Will You Be My Valentine?

Part of the fun of having a preschooler actually IN SCHOOL is experiencing all the neat holiday stuff.  Bean celebrated Valentine’s Day this week at his preschool and I got to take my kid to the store to pick out his very first box of Valentines.  The teacher said they could include a piece of candy or a sticker with their Valentine card.  The first thing I noticed was that most of the cards came with candy or sticker included.  Wow, that is SO 2010.  I’m sure it was also SO 2009 and SO 2008, but I have never done this before.  Those Hallmark people really make it easy for you. 

Bean picked out these cute “Toy Story” cards that included a Disney lollipop with the letter “D” on it.  (Get it?  “D” for Daniel. Cute, right?)  So we sat down over the weekend and picked out cards for the 12 kids in his class while he wrote his name on each one in red or pink crayon.  He only ate two lollipops, I think.   It was fun.

Well, today was the best day ever because Daniel brought home an entire bag of Valentines from school.  He was THRILLED.  Yep, it BLEW HIS MIND.

One friend gave him pretzels (Healthy!)  One friend gave him a long fruit roll-up tape dispenser (Interesting!) Lots of friends gave him candy and lollipops (Holy Grail!)  He even got a magnet photo frame from his teacher.  It was a blast to experience this all for the first time with my son.  

I remember when I was in fourth grade and I got my very first “secret” Valentine.  That’s when we decorated empty cereal boxes with construction paper, glue and glitter to create our Valentine’s mailbox.  Maybe it’s a LITTLE embarrassing, but I’ve actually kept that ”secret” Valentine card in a memory box all these years. 

I love the homemade pink construction paper heart.  I love that it actually says from “?”

I think I told him “Yes.”  Actually, I don’t remember.  But isn’t this the sweetest thing ever?  It still makes me smile.  The innocence of it all makes me smile.   It’s just a fun memory that makes me realize that my kiddies will have so many of these fun memories in their future.  And I get to experience it all again. 

Being a Mom is pretty fantastic.

Holiday Rooooooooooad ‘09

I am now drowning in laundry and new toys and excess body weight, but it was SO worth it.  We had an amazing holiday road trip. 

I think it was because the kiddies are now at the ages where everything is just a LITTLE BIT easier.  Daniel no longer requires diapers (Hooray!) or a travel booster seat or a special cup or spoon or fork or bowl or, and this is the BEST part, a Pack ‘n Play to sleep in!  He slept on his “floor bed” - a super cute Lightning McQueen inflatable sleeping bag.  Annabel still requires all the above items, but I wasn’t gasping every single time she walked along Pop Pop’s marble tile or cruised past the hotel room’s glass coffee table. 

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home with GG and then we were up and down the East Coast stopping off in North Carolina and Maryland to see the rest of the family.  There was one common factor at every leg of the tour: IT WAS COLD.  That was a special treat for Daniel and Annabel since they have never seen snow nor have they felt that bone chilling wind.  I was bummed that they didn’t actually get to see snow FALL to the ground, but Daniel did toss icy snow balls at my face and Annabel touched a patch of snow with her pink mitten and then screamed for me to pick her up. 

The BEST part of the trip was all the “quality time” (or rather the “running around, dancing, jumping, toy playing, junk food eating, beer and wine drinking, TV watching, comfy clothes wearing time”) with Pop Pop, Queen, Grandma, Grandpa, Miss Aunt Marsha, My Uncle Kevin, Maddie, Kate and Baby Luke.

Now we are back home in Florida and a little sad and a little sick (Bean woke up with a nasty cold and now must postpone his very first day of preschool - UGH), but I’m ready for a brand new year.  Hello 2010!  It is very weird to write that when I’m still staring at a December calendar above my desk. 

Well, we’ll miss you Christmas.  See you next year.

Merry Christmas ‘09

Christmas Cookies

My amazing husband is the chef of the family.  I wrote all about it HERE and HERE.  He loves to cook and is really, really good at it.  Everything he makes is super yummy.  But now he has ventured into my territory: Baking. 

I’ve been perfecting my baking skills all this year by rolling out tons of blueberry muffins, banana bread, pumpkin bread, brownies, cupcakes and cookies.  I was going to make Christmas cookies for Santa, but my husband decided HE wanted to do it instead. 

Here is the video of the hubbie and Bean having a blast making cookies for Santa.  Happy Holidays!  Enjoy! 

PS: They are DELICIOUS!

22 months

Tomorrow Annabel is 22 months old.  The best word to describe her at this stage in the game: CRAZY. 

I say this partly kidding and, well, partly NOT kidding.  She is a bunch of fun and honestly one of the best parts of my day is when I get her after her nap and she screams with glee!  She smushes her little face into a cute, funny smile and reaches for me with all her might.  We hug and cuddle and kiss.  But then she starts SCREAMING for her Hello Kitty doll or her Minnie Mouse doll and struggles and twists when I try and change her diaper.  She runs to the kitchen for a snack and AWAY WE GO.  She is ten times the ball of energy she was at 18 months.  She knows what she wants and she wants it - NOW.  The moment she has any type of freedom from her stroller, she starts to run away from me like a crazy wild child.   I don’t know if she would stop or even look back if I didn’t snatch her up in 2 seconds. 

She is also in that crazy stage of wanting something and then NOT wanting it and then wanting it AGAIN and then NO, YOU DIDN’T GIVE IT TO ME FAST ENOUGH LADY SO NOW I DON’T WANT IT ANYMORE.  DON’T YOU GET IT ?  It’s very frustrating, but I also have to giggle.  Maybe it’s because she’s my second child, but I really don’t freak out about her outbursts as much as I thought I would.  She has meltdowns at Target, at Gymboree, at the dinner table, really anywhere and at anytime.  Sometimes they are little and I can appease her with food or a toy.  Sometimes I just sit and watch and marvel at the craziness of it all until she calms down.

We went to get portraits taken at Sears on Sunday and there was one salvageable shot of Annabel. It was taken one second after I placed her on the “X” on the floor of the studio.  (QUICK.  SNAP IT!) After that, there was NOTHING we could do to get her to stop “fish flopping” around.  No puppet, no gimmick, she was just done for the day.  And forget SMILING.  I was just trying to get her to be STILL. 

Today was the mall visit to see Santa Claus.  I was very pessimistic, but, again, you never know what to expect with my baby girl.  She was an absolute darling to all the strangers waiting in the long line.  She smiled and played peek-a-boo with everyone.  She looked and pointed at all the fake snow and fake trees.  Then, after 45 minutes, it was the MOMENT OF TRUTH.  Here is our 2009 Santa photo:

 I love you crazy girl.

The Annual Christmas Card Photo

It’s always an adventure to plan and execute our annual family Christmas card photo.  Every year I decide we need to be practical and just go to a professional photography studio. But then the thought of getting the kiddies dressed, keeping them clean and happy while we try to get a DECENT photo within the designated time period, well, yeah, that thought just equals loads of STRESS.  So we always buckle down and pick a Sunday to stay home and just GET IT DONE.

The first year we did the photo, Bean was only 4 months old.  We dressed him in a cute red Santa suit and took about twenty photos of him laying on the bed before he started to squirm and cry. 

The second year, I think we had 250 different shots of Daniel wandering all around the house.  But then we took him outside (barefoot) and he plopped down in the front yard and smiled.  DONE. 

Last year was the first year with Annabel.  She was 10 months old and Daniel was 2.  We finally got a shot of the two of them laughing in front of the Christmas Tree. It took over an hour of dancing, playing  puppets, making faces, and throwing things in the air to get that ONE laughing smile.  We were EXHAUSTED.

This year, Annabel was sick.  She’s had a snotty cold since Thursday and I almost canceled the in-house photo shoot we had planned for Sunday. But time was running out to get these Christmas cards ordered and mailed, so we had to take a deep breath and just go for it.  By the end of the day, Bean had finished off two “treat” bowls of whipped cream (bribes) and Annabel was just…OVER IT. 

But…we did it!  We got the photo!  (Christmas is indeed a time for Miracles.)

Now I can finally cross this off my holiday “to do” list and worry about all the OTHER things like shipping out all these gifts piling up in my bedroom closet and trying to find a pair of shoes to wear to the hubbie’s company holiday party on Friday night. Phew.

Here are some 2009 Christmas card photo ”outtakes” from Sunday morning…AND afternoon.  It was a LONG (but really fun) day.

Thanksgiving ‘09

Thanksgiving weekend was filled with joyous overeating, lots of  fun shopping (yes, I survived Black Friday!) and relaxing time at home with the family. 

My husband’s aunt and cousin flew in from Canada so that was extra special.  The kiddies watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the very first time which was a blast. They loved the big balloons and bands as much as they loved all the toy commercials.  My husband, the quintessential Top Chef, cooked an amazing holiday meal that included a giant Turkey, homemade stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, and green beans.   I made the 35 cent boxed corn muffins; THANK GOODNESS because it was one of the only things Annabel consumed. I think she ate three.  I’m still amazed how kids can just pass on the awesome deliciousness that is the annual Thanksgiving meal. Bean enjoyed most of his food, but his favorite was still the canned cranberry jelly sauce. I was THRILLED to have tons of leftovers including my mother-in-law’s awesome pumpkin pie which we devoured every night while drinking wine and watching television. 

We also dove into the Christmas spirit and bought our tree on Friday afternoon.  We put up all the Christmas decorations.  I love to start early and enjoy Christmas as long as possible.  I sent the hubbie out to the store to buy extra candles, potpourri, and house spray so not only does the house LOOK like Christmas right now, it SMELLS like Christmas too, which, as he says, is the best part.

Halloween ‘09

Halloween (literally) started out a little scary this year.  We had to take our baby girl to an emergency doctor appointment early Saturday morning.  She was up all night with a crazy cough and raspy breathing.  I slept next to her crib holding her hand. It was awful.  Her small sniffle from earlier in the week had turned into a respiratory infection. The doctor gave her some medicine and she was feeling better by late Saturday afternoon. She was a little grumpy, but still ready to rally for some neighborhood trick-or-treating.

Daddy and Daniel were in charge of the pumpkins.  They carved four pumpkins in two hours and had a blast:

Daniel was our boy pirate:

(He only had that sword for photos and then it was banished to the bedroom.  It was just too much fun to swing at things, including his little sister.)

Annabel was our girl pirate:

My poor thing.  You can tell from her face that she is not 100%.  I was just happy she put on the fancy dress, tights, and shoes.  The head scarf was on and off.

Let’s go trick-or-treating!

Annabel wanted to take Pinky along for the fun since she was having a yucky day. She went to about 10 houses and Daniel went to 10 more.  It was a lot of fun for Daniel since it was his first Halloween where he really GOT the fact that you just have to knock on the door, say “trick-or-treat!” and you get candy. Oh, and of course you have to say “thank you” too.

Since Annabel was sick on Saturday, Daddy made his Jack-O-Lantern chocolate chip pancakes on Sunday morning instead.  Of course the “Fall Back” time change just added to the fun.  (Ugh, not really.)  Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch ‘09

We were so excited to head out to our local pumpkin patch again this year.  We have been going to the same location for three years now.  It’s so crazy to think that the first time we were there, we only had Bean and he was only this big:

Then, we had Annabel and took her for the first time last year:

Of course, two days ago, Bean had a fight with his new train table and the train table won.  So I knew all the Pumpkin Patch 2009 photos would feature this lovely, front-and-center, eye and nose cut:

Oh well, off we went!  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining.  Mr. (not scary at all) Scarecrow met us at the entrance:

We grabbed the pumpkin wagon and went on our search for the perfect pumpkins:

Annabel loved playing peek-a-boo in the pumpkins.  (She will play peek-a-boo anywhere and at anytime. )

Here’s Bean on the same blue tractor he rode the first time we came to the patch:

There are also TONS of gourds and small pumpkins for sale.  I always buy a bunch to use for my dining table centerpiece.  I so LOVE these little guys. (Bean included!)

It was a great day, er 27 minutes, at the Pumpkin Patch.  See you again next year!

October

I am SO happy it’s October.  The over-the-top heat in Florida lasts from May all the way to September.  March is truly the best weather month.  Second is October.  The heat broke today.  It’s like Florida knew it was October and said, “Okay, I’ll give you guys a break already.  You can wear shorts and short sleeve tops and feel COMFORTABLE.”  It’s great.  I took Annabel out in the wagon today and I didn’t complain at all!  I didn’t walk a block and come running back into the air conditioning!  I actually STROLLED around the block.  It was nice.

October also means Halloween.  When I didn’t have kids, I really couldn’t CARE LESS about Halloween.  It’s just not my holiday.  I LOVE Christmas and save all my decorating dollars for Christmas stuff.  But now that I have kids I have to give a little in the budget to every holiday.  Number one on the Halloween list is always the costumes.  But then I have to buy a door wreath, a sign for the window, random knick-knacks for the house.  I picked up some cute stuffed pumpkins from Hallmark on clearance last year.  Since the kiddies are three and 19 months, it’s still necessary to have the non breakables.  (I’ll save the ceramic candy corn dish for later on.)

And today at Target, I found this:

It’s a Halloween countdown witch.  I love it because we have a Santa one for Christmas.  Okay, the kiddies were a TEENY bit scared of her at first, but they’ll warm up.  It’s so darn cute.  Only 30 days until Halloween!

*BTW, on a COMPLETELY different note, how GOOD did Madonna look on David Letterman last night?  She makes me want to grow my hair out, buy a sexy black dress, and wear some really expensive shades.  She rocked it.

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