Maeve and Lilly

Saturday morning we headed out to get our tree. We went to Smokey Hollow Farms in Poynette where they give hayrides pulled by some of their spectacular Belgian Draft Horses. After sucking down some hot cider and stuffing the tree into the Pilot, we headed home. Although Lisa claimed it was scraggly, the rest of us thought the tree turned out wonderfully. After I wrapped the lights and ribbons, the girls helped me hang the glass balls. I lifted Maeve up to put the angel on the top of the tree and then lifted Lilly to put the crow looking up the Angel’s skirt. We stood back to admire our handiwork and Maeve declared it “gorgeous.”

We took a ride down to Galena to spend Thanksgiving with my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Darrell. My cousins and all their kids were there so it was barely controlled chaos; there seemed to be all sorts of games and intrigue going on downstairs in the basement playroom. Us adults didn’t have to intervene too much.

After dinner, we went on a hayride (my Uncle pulling a rickety wagon around the property with his pickup). Maeve was all excited at first but didn’t really like the bumps. “I don’t like the bumps; I don’t want to be on the hay ride.” After the hayride, Lilly and took the go-cart out for a spin. Lilly loved it; every time I looked at her, she was grinning ear to ear. Maeve, on the other hand, didn’t want anything to do with it.

Lilly had some sort of allergic reaction to Maeve’s comforter during the night. We had brought it from home and didn’t think about the fact that our cat Wilson sleeps with Maeve every night. Lilly apparently was reacting to the cat hair and dander. Once we got her away from the blanket and sitting up a bit, she was able to breath easier.

The morning was clear and cold and Lilly insisted on another go-cart ride before we left. She squealed with delight when we got air a couple of times and didn’t want it to end. Maeve decided she did want a ride this morning as long I promised to drive slowly just on the driveway. Within two seconds, though, she was urging me to “go faster Poppa.” She did find it extremely exciting to go over the narrow bridge crossing the stream. We packed up the rosy-cheeked girls and headed back to Wisconsin.

Out of the blue, Maeve asked me “What’s coal?” Surprised, I asked “why?” “Because that’s what Santa brings you if you’re naughty.” After quick consideration, I answered, “basically a dirty rock.”

Lilly asked me this morning why some kids spit out the bus window. I told her that they probably think it’s cool. “Why is it cool?” she asked. I told her that because teachers and grown ups wouldn’t like it, some kids think it feels like they can do anything they want; you know, get away with something. Lilly thought about for a minute and then made her assessment: “That’s just being naughty, really.” She really is an angel. Care to speculate on what Maeve’s take on it would be?

Lilly wasn’t feeling well Saturday. By Sunday she had a fever, sniffles, and a hacking cough. Lisa wasn’t feeling well either an the whole crew called in sick for Sunday School and Irish dance lessons. Monday Lilly wasn’t any better and she had to miss her field trip to the IMax theater. Tuesday, she went to school claiming she felt a little better. Lisa left work early (network connection was down so she decided to work at home) and called to see how Lilly was feeling. She wasn’t well so Lisa ended up picking her up and taking her home. Lilly told her that she had thought about going to the nurse’s office because she felt so lousy, but didn’t because she knew Momma had a busy day. Poor little thing. Wednesday morning she woke up coughing again, but seem much better (her eyes were clearer anyhow) and she agreed to give school another shot today.

“Next day” = tomorrow
“Last day” = yesterday
“Pinky square” = pinky swear
“Heh-BAN” = headband

At dinner tonight, I told the girls “Poppa has to play a rock show tonight.” Maeve looked at me and said, “Poppa, you’re going to rock out…” Then after a short pause she giggled …”dude.”

Lilly was a black cat this year. More of a cat-girl sort of thing than an anthropomorphic cat with a furry-eared headband, a matching bow tie and tail, and cat-eyed sun glasses. Maeve was a princess when she went to daycare, but by the time we went trick-or-treating, she was Barbie.

Maeve was cracking us up she was so excited to be out trick-or-treating. She would run full-tilt from one house to the next, sometimes bushwhacking through piles of dried leaves, shouting “I want to press the ding-donger.” The ever-sensible Lilly kept telling her “Maeve! You don’t have to run. They’re not going anywhere.”

We ended the night at out neighbors the Roberts for our annual Halloween mini-party where the girls got presents and ate too many treats. Back at home the girls had to choose enough candy to fill a ziplock bag and donate the rest to the Great Pumpkin. (The Great Pumpkin comes every year to collect the leftover candy for children who didn’t get any and in return leaves a dollar. What? You never heard of that?)

I asked Maeve why her room was always a disaster area. I pointed out that Lilly always keeps her room very neat. Maeve considered me for a moment and then demurely (and a bit coyly) responded: “But Poppa, I’m just a little girl.”

On a hike in Door County, I pointed out to the girls that ferns were some of the oldest plants on earth — they were around when the dinosaurs were. Maeve asked “are dinosaurs still around?” I replied that they were extinct. She immediately shot back “because they didn’t take a bath?” It took me a minute…