it was a great to have oma visiting!

we all had a wonderful time, especially the girls! maggie is young enough that i'm still not sure how she's going to react, but she was so excited to see her. i guess that shouldn't surprise me, the weekly video chats really do a lot keep the girls close with their austrian grandparents. the wonders of technology! we're very lucky. and nina of course is old enough that she doesn't need weekly chats to remember oma and opa, and she was equally thrilled to have her here. poor oma got woken up every morning though! it was nice to see maggie cuddle up next to oma too, because maggie isn't the most physically affectionate kid. sometimes she'll look like she's going to give grandma or someone a hug, and then she'll back away at the last minute, like she's changed her mind. she's a very funny child.

nina stayed home from school on the day oma arrived and on the day she left, to maximize her oma time. and that's fine by us, school is going well, but it's not like she's learning that much that she'll miss out by not being there.

we built a truly fantastic leaf pile over the course of a few days, and i took pictures, but i haven't gotten around to downloading them yet. but i will, and then i'll put them here (not on facebook, because we're wearing the funny bright green hats i made for everyone to wear during hunting season, and it's kind of embarrassing). ("mom, you're embarrassing!" nina said to me, followed quickly by, "what does embarrassing mean?" that one was a little hard to explain, so i fumbled a bit and said something like, "it means that i make you feel bad around other people because you wish i wouldn't do the things i do in front of them." "oh," she said, "you're not embarrassing then." woo hoo! i'm still not embarrassing! she should be embarrassed by my inability to define the word well. (dictionary.com does it well: to cause confusion and shame to; make uncomfortably self-conscious; disconcert; abash: His bad table manners embarrassed her. did you know about these alternate definitions? 2) to make difficult or intricate, as a question or problem; complicate. 3) to put obstacles or difficulties in the way of; impede: The motion was advanced in order to embarrass the progress of the bill. 4) to beset with financial difficulties; burden with debt: The decline in sales embarrassed the company.) who would have thought my blog could suddenly turn educational? maybe one day, when one of you is doing a crossword, you'll need one of these secondary definitions of embarrass, and you'll think of me.

well, that's it, i can't think of anything else. i am renewing my resolve to blog more regularly (it seems like i do that every other week these days). and to put up more pictures. in fact, i have 15 minutes before law and order: los angelas, so i'll be right back with another post and picture!