Snow again...at last!

OK, I have to admit...the truth is that, in the photo series below, she is not crying so fiercely over the hat. I think she would have put up with the hat. It's a lovely hat, after all. A lovely, piratical hat!
No, the real problem is the Polaroid camera which mommy has been using (or, if you ask QQ, abusing) a lot lately.
She hates it. No...it's worse than that. She's convinced that the Polaroid is an instrument of evil. She thinks it's some sort of black magic in there...and one can hardly blame her. First of all, it makes a very loud and menacing sound when the flash goes off, and then-still grinding bizarrely-it issues from its innards a piece of paper. Not a normal piece of paper either - she quite likes regular paper - this is magic paper, and not the good kind of magic. This paper, strangely shaped and feeling a bit slimy, starts out a milky, swirly kind of white. It then proceeds to stream murky colors until, in ghostly parody, it produces her image.
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wrong on SO many levels.
So we took turns taking these two photos while holding and trying to reassure her. As you can see by the big tears trembling in her eyes, she was not convinced. Sigh. Maybe, with time....?

More QQ and Esme

Thanksgiving chéz nous

...a few photos from our wild, wonderful and chaotic Thanksgiving dinner at M's parents house. We were in Vail for the preceding days, which was a lovely break...although there was none of the snow I'd been hoping for. Sigh. Well...we're planning another trip closer to Christmas, and by then hopefully it will be a bit more wintry.
I haven't had as much time to write lately - I've been busy with other things. But, that happens sometimes. Life takes over. In any case...I have plenty of photos!
QQ bonding with cousin Victoria.
Being reintroduced to cousin Abigail (who was a tad more on the wary side this time around)
QQ definitely wanted to be a part of the action, and though she was occasionally bowled over by the chaos of the bigger kids, she is a tough cookie and was undeterred. The kid can hold her own.
A hug from Victoria.
Safe in daddy's embrace.
Susan and Rebecca cutting the turkeys.
Mommy and Q.

The whole fam-damily.
Q was a little wary of grandpa at first...she's had plenty of facetime with grandma since her first surgery, but has missed out on her grandpa time. All it took was a good dinner-bottle in grandpa's lap to jog her memory, however. After that it was all smiles and giggles.
M playing piano with the twins. He's definitely the popular uncle with the kiddos...though I think I noticed a bit of jealousy on QQ's face every time there was another child in daddy's lap.

Warming up to grandpa all over again. Look at that smile!
More piano practice with Abigail
...and QQ wants in on the action.
I don't think grandpa is going to have any trouble convincing QQ to take piano lessons. She's all about the pianos.

Some one-on-one with grandma.
It's good to share the holidays with such a thundering heard of little ones. That's kind of what the holidays is all about, isn't it? It was a delight to hear the twins talking in their twin language - I've heard of it before, but never heard it in person until now. It's a little like whalesong...fascinating and kind of beautiful! And to see Victoria and QQ really bonding for the first time. And it was really good to see QQ holding her own and nosing in on the action. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - in the orphanage, she would have had to make herself heard amid all those babies, defend herself and her toys against arms and feet reaching through the crib bars, communicate with her many roommates. It's only natural that she would be able to hold her own even in a roomful of bigger kids. But it's good to see. It was a delightful first thanksgiving with our wonderful daughter.