Blessed Yule To All

We had a truly wonderful Yule this year and have picture to prove it. They are still on the camera though and won't be up for another day or two. In the meantime, here is an explanation of Yule, the winter holiday we chose to celebrate and some of my favorite Yule or Winter Solstice images. Info courtesy of Wiki of course. Images of Bubbaboy and Supertot running amok with presents and rolling in wrapping paper are imminent (and well worth the wait.)

The winter solstice occurs at the instant when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane from the observers hemisphere. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the winter solstice occurs some time between December 20 and December 23 each year in the northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and June 23 in the southern hemisphere, during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year, which is not to be confused with the darkest day or night or the day with the earliest sunset or latest sunrise.

The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days. How cultures interpret this is varied, since it is sometimes said to astronomically mark either the beginning or middle of a hemisphere's winter. Winter is a subjective term, so there is no scientifically established beginning or middle of winter but the winter solstice itself is clearly calculated to within a second. Though the winter solstice lasts an instant, the term is also colloquially used to refer to the full 24-hour period of the day on which it occurs.

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.^[2]

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still).

Yule Is Near

The boys' gingerbread houses and the winter berries jar Nate & I made with Adie & Ali. It's still growing! yay!!!



Nate's crown! I need to finish Ben's still. It looks better in person than in this pic, or maybe I just don't notice the crooked-ness of it in real life.


A bag awaiting gifting.



My favorite Yule presents to make this year. Super easy thanks to this pattern.
You may have to register with the site to see it but it's SO worth it and you don't get spam from them. So I've made 4 and have a 5th on the needles right now. They're much more vibrant up close and I can't wait to see what the receivers think of them.


Two pics because I really like them. Have I mentioned that?



Ben in front of the Yule tree.



The Yule countdown calendar from Nona.



Our Yule Altar.



Ben in front of altar.



Our sparsely decorated Yule tree - can you tell we have a toddler in the house?

Date Day

When Benny was the exclusive subject of all photos!

I'm certain I'll jinx myself by putting this out into the world but I'll say it anyway; Nate appears to be getting over his separation anxiety! Partially this is because, thanks to some miracle, Tim has realized that he can care for Nate by himself for periods of time and not jump out a window or run away from home as soon as I return. I say that with a huge dosing of love and complete empathy towards him - Nate is very attached to me and in the middle of the "Terrible Twos" which just took the whole attached thing to another level. He is fully capable of screaming his head off at decibles rarely reached by hyenas nevermind humans and is thoroughly irrational when it comes to any attempts at distraction or soothing. The fact that Tim is signing up for this assignment willingly and often makes me feel swoony for him all over again.

So, Tim's been encouraging me to go out more often and leave him with the boys so Nate gets used to me being gone a bit. This serves many purposes, mainly that I get to leave the house alone and breathe and think and just be ME not MainelyMama for a while but it also does a lot to help Nate realize that he's not totally dependent on me, or more accurately my breasts and I think it helps Tim's confidence as a father and makes the whole family unit function a bit better. So, yesterday Tim had to work for a few hours in the afternoon. Not a huge deal but for some reason (probably the ice storm that forced us to be locked up in the house for two days) the boys were wild all afternoon. Nate was just completely unruly, not even clingy or crabby, just defiant in every way possible. Not that I run a tight ship by any stretch of the imagination but he was just out to wreak as much destruction upon the house as possible while attempting to irritate his brother as often as he could as well.

While dealing with this I made an off hand comment as I'm known to do from time to time and I said, very calmly and simply as Nate dumped a box of crackers on the floor, "I'm going out all by myself for a long time once Dada gets home." I forget that Ben, unlike Nate these days, hears me pretty well and though his listening is selective his memory is not. So, the moment Tim came home - he was still standing in the mudroom taking off his shoes - Ben announced, "Mama's leaving for a while by herself." Tim and I got talking, the boys flitted in and out and I made another joke about how crazy Nate was being. Tim then forced me out of the house, in a very loving way, and insisted that I leave the house for a couple hours because I "really deserved it". (insert dumbfounded, yet grateful and giddy emoticon here)

I went out for two blissful hours and braved holiday shopping at Big Lots where I scored some decent deals on stocking stuffers and wrapping paper. Today's adventure was far superior!

Today, Tim and I got talking again about how things go when I'm not here and suggested that I take Ben out this afternoon and have some Mama and Me time and he'd hang with Nate. Now, Nate ended up falling asleep so he slept for most of the time we were gone, but Tim woke him up from his nap without an issue.

Ben and I headed out this afternoon in the hopes of finding a couple of presents for Dada and Nate. We did all right but the real point of the afternoon was to just have some time alone with Benny. It's not to say that we haven't had time alone since Nate's been born, there's always nap time and such but it's different to be out and about with Ben without distraction and interruption.

We ventured through two stores and then stopped for hot chocolate and cookies. The day itself wasn't that exciting and honestly I thought the highlight for Ben would be the game of Spies he played with a girl his age in the first store we went to, but to my surprise he really liked just being with me alone. We got to talk at the table as we shared sweets and he didn't have to share with Nate to prevent a tantrum and I was able to carry my tea without worrying that it'd be knocked over by reaching hands. Our conversation centered mostly on trying to figure out what Tim had gotten each of us for Yule. Ben knows that Tim ordered his presents online and that I know what they are and I thought that Ben knew what Tim had ordered for me too but it turns out he doesn't. We also had a lively discussion about Zombies and why the moon is so bright tonight. When we got home he was eager to tell Tim all about our time out and he said twice tonight, without prompting of any sort, that today was really fun and he liked "being all alone with just Mama." Huuzzzzaahhh! My hear melted and I felt both triumphant for being a success in his eyes today and a bit like a loser for realizing that it's been two years since he and I have gone out and done something together without anyone else. That's a very bad combination of emotions by the way and I do not recommend it if it can be avoided.

I'm hoping to make this Mama & Me time more of a regular occurrence. I think it's really important for Ben to still have that one on one time and for he and I to bond and stay connected. I'm so happy that we have two kids and that Ben will know the joy and despair of having a sibling, but it's nice to have some time alone with him too and remember what it was like when it was just us. Our attempt next week may be a movie but with Yule falling on Sunday we may put it off another week. We're hoping to be too busy playing with our new gifts to want to leave the house.

It's a Mystery

Nate has been up the last few nights and I can't figure out why. He's had a low grade fever since Sunday but no cold symptoms so my first suspicion is that we're being haunted by the infamous two year molars. I have no evidence to back this up though. I'm waiting to see what happens, my money is that it is the teeth but now that I've said it outloud I've probably just invited the plague over for a vacation at our place. blah!!!

Forest Fridays

We had our first Forest Fridays this past week. Thanks to our friend Alyssa who pulled this all together and got us organized and out into the woods. The idea for this came from an article in Mothering magazine about Kindergartens in Germany & Switzerland that are located outside. The entire kindergarten day is held outside no matter the weather, with free, unrestricted play. The only rules being that the children have to stay within a certain distance of the teachers and not wander off. The article is entitled Forest For A Classroom and it's in the November/December issue of Mothering. It's not online or I'd link to it for you. We're hoping to make this a regular thing so look for more pics from Forest Fridays!





Mamas and babes setting out! Big kids are already way ahead!




Nate at the head of the trail. He looks a bit confused about the whole premise.



Nate was very proud of this find.



Jaimee & Lily (hidden in the coat) and Anne & Callie!





Ben & Henning exploring a frozen puddle. All of the kids were really interested in the ice that they could see in puddles and the streams leading to the pond.



Nate playing in the same ice puddle pictured above.




Nate leading the way with Jaimee, Lily, Alyssa & Elijah.




Ben at the beginning of the trail.




Ben & Henning waiting for everyone else to catch up. They didn't have babies/toddlers to wear.


Heading back home....

Photo Post

Because I want to blog but am too tired to write so I give you pictures instead. Enjoy!


Natey-Roo on the swingadoo.


Benny on the swing, this is picture attempt #5, as you can tell by his expression. He was a patient kiddo, the camera is just old and the delay is pitifully long.



MainelyMama thinking "What? You guys want to stay out here longer?" See the furrowed brow - I was shocked that my boys wanted to stay on the freezing, windy playground but they did.



MainelyDada - sporting his new LFG hat. Anyone know what it stands for? My bet is Adventure Uncle will but that none of my friends or family will. Am I right?

Ch Ch Ch Changes

We're all adjusting to a new schedule here thanks to Tim's work one changing. So far it's been pretty decent, but we're only on Day 2 so I'm trying to be realistic about it. The boys both think it's "Awesome!" because they stay up later and I'm a sucker who lets them watch movies and have snacks at 11pm etc. That said, the real reason any of that happens is because I'm not adjusting to the schedule change well and I need to do whatever I can to make it to bedtime.

Soooo, my approach tonight is to let the boys stay up as late as they can. Obviously if they ask to go to bed I'll let them, there are no caffeine drips or toothpicks involved in my methodology. At the moment, it's 11pm and both boys are wide awake watching Wall-E and chilling out, but awake, remember they're awake! My hope is they will conk out by 12 and then sleep until 10am but we shall see. A mama can dream right

Last night, Night 1, Ben went to bed about an hour later than usual. Nate went to bed at 12. he then woke up at 4am and stayed up until 6. Ben woke up at 8:30 and attempted to wake up the entire house at 8:30, including Tim who had only been sleeping for a few hours. Oh, and Ben succeeded in waking Nate up and myself so I've been running on low energy all day. We did have some fun last night though and here are some pics of that adventure. the boys were dancing to the lovely tune "I Like To Move It" courtesy of Madagascar.


Dance Machine





Too tired to dance.


Boogie Brothers



They Like To Move It!


Singing Along