Saturday, November 27, 2010

Back with a festive vengeance

Wow, I didn't even recognize my blog it has been so long!  Did I mention we had a baby in April?  I guess I covered that one.  It just seems like right when I have the urge to write in my blog, someone calls me to wipe or I decide I want to make cookies instead or look on amazon.com for stuff...you know I am doing the amazon prime free trial for the 3rd time in a year now?  You'd think they'd stop offering me free trials but as long as that's an option, I'm not committing to a full membership!  Plus I spend a lot of money on amazon so I should almost have that free 2-day shipping automatically anyway!  I do like them.

Well- the kids are back in school, of course, a couple of birthdays have been had- Anika is 9, Olivia now 5.  They were as fun as ever.  August is a pretty good month to have a birthday. Outdoor parties rock. Halloween was a rainy-snowy blast but we still got treats so all was well.  Sam went as Sam, which still got him treats so why would he do it any other way?

All my kids want pillow pets for Christmas, but Sam already knows how to use his woofy as his pillow.  Nothing like sleeping on a nice hard floor with the warm sun beating down on you.  Anybody got a sing-a-ma-jig?  I didn't know I wanted one until they all sold out and are supposedly the hot toy of the season.  I want the hot toy!  I think!

Dyl reaching out to grab our beautiful tree.  Isn't it awesome?  We got it after Christmas last year and it is a tall beauty!  We decorate the day after Thanksgiving.  I wouldn't mind decorating as soon as the first snow hits, though, as long it's after Halloween.  The longer the Christmas feeling is here, the better, right?  I felt bad that as we were getting out all the Christmas stuff I was thinking about how soon we would have to put it away and how that stinks big-time.  One of the best days of the year: putting up Christmas.  One of the worst: taking it down.  We got to make December last longer, or put up the tree in September.
My good parents are on a mission in Boston, MA.  We miss them and hope they are adopting that Boston accent.  I'd love that!
Thanksgiving was fun. The best foods are: stuffing, cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes, all on your fork at once.  Every year we do a thankful jar where we all write what we're thankful for.  Like Megz mentioned in her blog yesterday, the kids can come up with awesome spellings for stuff.  Like Isabelle (6) wrote above, she is thankful for "lecktrisity".
Isabelle wants to document her smile void of many teeth. There it is!  Her birthday is coming up and maybe considering how often I blog now I should just write how much fun we had Christmas and that Santa brought the best toys. Sam turned 3 on Groundhog Day and successfully potty-trained himself with his McQueen potty. Everyone loved the green pancakes on St. Patty's..but don't worry about all that- go enjoy some John Denver Christmas music and some fudge!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Exotic vacations and other Hampton-like experiences



Oh my.  What haven't we done this summer?!  Holy cow....it's been AMAZING.  May.  First we needed to get the baby blessed before our world travels, so we had to dress up.  Kind of a hardship, but we managed.  A picture wouldn't be quite as true to life if someone wasn't in tears. 



Dining with the beautiful blonde European cousins Memorial Day and feasting on exotic beef sliders, some bunless...




Rock-climbing the Himalayas..a decent workout I s'pose.


                                     
The babe having his first modesty lesson.  Sometimes you get unwanted modesty lessons in your homeland. Who cares if my kid has a sleeveless shirt or dress on?  As they get older they'll figure things out for themselves (and I'll help them along if they have skanky tendencies) but for now, it isn't a huge deal to me.  I won't do bellies; I think that is something the mother wants to show more than the kid, but a little shoulder or leg doesn't hurt nobody and it doesn't scream showgirl to me either.  So CHILLS OUT you Mormon Modesty Nazis!

 ---back to lighter issues--





Our trip to the Hamptons.  Oh yeah.....that's what we like.  Who doesn't want to take the whole summer off as a family and go stay in your beach retreat?  Well, after much convincing (because I wish I could just spend the afternoon in a hammock- but I am too busy planning all my dinner parties) I got A and I out there with their books and pillows and lemonade.  That's the life.  The summer life.  Oh, and look closely at that huge, flourishing garden that boasts maybe 2 tomatoes and 3 zukes.  Poor suckers ferociously trying to survive despite their greatest obstacle in life: me.



Summer isn't complete without swimming in the pure blue ocean.  Look closely and you might see a dolphin or two.


Teaching the kids to make the big bucks was something on my educational summer agenda in-between travels, along with workbooks that are slooowly getting themselves done.  Look at Anika and her friend workin' the system.  You should try this!  Mix 1 koolaid package with 1 cup sugar, and then funnel into straws, stapling the bottom first.  Homemade Pixi Stix!  You can easily scrounge at least 25 cents per stix from the 6 and up crowd, and maybe a dollar from the under 6 group who are most unsuspecting and sugar-hungry.  Just make sure they don't tell their parents where their allowance is going.  


And last but not least, when travelling the world you may see some sights that might leave you feeling a little uncomfortable, and the kids feeling confused. Like this cross-dresser.  What can you say other than maybe everyone wants to look pretty once in a while?  Who doesn't want to wear a fancy sparkly skirt or don fun flowing hair at least once before they die?


Besides all this non-stop action and culture we also met up with the well-bred Northeastern family for a few fun weeks in July. We also enjoyed a family reunion full of good folks and quality fun and now are enjoying the idea of the recently hyped "staycation" after all that crazy summer fun.  Dang, it's good to be home!!!!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Infrequent blogger

I don't really want to become one of *those* bloggers, you know the kind that only post once every two months? There are gaps in my life that you won't ever know now, and I'm sorry about that.

Truth be told you haven't missed much. The last month or so I've just been whining about being 8-9 months prego and trying to scrounge up enough sympathy from Russell and the kids so I could have excuses to lay around at night and watch tv and eat the rest of my cadbury mini-eggs (I only have about 10 left, sadly, but they are still selling them on ebay if I feel the urge).

But now that the babe has emerged into this world, I must introduce him.




Baby Dylan
He is a sweet boy born on April 17. He was 6 lbs 10 oz, but at the rate he's eating he should be a few pounds more by now. It's kind of interesting what his body decided to focus on development-wise in the womb. It was important to his genetic code to grow a head full of muppet hair, yet his code didn't worry that it forgot to send hair to the eyes for lashes and brows. And why not pad the bum a little bit if there's time during those 9 months? But hey- don't get me wrong; I'm not dissing the cute boy. His body rocks and so does mine for housing him. His brows can grow out here in the open air just fine. And I've got eyes- I just need to take a look at the male family tree and realize a tush is not in the future for this little guy.


I'm shielding baby D from the unrelenting paparazzi that are always hounding my family and me. Leave us alone! I know we're adorable and super-exciting, but you gotta know when to let kids be kids.

Isn't it great that we all can fit on a bed and watch shows on the laptop? It's Kipper the Dog. I have never seen that show before, but it seemed to please. That, or the mesmerizing glow of any children's brainless programming.

So that is our happy news. Spring has sprung and so has my baby.


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Goings and Comings and candy reviews



We made it through January, and now February is almost over. Hallelujah! Once we got Valentine's Day out of the way, the stores really got down to business. And here we go, once again. Easter candy joys. I already blogged about Cadbury Mini-Eggs and Reese's PB Eggs last year, so I guess I have to come up with some new material. Coconut Hershey's Kisses are really quite good! And in a fun bright blue wrapper! I know they have come out with coconut M&M's but I haven't seen them yet. I'm excited. As for non-chocolate treats, these jelly beans by SweeTarts are the only way to go. I am not a jelly bean person, mostly because the flavor on the inside doesn't go very far. But with SweeTarts, they give satisfying flavor the whole way through. And the flavors are tasty. None of that generic lime and cherry nastiness from other jelly bean brands.

Happy Birthday on Groundhog Day, Sam! Out of all his real birthday pictures, I just had to go with this one, because it is so true to him. Don't you just want to kiss his smoothie-laden face? Ok, maybe just me. And don't you wonder when he's going to finally eat that macaroni on his chest? You know I wasn't going to take it off, because it brought me great satisfaction every time I saw it still there.

Oh Isabelle....she wore that diaper (don't worry, unsoiled and remaining unsoiled) for a few hours just to be fun. I encourage my kids to be creative and regress every once in a while back to babyhood.

And part of regression that we need to fix...oh well. He gives more than he takes, which is the balance we all strive for in our relationships, right?
Thanks to Sam I am learning a lot of things I never knew or cared to know. Like all the kinds of building equipment. Trains. Tractors. Cars. YouTube has some awesome excavator and garbage truck clips. Thanks to you Samuel, I am becoming truly well-rounded.

Now on to March!


Friday, January 8, 2010

Why Christmas should be Jan. 25

I have been doing a lot of thinking this new year. I was reading a You book, and one of the suggestions to ward off Alzheimer's is thinking of things in a new way. For example, when you take a shower don't turn off your brain; think of the individual trickles of water beading on your leg. Keep that mind activated! Even though the ability to numb your brain seems like quite a talent in its own right. Moving on.

So during my deep thinking, I really decided I don't like January, and so many people don't, yet we rush December like it's on perpetual stimulants and need it be?? No! Therefore, I motion to move Christmas to January 25~! If there is one thing that government can actually accomplish, maybe it could be this easy switchover? Here are my reasons:

  • not enough time between Thanksgiving and Christmas! Let's actually enjoy our decorations for more than a few weeks. Also, more time for all dem eggnog parties and maybe caroling will come back into vogue if we have time for such frivolities.
  • Valentine's Day will get the time it deserves, which is no more than 2 weeks.
  • Christmas spirit will have time to be earned, not faked
  • time to listen to all those good carols, watch all those Christmas videos
  • more time to make all those holiday goodies!
  • January will be more enjoyable, having Christmas marked on its 25th day, and December will begin slowly and surely.
  • No more Black Friday taking the steam away from Thanksgiving.
  • Greater likeliness of a white Christmas in January than December
  • I will have a little more time to refresh my wishlist between my December birthday and Christmas
  • once Christmas is over the end of January, it will feel like we only have a little bit of winter left before Spring!
So aren't those great reasons? I thought so. Here are some of my highlights during the fun month, yet somewhat rushed month of December 2009:

Above- celebrating my Dad's big 7-0. He totally looks and acts 40.
Below- Sam loves brushing his teeth...sometimes I'm negligent and I just stay out of the bathroom and hope one of his sisters is brushing for him. As it usually goes, he takes care of himself. Independence isn't bad for an almost 2 year old, right? I'm sure he is brushing very thoroughly.


We celebrated Isabelle's 6th birthday on the 22nd. It was a fun day!

Megz tried to take over the party by initiating charades while I was still shoveling lil smokies into a few of the more hungry party-goers mouths.
Making marshmallow pops...who knew white and chocolate covered marshmallows with sprinkles could taste so good?
Christmas day was great. The kids enjoyed their apparel and toys.


So with all this, how do we make January a redeemable month? I have just one idea, and that is to go out and enjoy my Easter candy for this month and the following 3 months?