Our Normal

We have a new tradition in our house.

It's not necessarily about family in the broader sense like so many other people this time of year, but our family.  We live 800 miles away from the rest of our family and refuse to trek to Chicago for the week. It is ours, it is our girls.

It is a little bit maddening.

We've come to the realization that we need to do something, ANYTHING, to get us out house when the rest of America tucks away into itself. And so, we started a Christmas Eve trip tradition, and went to Hershey Park.  Bet you didn't know they were open in the middle of winter, huh? Let me tell you, they are and it is awesome.

Hershey's Christmas Candylane is a must on our holiday agenda now. At least until the girls out grow the type of ride that can function in the middle of winter.

But really, does anybody really outgrow Peanut Butter Cups?

Christmas Sparkle

We made Christmas cards yesterday.

Gifts for the teachers, that they wouldn't feel obligated to keep forever and if they did at least it is easy storage. Plus, it's the added bonus of something to put cash in and so I don't feel like we didn't try to be creative.

The girls absolutely loved it though, and they turned out so cute.  It was actually an exercise in giving up control for me too, but in the end it was awesome.  I'm so glad I just took a step back and let them do their thing.

They turned out perfect.

Tricks and Treats

The Fall is flying by. We once again seem to be trapped in a series of trigger events.
Wedding. Birthday. Hurricane.
And now, Halloween.

OMG Halloween. It is a sugar induced crazy fest. I am never sure if the girls are excited about Halloween, or if it is just sooo built up that they are thrust into the pseudo-holiday. Either way, we embraced it.

We carved.

We trick-or-treated.

We feasted.

And Grace has shown her true colors and will follow in my footsteps, much preferring to had out candy like the Soup Nazi ~ One piece for you! ~ instead of collecting herself. Clare on the other hand, would have 'Knock, knock, trick-or-treat'ed (her phrase to each candy giver, not mine) if it hadn't been so cold this year.

And both girls are already plotting next year's costumes.

Fall-ing

I love this time of year. Even with my new found allergies going crazy, I love it.

The girls seem to also. Yesterday was a good day. An outdoors kind of day. An enjoy this weather, because it doesn't get much more perfect than this kind of day. Particularly with Sandy giving us the eye.

So they rolled and played and laughed.

Then, they suited up.

Yesterday was the Trick-or-Treat on Main Street in our little town, and the girls got their first test run of Halloween 2012. For Clare, at 2.5 yrs old, this is her first real Halloween. The first time she is excited about the costumes and the candy. And after getting over the trauma of having to wear pants, she was game.

Their insect coordination of costumes was completely unintentional. Clare's bee costume was a recycle from Grace (with the same disdain for the antenna boppers), but Grace's was her new, much anticipated, blue butterfly costume. While the awesome mask wasn't part of the costume, the dress, wings and antenna were perfect. 

Now, let's just cross our fingers that the weather is clear for them to rock the costumes on Halloween. 

* Wholesale Halloween Costumes sent us the Ballerina Butterfly dress in exchange for the inclusion of the links you see above. Thank you! 

White (House) Christmas

Matt is always one for new adventures.

His latest started at the end of October. It was an ego boost of an adventure, for he was recruited. Was explicitly told that his name was one on a very short list of people that have their sought after skill set. It would be a commute heavy detail of six months, but would yield experience (and prestige) that would be unattainable any other way in his current position.

Plus, there seems to be other seasonal perks they forgot to mention.

You know, like making the list to receive a White House Christmas card.

Tree

I love our annual Christmas tree hunt.

I will buy a fake tree before visiting a pre-cut a lot. There is something about the smell of the pine in the air and the rush that indicates the start of the season that makes the whole ordeal worth while.

And it really is an ordeal. Figuring out proper shoes and clothing is a pain and I never seem to get it right. We always forget to bring our own saw. And the cookies sold in the barn were sub-par this year. (You know there is a problem with your sugar cookies when a sugar crazed toddler throws it on the ground.)

But, we hunted and we found. Clare was a helper and Grace once again absconded with my phone and took pictures the whole time.

And Gracie took what I think is one of my all time favorite photos of Clare.

Run Turkey Run

We went for a walk this morning. Some penitence for what would be coming later today.

Daddy, I like the hills!, she said. I think it would be a lot more fun for you if you ran down them. I will cheer.

So he ran.

Faster, faster daddy! Wheeeeeeeeee! Faster daddy, faster! I know you can go faster than that! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I am Thankful for a husband who loves his family more than he loves himself, and is willing to take a beating to prove it.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Capitol Fourth

When we do something, we do it big time.
(Sometimes I wonder if it is a fundamental fault of ours.)

Day trips turn into overnights with us all the time.

We live close enough to Washington, DC, to take advantage of the city semi-regularly. However, we live just far enough away from it to make it a pain in the ass to get to. When my work put out an all call memo a few weeks ago asking for volunteers to walk with our float in the DC Forth of July parade, I submitted my name. I never expected to be selected.

When I was, it turned into an all out adventure.

This was our day:



9:30 am: Start the trek to Washington, DC

9:45 am: Get a flat tire

9:50 am: Fix flat tire (*totally wanted to take pictures, but I knew that was a bad idea)

9:57 am: Drive to gas station to put air in the spare tire

10:15 am: Leave gas station, but realize that there is no way get there by 11am

10:50 am: Call parade organizer and announce late arrival

  

What says "America" more than an

inflatable Uncle Sam?

11:20 am: Arrive at parade

11:45 am: Walk in parade

12:00 pm: Wave at family as I pass by

 

I love the Where's Waldo quality of the picture.
Can you find my family?



12:30 pm: Find family in crowd 

 

Watching the parade march past.
My favorite? The gay cowboys.

1:15 pm: Load hungry, tired, pissed off children into the car

1:45 pm: Arrive at hotel

2:15 pm: Try to make tired, pissed off children take a nap

2:45 pm: Abandon the nap and go swimming instead

3:30 pm: Give the nap one more try

3:50 pm: Clare falls asleep, Grace goes with Matt to buy much needed wine

4:45 pm: Matt returns with wine and we drink ½ the bottle in 10 minutes

5:15 pm: We head to dinner

6:00 pm: We settle on 4th of July sushi and shumai

6:15 pm: Our children start fighting over chop sticks in a fairly not-child-friendly atmosphere

7:00 pm: We leave the restaurant leaving a wake of dumpling scraps and melting ice cubes

7:05 pm: It starts to drizzle

7:30 pm: We decide we’ve made it this far- if we get wet, we get wet- but we are going to watch the fireworks damn-it

9:00 pm: It never does rain more than a pleasant drizzle and over-tired meltdowns are kept to a minimum with a constant stream of ice cream, angel food cake and strawberries

9:15 pm: The fireworks start and the world comes to a standstill



The spectacular view from our hillside perch

9:35 pm: We load the girls back into the stroller

9:40 pm: They are both sound asleep

10:00 pm: We are all sound asleep

Christmas 2010

Christmas came and went in a flurry.

We hunted Christmas trees.

We decorated to the nines.

We talked about the true meaning of Christmas, although I will admit that most conversations ended with declarations that we needed to make a Happy Birthday cake for Jesus (that we would eat for him of course), but were deeply influenced by the promise of Santa and the bounty of his generosity.

We anticipated and prepared.

And the patience and deference to threats of lists with the names of naughty little girls was heeded, with a mighty pay off in the end.

And in the end, the magic of the holidays was spent with wonder, love and snuggles.

.

Planting Seeds

I know I am thankful - greatful - for all that I have most every day.

But if I have to choose one thing, my most Thankful thing, it is this:

The snuggles.

They are better than I ever imagined.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy 4th of July!

Artwork by Grace

Through Her Eyes

Mother's Day was a week late at daycare this year.

I was undecided as to whether I should attend with Clare (lots of germy, grabby hands in a two year old classroom), but I didn't want Grace to be disappointed that I didn't come. In the end she probably wouldn't have noticed- in a class of 12 kids only 2 other mom's came- but I guess I didn't want to be disappointed that I missed it either.

And I wasn't.

We made dragonfly clothespin magnets. (Somewhere during their journey home they lost their eyes and antenna.)

I was serenaded with You Are My Sunshine.

And discovered the paper plate portraits of me and Matt.



Matt was a little bit concerned about the thinning hair, but didn't voice the slightest worry that Grace made him a brunette instead of a blonde that matches her own hair color.

Sweet Nothings

To all the parents in Gracie's daycare class:

I AM SO SORRY.

I like to pretend I am nothing like my mother, but I know sometimes I fall directly instep with her tendencies. Like the one to go overboard.

When I think about it though, it really isn't MY fault. It is the daycare director's. And the 6 feet of snow we got. The combination of those two caused the daycare Valentine's Day party to be put off for a week. That means sales. Deep, deep going out of business discounts on heart shaped candy. And because of the snow, I hadn't actually purchased anything for full price in advance.

So this is what I walked out of Walgreen's with and will deliver tomorrow to school.....

Wait, you can't really get how BIG they are from this photo. How about this one?

Yeah, much more to scale. I knew they were very large heart shaped suckers when I purchased them. I didn't quite realize that they were the size of her face.

Or *ahem* 400 calories.

But I figure that after an hour and a few drops on the carpet / kitchen floor / on dog hair, they will be in the garbage anyway. So it's really only like 20 calories, right? Because there is no way any 2 year old could eat that.

Anyway, again I apologize. You have every right to hate me now.

Christmas 2009

This year, Christmas was a quiet event.

Sort of.

We prefaced the 25th with two prior weekends of Christmas exchanges while my mom and then Matt's and my brother visited. Despite having already opened a lot of presents before Christmas day arrived, things were still a little chaotic...

Making cookies for Santa....

Discovering that Santa not only brings presents, but food too....

Riding her much anticipated tricycle...

Testing out the kitchen gear received in her new kitchen...

The Christmas wrapping paper carnage...

Merry Christmas everyone!

Jingle Bells

Every year, my work has a plethora of holiday parties. Last year there was a lot of crying. This year went much better.

Don’t get me wrong, there were in fact tears, but they didn’t last long. When Gracie came into the lobby packed with strangers like a can of sardines, she was concerned but quiet. Until she saw me. Then she wanted to know why on earth she was still holding onto the baby rope instead of me.

The parties are deafening. Voices boom throughout the 3 story, glass walled lobby. The holiday music played on a piano in the lobby adds to the chaos. The guards’ desk in the middle makes for a formable obstacle for circulation. It is never a comfortable place to be. Now add 40 kids, ages 5 to 5 months to the mix. It sometimes makes me want to cry too. I think that is why they offer mimosas.

Luckily, Matt took a few hours to come down to the party too. He often feels deprived of these parent moments, and he remembered there was booze.

Because he was there though, he was able to hold Grace while I took pictures. He was able to sweet talk Grace into sitting on his lap near Santa. He was able to work that into Grace sitting on his leg next to Santa in order to get one of the toys he was handing out to the kiddies. Then, under that jubilation, he was able to coax her into posing for a few pictures near a tree.


And then, cookie and cat toy in hand, Grace happily retreated back to the safety of the daycare with her friends, forgetting to shed any tears. Matt retreated to the safety of his car and returned to work, shedding a pound or two in ‘holding a heavy child in a hot room’ sweat. I retuned to my desk for 5 minutes of quiet, until my next party started and the chaos began all over again. Even without the children.

Party, Minus the Aminals

When we moved into our home 3 years ago, I was hell bent on putting down roots.

Immediately.

Coming from a townhouse environment where the woman we shared a wall with wouldn’t even look up at me when I walked within feet of her, I wanted to know all our neighbors. I wanted to be friends. I wanted to love them and them us. (Three years later I am confident that the plan worked.)

A little over 30 days after we moved in we threw a party. That is the great thing about December, you can get away with things like that. We scrambled to clean and paint and organize. We spent hundreds of dollars on food and drink. We had fancy invitations printed. We went door-to-door and introduced ourselves to neighbors, personally handing out the invtes. We had the audacity to declare this an annual event.

This year should have been the 4th Annual. Notice the word should? Apparently a few of our friends have the 1st Saturday in December permanently marked on their calendar as our party day.

I went so far as to create the invitations, I just never hit the purchase button. This post wasn’t so long ago. It still stands in full effect. I am tired. Matt is tired. I just couldn’t comprehend spending the day cleaning and cooking and fretting and then cleaning all over again.

So no ‘Annual’ this year. I am sad, but relieved. Instead we decided to take this weekend for ourselves and head down to Colonial Williamsburg for the Grand Illumination. We are counting on fresh air and time away from our everyday to reset everyone’s clock.

But my big question is, next year are we still allowed to call our Christmas party ‘Annual’? And then do we skip right over 4 like it took place, so do we have to reuse this number because it is the 4th party in 5 years now?

Pilgrims

The tradition stands. Although we did push it back a little this year. Instead of the day after Thanksgiving tree pilgrimage, we did the day after the day after tree pilgrimage.

Here is our story:

Girl finds tree and directs its destruction:



Girl has second thoughts on tree and thinks on it for a minute:



Girl watches in glee as the sentence placed upon the tree and it is removed from the earth for her amusement and appreciation:

Thanks

I am thankful for family that welcomes us with open arms and unconcerned eyes cast towards the spots of bright red cranberry sauce mashed into their new beige carpet;

I am thankful for our healthy bodies and minds that let us live each day as we choose;

I am thankful for the opportunities that come our way through coincidence and perseverance;

I am thankful for the love and life we share with each other.

Halloween 2009

Halloween was .... challenging this year.

Gracie didn't want to wear her costume.

Gracie didn't want to say trick or treat OR thank you.

Gracie didn't like any costume that had teeth, including cutsie dinosaur heads on other toddlers.

Gracie didn't like any kind of head / face gear, including but not limited to: clown makeup, any kind of face paint, and masks both scary and cute.

We did however manage to snap a few pictures while she wasn't screaming or holding onto one of us for dear life. And then my camera started malfunctioning, so 1/3 are blurry and 1/3 won't download onto the computer even though I can see them *in* the camera.

This is what we are left with:

Our pumpkins.

Daddy pumpkin, Mama pumpkin, Gracie pumpkin and Little Ricky pumpkin. Gracie refused to touch the innards this year, so beyond decreeing we make 'happy faces' she had nothing to do with the process.

Gracie in costume and trick or treating.

Kind of. There was a death grip on fingers and a blatant refusal to actually take part in the act of trick or treating beyond acceptance and devouring of chocolate products.

Happy Halloween - let's hope 2010 is both more and less eventful.

Freedoms

This is what Gracie wore on the 4th of July. The dress just happens to be red, white and blue though. There is no American flag print. She's worn it a few times before today and will wear it again. I think. Maybe.

The last time she wore it though, something funny happened. We were walking out of daycare and two women who are part of the cafeteria facilities staff happened to be walking by too. It is quite common for folks to stop and ogle the children during the day, so the fact that they noticed Grace and threw isn't she beautiful comments my way didn't phase me.

It was what came after. One of the women, dressed in a black tube top and two pounds of makeup said, "Look at that dress. Isn't she sexy!"

I stopped dead in my tracks and pulled Gracie protectively up into my arms. I was so shocked, that I didn't say anything. They kept walking and were out of sight a few moments later.

Sexy? Sexy!? What did that lady just say? Sexy! Oh. My. God. She just called my baby SEXY! Am I a bad mother? Is this dress too revealing? I don't think so, but I guess it does have a thin strap. It is in no way low cut and falls well below her knee though. Sexy? Sexy!??

And so she wore this dress again on the 4th of July. It may be the last time. I need to see if I can get hearing someone call Grace sexy at 20 months old off repeat in my head in the comfort of my own home.

Freedom of Speech. Huh, I'm not so sure I am support of that right now. The lady just yelled 'Fire' in my movie theater.

What do you think? Because I keep going back to the fact that I find this dress adorable.