Merry Merry. Family Time

This is the kind of feel-good family movie that gets made at our house on Christmas day when Alek gets a nano complete with video camera.

Grahamberbread Houses

So, I'm shamelessly copying Susan's family tradition (thanks for the recipe!). We built and decorated grahamberbread houses today. Five participated. Not telling who did what. Just vote for your favorite in comments, please!

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Wah wah wahhhhhhh

I tried to post this from my iTouch last night because I was too lazy to walk up the stairs. Didn't work.

Today Walter said, "Look! A waffle!" while we were driving home from the grocery store.
Me: "A waffle?"
Walt: "Yes!!! A waffle. Look!!"
Me: "OHHHHHHHhhhhh. A waterfall!"

So why does he call waffles "wahckles" ??

Now.....'Tis the Season... That's What I'm Talking About

So, I thought, I'll get the boys their haircuts and then we'll dash over to see Santa. The line will be short late on a Tuesday afternoon.

I tell Nora first, and she becomes immediately inconsolable because I'm making her go see Santa and won't let her play. How does she articulate this through her closed second story window to her friend waiting below? "GO HOME RIGHT NOW! I can't play with you! Mom won't let me! GOOOO HOOOMMME!!! Mom says I'm not allowed to play with you!!" Nice.

The haircuts went fine. Took awhile, but it was fine. Except afterwards, Alek kept muttering, "I look different." But, he was okay, no panic. Just a little quiet. Nora was impatient and read nonstop aloud from her Rudolph story book. She read aloud at the salon. In the car. Through the mall. And really, considering that it was now 5ish, Walt was hanging in there.

Hardly any line. Oh. It's 5:02! Santa's dinner break is from 5:00 - 6:00. Niiiiiiice.

Food Court, baby. No problem. Taco Bell, baby. No problem. And really, I was thinking this wasn't so bad. The kids were only fighting semi-constantly. We'd eaten, and when we got back to the Santa line, we were only about 8 families back. No problem. 5:34.

By 5:38 Walter had literally leaned his head on a man's leg so that the man gave him a cookie from the bag of cookies he'd just bought his grandson from The Great American Cookie Company. Yeah.... then Nora and Alek had to be given one. Still. No big deal. Nice man.

By 5:42 I'd had to break out the iTouch and let Walter play MacDonald's Farm on it. And still, as long as no other kid glanced for more than 30 seconds at it, he only shrieked at them occasionally.

By 5:50 Alek started to complain that he didn't want to wait.

By 5:55 Nora had made friends with a cute 3 year old girl.... an only child 3 year old girl with a perfect outfit, perfect hair, and perfect mother. But they were playing very nicely. All was going well. 5 minutes more.

At 5:58 Santa actually arrived on time! Yea Santa! Line is moving fast, but Walt has pretty much lost patience, is uncooperative, and is running around and away repeatedly. Nora won't stop picking up the little girl, but no harm really. And Alek has begun to sulk and fret. As Walter runs wild, the woman behind me, a delight, actually, says, "You are a saint." My response? "I am in public. Don't kid yourself."

The line is humming though. We're almost home free. And then, I turn to put my eye on Nora.... She has just dumped two handfuls of fake confetti/glitter snow all over the 3 year old's perfectly coiffed head. Ummmm.... Her perfect mother is perfectly horrified. This prompts me to giggle. And the delightful sainting woman to laugh out loud and hard. Yeah, perfect mother still not impressed. Our turn!!!!! It's our turn!!! Escape is near!!!!!

Alek kneels. Nora poses. Walt kicks and fights me as Santa braces for him. Dump the kid, jump out of the shot. And yeah, baby. It's Christmas!!! Merry Merry!

Tis the Season

To get behind on everything including the blog.

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JOANIE!!!!! I have a card. I've had it since the day after Thanksgiving. Has it beem mailed? Nope. But I love you dearly. What are you now.... I'm thinking 45, 46?

So.... How many of you remember Alek's Lincoln obsession from this time last year? Yeah. Out with the old, people. This year we're in the 20th century and the assassination victim of choice? JFK. On November 22, 2009, I took Alek to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. That's right... on the 46th anniversary of the shooting. The siblings stayed with Granny and Grandpa. Daddy stayed home. It was just me and Alek. We had a great time.

Buying tickets....

Me: Two please. With audio.

Her: One adult audio and one child audio.

Me: Oh, no. Two adult audios.

Her: Are you sure? They're pretty detailed.

Me: I'm sure.

The tour through the museum....

Tap, tap, tap (Alek motions for me to turn off my headset for a moment.)

Alek: Mom, you know what they forgot to say? They forgot to say how Joe, Jr. died in World War II.

Me: Oh.... there was a fourth brother? I forgot about that.

Tap, tap, tap (Headset gets turned off.)

Alek: Mom, guess what? They didn't say how Jack Ruby brought his dog to the station that morning so they would get fed when he went to jail. And Mom, did you know that if Lee Harvey Oswald (ummm... I'm just going to call him Lee because I like that better.) If Lee hadn't asked for a sweater, probably they would have been gone before Jack Ruby got there, and he would have lived.

Tap, tap, tap (Off for the 725th time)

Alek: Mom, there was no other shooter. Modern computer simulations prove it. Conspiracies are silly. Old people believe them, not me.
Me: Yeah, well, tell that to the CIA, the mob, and Cuba.

Alek: MOM (huge eye roll)...

And rest assured, people.... really.... he's already started talking about Bobby. When he moves to Teddy, how do I explain Chappaquiddick to a third grader?

Doesn't your nearly three year old wear his Jimi Hendrix t-shirt after his Thanksgiving meal???

MASSIVE amounts of snow, people.

The Christmas Season begins.... Walter wanted me to take a picture of his "Sock."

This evening was Nora's Investiture Ceremony. She is officially a Daisy and officially a Girl Scout. Apparently a very tall Daisy Girl Scout.

Even she thinks she is beginning to look grown up. She looked at herself in the mirror last week, looked at me, and said, "I really look like a real girl now." Ummm.... well... you are.

Dude.... Cake. Daisies are okay!

It's Happening Again

I can't seem to get it together for long enough to blog.... but Katie Rocks. Check it out if you want to know what I've been doing.......

Katie said it best!

Yes, We Have No....errrrr.... ONE Banana!

Oh yes, I did.

Walter's Jack-O-Lantern

"The Cat"

Alek's Jack-O-Lantern

"The Rats"
Nora's Jack-O-Lantern
"Cat on the Moon"

Excellence in Parenting

The Power of Queso

Nothing Beetter

There is nothing better than being proven right. It feels good, doesn't it? You have to admit it. It feels great.

So on Thursday I was at lunch with Katie and Susan. And it was warm. We were outside. It was gorgeous. And there were bees. Bees buzzing here and there. On our glasses of tea and coke. On our kids' shirts. On the table. And "YA'LL," Katie is scared of bees. Katie's kind of unflappable. Believe me. I know this. But apparently, bees are too much. So Susan and I laughed at her. I told her bees die when they sting and they don't want to die! They want to LIVE! The bees were not being mean, just hungry and curious. Time and again, lunch was interrupted by bees. And each time I calmly brushed them off my cup or sleeve. Katie was nervous. But I was right. The bees were doing no harm. It feels good to be right. It does.

Then Walt got stung. Nice. In my defense, he stepped on it accidentally.

But Katie.... it had to feel good to be right. But you didn't let on. You didn't even say, "I told you so."

Always- Sometimes- Never (for Katie)

ALWAYS:
I always have laundry on the chair in my bedroom.
I always hit the snooze button TWICE.
I always wish I'd gotten up just ten minutes earlier.
I always wonder if I laugh too loudly.
I always find myself amazed at the power of friendship.
I always enjoy a great baseball game.
I always worry that I'm going to wake up in ten years and wonder how time has passed so quickly.

SOMETIMES:
I sometimes regret not spending more time outside.
I sometimes crave SPAM. Yes, nasty, salty, fatty, mysterious SPAM. And then half way through my SPAM sandwich, I ALWAYS wonder why I craved it... and then I throw it away.
I sometimes allow Katie to be a bad influence, and she makes me giggle in meetings. Serious, serious, preschool meetings.
I sometimes run a shirt through the wash a second time just so I can put it in the dryer again instead of ironing out the wrinkles it acquired sitting in same dryer for 24 hours.
I sometimes wish I were more thoughtful with my words.
I sometimes wonder if I will ever be able to sneak down the stairs late at night without waking Walter - my ankles pop pop popping wake him every time.

I NEVER:
I never manage my time well. (Katie... I didn't change this one. It rings too true.)
I never expected to like boot camp so much.
I never grew up to be a Major League Baseball player or a fighter pilot, and this still stuns me sometimes.
I never tire of Van Morrison, Reeses Peanutbutter Cups, or The Office.
I never want to go to bed early. I hate that.
I never thought I'd be blessed to have so many friends.

Another milestone...

Nora started Kindergarten. Since then, she's learned to use the word "embarrassing" as in, "If I have to take a blue lunch box, it will be SO EMBARRASSING, MOM!!!" She's learned to roll her eyes. Yeah. NICE. She's learned to play the "I hate you/You're my best friend" game with other kindergarten girls. She's even learned to have anxiety over the possibility of one day getting a "U" on an assignment (see my eye roll?). And then, this weekend, she learned to ride a bike. No more training wheels. Just like swimming in that sea of children at her "big kid" school, she's on her own on a bicycle. Time flies, people. It flies.

Finally - Amsterdam

So, some of you may know that I pulled a fast one this fall. Somehow I managed a trip to Amsterdam. My amazing mother agreed to watch the kids. My dear husband didn't say no. And my most amazing of friends (Sharon, duh) handled all of the most important details. And suddenly, I found myself on vacation in the middle of the school year sans kids. Without husband. Just the two of us and no schedule. It was the greatest and laziest of adventures.

Looking out our hotel window. We stayed in the heart of the city called The Centrum. We walked everywhere except to and from the airport and to and from Rotterdam. We walked miles and miles.... well, kilometers and kilometers. We wandered, really. Just wandered.

The black and white building marked a turn for us from the most perfect street containing a bakery and cheese shop (oh, and a minimart that sold very good apples - Sharon LOVES apples- and was run by a Lebanese immigrant who actually stepped between Sharon and I as we "argued" over a Black Eyed Peas song one night).

Bicycles. Really. Every person in Amsterdam has one. And most look to be 50 years old. And many are equipped with child seats. And most seem to be left unlocked. And at the train station, there is a three story bike parking ramp packed with THOUSANDS of bicycles. How do they find theirs? It seemed impossible to us.

These elephants dotted the city. They are to raise funds and awareness for the plight of the African elephant. They were lovely and became a common sight for us.


Some people (Katie) are disappointed that we didn't "DO" anything. We did! We visited the Rijksmuseum and viewed Rembrants and discussed the fact that every still life by any Dutch artist contained exactly the same strange spikey-stemmed glass. We visited the Anne Frank house, and no one who has read the diary should miss this. Honestly. It was heart-rending. We took a canal cruise and... ummm... dozed a little in the sun while we toured the city.

We took the train to Rotterdam to spend the day with my cousin Gloria. She's an incredibly adventurous and fabulous student spending a semester in Middleburg in the southwest of The Netherlands. We went to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and saw all sorts of amazing art (including a not so amazing bright orange metal filing cabinet-type thingy that is not, no matter what anyone tells me, ever going to be art to me). Below is a photo of the courtyard of the museum. There was a group of boys playing soccer inside the cylinder.

Me and Gloria!

Me and Sharon on the train!

Renee's! The cannoli were fabulous. The sandwiches were amazing. The chocolate hedgehogs were delightful. The almond pastry was delicious. The fried cake thingy, not so much. We were here every day. And across the street, a cheese shop that had the yummiest gouda-stuffed-dried apricots.

We had a lot of coffee. A lot. Really. Hours and hours worth of coffee. And see the cream? YEAH, baby. Coffee was our companion as we people-watched. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, you can spend hours sitting, sipping, and staring.

Despite the fact that for weeks ahead of time I'd watched dreary and wet weather reports of Holland. We had excellent weather. No rain after 9 a.m. Not once. And we had sun several days. We loved it. Especially those of us who had a cool new blue coat, Susan!

I'd like to tell you that we tore up the town. I'd like to tell you that we closed bars that never close. But pretty much we were in bed by 9 or 10. I know, Katie. We are disappointments to you.

Vondelpark was lovely. And believe it or not, watching European marathon runners' fashion choices is pretty entertaining.

St. Nicholas Cathedral from the canal cruise. See. Another sunny day! I loved Amsterdam. I loved Rotterdam. I loved riding through the countryside. I loved wandering the streets. I loved The Centrum. Jordaan. The Pijp. The Flowermarket. The museums. The Red Light District. The coffee. The bicycles. The architecture. But most of all, I loved spending a week with my dearest friend. No, thank you.

Pumpkin Extraordinaire!!!

Well, Mom lucked out. While I was away, she had the privilege of being responsible for helping Nora create a pumpkin for the annual pumpkin decorating contest at the school. The pumpkins cannot be cut or punctured in any way, and they must depict a character from a book. But Nora, apparently, needed no inspiration and very little help. She decided to create the Ferocious Beast from the Maggie and the Ferocious Beast books. There were some pretty fancy pumpkins around when I went to see hers in the exhibit. I was amazed at how many six year olds can draw perfect circles, paint Dr. Suess faces, and sew pumpkin clothing. Uh huh. Then I saw Nora's. It was very much the work of a six year old. And it was perfect.

Nora's Birthday!

For Nora's birthday, she invited Anna and Kate to a fun day fluff. First I took the girls to Lil Divas and had their hair and make-up done. They posed for photos. Love Nora's finger on the chin. In fact, all three were perfectly comfortable on the runway. Nice.
Then we went to Build a Bear! This was a bigger hit, actually. Nora got a pink bear. Kate got a horse. And Anna got a Longhorn (that she referred to as a buffalo just to make her mommy crazy.) All three girls had the Hannah Montana theme song put in their animals. Believe me. This gets old fast.

Then we came back to the house for cake and ice cream and presents!