does it say ‘so be good for goodness sake?’ Earlier in the song, it said ‘be good because Santa Claus comes tonight’. That doesn’t make any sense.”

—–

Evelyn, making a fleece tie blanket for Calvin: “I think making this quilt is easier than tying balloons!”

—–

Charlotte: “I LOVE the Earth.”

—–

Me: “Evelyn, do you want me to come to your school’s Thanksgiving feast tomorrow with Cal and Charlotte?”
Evelyn, looking down shyly: “If you come, I can’t sit next to my friends.”
Me: “Well, what if we didn’t sit together, and you sat with your friends, but I still came?”
Evelyn: “My teachers said we have to sit with our family if they come.”
… Me: “So you don’t want us to come, because you want to sit with your friends?”
Evelyn nods.

—–

I just finished making a huge double batch of chocolate chip cookies with Evelyn. Me, making a teachable moment: “So, when do you think it is easiest to wash the dishes after baking?” Evelyn: “During regular working hours.”

—–

Me: “Is it possible to die from terrible sleep?”
James: “Yes.”
Charlotte: “But I’m still alive!”
James: “That’s because you’re young.”

—–

Char: “Evelyn says she has an imaginary friend, and when I sit on the edge of her bed, she says I’m sitting on her friend. But I’m NOTTTT! There’s nothing THERE!!!”

—–

Charlotte is full-on reading. At the grocery store: “Here, Mommy, I want some decaf spiced chai. And this one’s your favorite,” holding out a decaf spiced chai and an Earl Grey.

—–

Me, talking to the girls, who are playing outside: “Yes, so we’re going to go to Lowes to get some garland and lights, and we’re also going to get our real tree, and we’re going to have a mini home Thanksgiving dinner.” Charlotte: “Yay! and can we put on our swimsuits and jump around in this,” she says, twirling the sprinkler and hose.

—–

Having a really nice conversation with Evelyn, I stopped and said, “Evelyn, I just can’t believe how grown up and mature you are.” Without missing a beat, Ev replied, “And I can’t believe that you have metal fillings in your teeth.”

—–

Cal is playing with the phone. Char: “Oh, no. He might dial 1-9-9!”

—–

Char: “There are 12 candy canes. I don’t think that’s enough to last through the whole winter.”

—–

I was showing the girls how to see things on Google Maps’ Street View. We looked at our house and some friends’ and families’ houses. Charlotte: “Ella and William don’t even know that we’re looking at their house, do they?

—–

Evelyn, knitting: “I started with 10 stitches and now I’ve got about a thousand. This is not going to look good.”

—–

Leaving to go get our Christmas tree, Charlotte: “We need to put a sign in front of our [yard ornament] snow man that says ‘Don’t STEAL THIS.”

—–

Charlotte: “Me and [a kid in my class] don’t get along.”
Me: “Oh, why not?”
Charlotte: “Because we were fighting over the sensory corn. She said she had a better pile of corn than I did. I told her that you’re not allowed to say that, but she didn’t apologize. Then the teacher came over.”

—–

Evelyn: “I can’t believe it’s finally Halloween. I’ve been waiting all year long for this.”

—–

We passed a bloodied princess trick or treating.
Charlotte: “I don’t know who that was.”
James: “Well of course, we’ve passed a lot of people we don’t know.”
Charlotte: “No, I don’t know who that costume was.”

—–

Evelyn: “That witch has a green Scoopy-Do nose.”
earlier–Evelyn: “Who wants to be Justin Beaver for Halloween?”

—–

Charlotte: “Give me that computer, or else I’ll cut my hair. By MYSELF!”

—–

Me: “Evelyn, what are you saving for?”
“Nothing. But allowance comes in handy.”

—–

Ev: “Can we go to Longwood?”
Char: “But all the flowers will be molted!”
Ev: “Yes, but every season, the outside has something beautiful to show.”

—–

Charlotte left a cup of water in the car overnight. “Wow! This water is really cold! It’s cold as a penguin’s world!”

—–

Just had the first of what she’s sure will be many electronic file emergency retrievals. Ev: “MOMMMYY! I deleted the WHOLE FILE.” Bursts into tears. Me: “What happened?” Ev: “I suddenly saw a CHINESE symbol and all the words were GONE!”

—–

Charlotte: “Uh. Turkeys are big. Kind of too big to eat.”

—–

Overheard:
Charlotte, looking at the calendar: “Ooooooh Daylight Savings Time today!”
Evelyn: “Charlotte, it’s not anything special.”
Char: “What is it?”
Ev: “It’s a stupid time when adults shop for whatever they want and they don’t have to pay for it.”

—–

We’re really getting in the swing of the holidays around here. Calvin and I were just treated to a kid-created Fall Festival in the backyard, complete with haunted hayride, scary play, fortune telling, and Charlotte popping up from various hiding places yelling “BOOO!”

—–

Charlotte, laying on the ground with her legs in the air, describing what she wants for Christmas: “I would like one of those dramatic babies that cry when you put them in their cradle.”

—–

Me, looking at Charlotte’s rainbow colored cuteness: “Charlotte, you are the cutest little girl gnome.”
Charlotte: “Don’t say that. Why are you saying that?”
Me: “Because gnomes are darling. They are so cute, and so are you.”
Charlotte: “Not as cute as a MOUSE!”

—–

Me: “Calvin, do you want an egg?”
Char: “I don’t think he can tolerate eggs.”

—–

After playing animal pretend in the backyard with Charlotte for a while, we come inside. Charlotte: “I want to go back outside and play with you!” Me: “I don’t really want to be a deer mommy anymore.” Charlotte: “Okay. How about you’re my deer babysitter?”

—–

Char is hitting a balloon up into the air, wearing sunglasses, and proclaiming, “It’s a GREAT beach day!”

—–

Ev: “There was a snake in my school’s trashcan.”
James: “When I was a kid, there once was a black snake in my basement, and my dad killed it with a shovel.”
Ev, incensed: “Why!? Why would you kill it? They’re just geckos without legs!”

—–

I have a headache and asked Charlotte to get me a cup of water.
She brings one to me a minute later, and says, “Here you go. Just look out for the bug in there.”

—–

Charlotte: “Are baby fairies’ wings made of satin?”