Happy Holidays!

Thanks to Shutterfly, now my cards won't be completely late!

But I better get that holiday letter posted...

Picture Joy Christmas

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This little light of mine

Bitty Girl is aiming to be the artsy Martha type her mother only dreams about.

When I picked her up at school, she was deep into her painting. Gave me a look that said, "MOM - I AM NOT FINISHED!"

Yesterday she spent a few secretive minutes with a pipe cleaner and some rips of black paper before proudly presenting me with her bird. Look closely - it really looks like a bird.

With wings and a tail.

And then tonight, we made candle cookies. Or assembled and decorated candle cookies, complete with icing "wax drips."

She picked them out from a picture in Family Fun magazine, and decorated them with minimal Mama help.

Again, what's with the obnoxious polka dot plates? Must get some solid color ones for future projects.
That and a blog designer.

I present Bitty and her candles. And it really was fun. Sorry about the post-bath wet hair and the Blair Witch video. I'm sure Martha is shuddering.

Oh, Happy New Year

We started the new year a few days early with a trip to Celebration Lane. Outside Bellevue Square Mall (or Lincoln Square or whatever they call it now), they do Snowflake Lane before Christmas and Celebration Lane before New Year's Day. Local high school drummers dress as toy soldiers and bubble "snow" falls nightly, with lots of music and, just because we're lucky, NOISEMAKERS!!

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong.

Can you tell which thing is not like the others, (or which one belongs to the 3 yr old?)

By the time I finish my song?

Ok, I'll spare you the song..

But in spite of the party horn casualty, we really had fun.

Tonsils and all.

I asked them to say Happy New Year, not Aaaaaaaah!

Merry Christmas from our village

to yours. Wouldn't life be simpler if we all had marshmallow Peeps snowmen outside and a graham cracker paddleboat to get around?

Need a new roof? Get out the Jujubes. New fence? Grab the marshmallows.

Not quite the Sheraton gingerbread display, but they're ours and they had fun creating them.

View from the top

Bitty Girl's gingerbread yard decor

They're both such sugar hounds I don't know how they manage to get anything actually glued down. Next year my goal is to start on cardboard so I can actually move them or put them together. Somehow the blue polka dot plates just don't scream "Merry Christmas!"

We're all shopped, mostly wrapped, and ready for Christmas. After a big day of standing in multiple lines with the World's Greatest Daddy, the kids have checked Santa pictures, visiting the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton and riding the holiday carousel off their lists.

Santa's little helper

My holiday gift to you.

If you haven't already decorated your tree, I could loan you a helper.

(Note: May need to borrow your ladder)

And you could knock off your holiday baking at the same time...

(Warning: she eats as much as she frosts)

Evidence that it's a long-standing issue: 2008 Christmas cookies

Happy, Merry Everything!

From our little monkeys to you.

And yes, it snowed again today. Praying for melting.....

Two Thousand Eight

also known as The Year the Snowstorm Caused a Little More Drama Than Usual.


So far, we have survived. Barely. If more snow arrives, we can't promise how Mommy will do.

Bitty Girl asked, "Mommy, what do you want for Christmas?"
I replied, "I WANT THE SNOW TO MELT FOR CHRISTMAS!"


Luckily, we had pictures taken before the snow arrived to make our lives difficult.

Thanks to Sara Montgomery, sister of my friend Kaia and talented photographer, for making us look better than we usually do!




Whew! We took one by the tree in case we don't make it for a Santa picture by tomorrow!
And look - they stood nicely together without arguing for approximately 5 seconds!


Someone cleans up well! (makes up for the World's Worst School Picture 2008)


She even managed to capture a real smile, which is elusive these days.


Bitty Girl didn't mind posing....

Especially if she had her favorite dolly.

We are sending lots of love and holiday wishes that you find much peace, laughter, and happiness in your lives in 2009.

Post Turkey Day turkeys

Whew. The end of a long family Thanksgiving weekend. Lots of food, lots of family, lots of food.

Kids were amazing, as I reflect back upon the long stretches of time they played together with minimal screaming.

As they get older (cousins are 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, and 1) the bigger ones are more into board games, which keep them occupied longer.

Also introduced this year was the famous Magnavox Odyssey 2, which was Dad's first video game system from 1978. The in-laws still have it, and it was a huge hit! Either they're too young to be completely spoiled by the new games, or they were in awe that something so old still worked.

For a stroll down video game memory lane, go here.

Behold the Odyssey!

On the drive home, The Boy was asking when we can go back to play again...

But no matter their age, they still all love ice cream. Enjoy some photos of our favorite turkeys eating ice cream with their cousins at Friday night's dinner out.

Gobble, gobble....

Just call me Dr. Mama

Evidently my personal Thanksgiving prescription worked, and I didn't even have that much wine! The kids were fabulous - mostly - and I really didn't get stressed or worried.

No bleeding, no barfing (so far, keep your fingers crossed, because they did eat a lot), and nothing broken.

My sister-in-law called us at 7:30 am and invited us over early for breakfast. We had planned to get there around noon, but went about 10:30 am instead. It turned out to be perfect, because the kids got to play with cousins and settled down before most of the people arrived.

Besides getting slightly over-hungry before lunch and dinner, things went smoothly, kids played beautifully, the weather cooperated, food was delicious, and it was great to catch up with family.

There were -- gasp-- actually long stretches of time, like 20-30 minutes, where I wasn't directly supervising EITHER child. Or anyone else's child, for that matter. It has been a long time since I could say that about any family gathering.

They played inside, outside, watched a movie and shared an enormous bowl of popcorn,

which was gone in 10 minutes flat.

The Boy learned how to play Monopoly, and actually sat, completely focused on it, for an hour. With his dad. Without me. Do you even understand how exciting that "without me" part was to type? Because not only was I off the supervision hook for one kid, but I didn't have to deal with his creative interpretation of Monopoly rules.

So far, one happy, successful Thanksgiving - check.

Two more big family dinners to go....

Oh, and I figured out where The Boy gets his "silly face in pictures" gene..

like father.....

like son.

Halloween

We survived another Halloween. Somehow Mama Crazy Lady thought she could decorate the house, carve a pumpkin, make spiderweb pizzas for dinner,

paint pumpkins, and go trick or treating--all in the same afternoon! But we did it-with very little yelling or gritted teeth.

The Mummy triumphed, after a very long wrapping session only made possible by Daddy's eternal patience and about 30 safety pins.









(Many apologizes for the hideous yellow background. Pictures alone make me want to paint)

He got tons of compliments, and a few Mummy/Daddy jokes..

The kitty was darling. She got ready before the Mummy and ran around the house yelling, "Let's go trick or treat and get candy!" But she peaked early, and after 3 houses, wanted to go home.


Cat and Mummy


After a long neighborhood trek, a few slips and falls, and one haunted house that was slightly too scary, here's what we had in the slightly unraveled Mummy department...


Whew. Must make them dress up again for better pictures.

Mummy is slightly Batty

My one semi-crafty moment (so far) of 2008....

(Bat and Mummy cupcakes, of course!)

For some odd reason, I started getting Woman's Day magazine. Maybe I'm on their "wishful thinking" list. Or maybe Pat secretly signed me up, hoping that I'd actually make something other than spaghetti.

The October issue had fun Halloween cupcakes, and we decided to try two of them.
They turned out rather well, considering....

Considering what, you ask?

• Considering that a 2 1/2 yr old can't really pick up tiny sprinkles and place them carefully onto the icing that is the bat's mouth.
• Considering that neither a 2 1/2 yr old or a nearly-6 yr old can really carefully cut two semi-circle scoops out of a Reese's peanut butter cup
• Considering that neither of the above-mentioned children can adequately frost a cupcake
• Considering that both of the above-mentioned children are much more interested in eating the discarded peanut butter/chocolate scoops than making the cupcake
• and considering that I don't have a pastry bag, but used an icing tip and a Ziploc bag for the Mummy cupcakes.

The evidence, Batty Girl and Boy...




If only his Mummy Halloween costume turned out this nice. Will update on the Halloween Costume Fiasco of 2008 AFTER Friday night. Hint: It involves ripped strips of a tea-dyed sheet, lots of safety pins, some random Velcro that doesn't stick, possibly $50 in gauze rolls, and a gray sweat suit. Wish us luck!