A Belated Merry Christmas

Belated Merry Christmas to all! (Light blogging due to family being in town.)

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas! Mom and Dad arrived on Thursday and all went well at the airport. DH picked up the kids and we all went out to dinner at a fun family restaurant in Springfield VA called Paradiso. They have a kids room where all the children eat dinner at picnic tables and watch a movie while the adults eat in the family room outside, with a big window between the two rooms. A nice way to catch up with adults and for the children to have fun, too.

On Friday, DH went to work while the rest of us went to the Tysons mall. We had lunch and then headed home for gift wrapping. We picked up some pizza for dinner and watched The Polar Express for family movie night.

On Saturday, my parents stayed home to wrap presents while the rest of us made our mad dash run to Wegmans for groceries and to pick up our holiday ham. Then I took my parents out with the kids for lunch at Chicken Out before heading to Lady Bird Johnson Park to see water-skiing Santa. We caught a very very short glimpse of Santa -- better to see him on the web site! Well, the excitement must have caught up with Nicholas, because he fell asleep on the way home and slept...and slept...and slept...right through to our planned departure time for church at 3 pm. So we stretched it until 3:30 pm. Then 4:00 pm. Then 4:30 pm. Then we decided to skip it altogether. Saturday night was dinner at Silverado early (5:20 pm) and then putting out presents under the tree.

Sunday morning was an EARLY awakening by my daughter with the announcement that Santa had brought things in addition to the presents we had put under the tree for each other -- and she asked permission to go downstairs to look. (We have a split level house so she can see from the stairs but not REALLY see from so far away.) She found a rocking horse, a Cinderella doll set, an Alice in Wonderland dress, a box of Princess wigs, and a turtle suitcase. Her brother found a Plasmacar, a GeoTrax airport, a GeoTrax fire and rescue station, GeoTrax rescue equipment, and a turtle suitcase just like his sister's. We spent the morning opening up presents, and then DH cooked up an awesome breakfast -- Baked French Toast with strawberry and blueberry sauce. YUM! We were so full from breakfast that Christmas lunch got shifted to Christmas dinner. As my Mom said later, it was a very "old fashioned" Christmas -- lots of fun watching the kids and no stress.

Monday we were silly enough to go back out shopping at Tysons. Picked up a few things on sale, but were not so silly to be at the Nordstrom men's sale at 7 am -- a 10 am arrival was fine with us. We picked up lunch at zpizza -- it was a different spot to try, but I wasn't "wowed" by it. I tried to finish up laundry -- I had somehow managed doing 13 loads of laundry on Christmas day, mostly for all the new clothes the children now had. Both children were pretty tired so they napped in the afternoon. We went to dinner again at Paradiso -- my parents are Italian food fans so it is an easy choice -- and called it a night early.

On Tuesday, DH went into work and we got the luggage loaded into the car and headed first to Pentagon City mall ("The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City"). My dad was looking for a store that used to be there called The Impostors Faux Jewelry -- but it wasn't there any longer. (I hardly ever go to that mall any more because the stores I shop at are not there, so I had no idea.) We picked up a few things on sale and then readied to do our airport drop-off. Of course there flight was very delayed -- as in 2 hours later arriving from Nassau, Bahamas. The airline did not tell them much, either -- even changed their gate on them and made no announcement. But they made it home finally, and received a phone call at home from US Airways "apologizing for the inconvenience". How nice. While they were at the airport, DH and I were organizing closets for donations to charity. Not sure how many bags of clothes we ended up with -- maybe 7?

Yesterday was back-to-work day for me and DH's day off. He did the bags of clothing drop off and ran some other errands. With Congress being out for the entire month of January, here's hoping he has a reduced hours schedule then, too -- sure helps to get errands done and makes up a little for the very long hours he puts in when Congress is in town.

All in all, a fun Christmas. I think about some friends and family that are not here this Christmas and I hug my children a little tighter. I'm glad that my parents got to spend some good time with the children, too.

Arrival Day

Like everyone else during the holiday season, I have been busy readying for today. Today is Arrival Day. My parents' arrival, that is.

Yes, Mom -- the one that has not been on a plane since 1993 -- Mom agreed to fly down here from Massachusetts. As I explained to her, the flight is not that long -- she has been to longer Masses at church. But with Mom's condition -- who knows how today will go.

I phoned my parents on Monday at lunchtime, and my mother was ready to draw and quarter my father because -- according to her -- he had told her that they would be visiting us for Christmas but he had not told her that they would be staying overnight. I talked to her for about 20 minutes to try to calm her down, but she was ready to jump all over him. I feel so bad for my Dad -- mine is just a 20 minute phone conversation, and not having to be "on" 24 hours a day with no downtime.

Although I am diametrically opposed to just about every stance of her politics, I always felt such admiration for Nancy Reagan for what she did for her husband. That is just very tough stuff.

So we'll see what happens over the next six days. The LAST thing I want to have happen is something "weird" that sticks in my children's mamories. But I also want to give my father some sort of "downtime" from all this. Maybe I can share the load a little with him for a short time.

An angel has left this Earth

A dear friend left this world this week. It has hit me (and many others) quite hard.

Sheila was a very spiritual person, and frequently turned to St. Therese ("The Little Flower") for support. I have been seeking solace in St. Therese these past few days and learned more information about St. Therese. St. Therese was canonized as a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1925. He then declared that St. Therese would be co-patroness of the Missions (along with St. Francis Xavier) on December 14, 1927.

I like to think that St. Therese called on Sheila on December 14.

Post-birthday synopsis -- the evils of toy packaging

Well, the Birthday Day is done. We had a party in the Toddler Room complete with cupcakes from Heidelberg (YUM!) and Elmo plates and napkins. And fire chief hats as party hats.

Then we came home and had Nicholas' favorite food (pizza) and chocolate cake with ice cream. Then we got to the presents. Natalie seemed to really want to help open everything. First up was Natalie's gift to her brother -- a John Deere set with tractor, pick-up truck, and farm animals. Of course every bloomin' thing is wired in place. Grrrrr. No points for John Deere.

Next up is the LeapFrog Fridge Farm Magnetic Animal Set. Thankfully no wires, and batteries ("for demonstration purposes only") are included. One point for LeapFrog.

Next up is the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnets. Thankfully no wires, and batteries ("for demonstration purposes only") are included. Another point for LeapFrog.

Finally, the Geotrax "deluxe starter set" - purchased direct from Fisher-Price. I actually lost count of how many wires I untwisted after counting to 30. And it cannot be for "display purposes" because they do not sell these in stores!!! Many many grrrrrrrrrs and no points for Fisher-Price. (Although the train itself is very cool once you get it all untwist-tied!)

So, on the lovely note, I looked on Technorati to see if anyone had been blogging about this packaging lunacy -- and yes, Blogging Baby has a great post about this article in the Olympia, Washington Olympian about the hazards of toy packaging. VERY funny stuff!

Happy Birthday, Sugarplum!

Happy 2nd birthday, my little man!

I cannot believe two years have flown by so quickly! It seems just yesterday that I was waddling around the MCI Center at The Wiggles concert trying to find your sister who decided to go "exploring". At the time, I had no idea how my heart could get any bigger to love another child more than I loved Natalie. But it happened. And you stole my heart the first moment I saw you.




And I love you and Natalie more and more each day.

Thank you for being in my life, Nicholas. Thank you for coming in to my life and throwing my entire world upside down. This journey with you has been so incredible!

I love you, sugarplum!

Back from Baltimore

We just got back from Baltimore!

Friday I stayed home with the kids for a "snow day" and packed for our short trip to Baltimore. We went to celebrate Nicholas' birthday -- my little man will be 2 years old on Tuesday (*sniff sniff*) so we celebrated his birthday just like we did for Natalie. We went to the National Aquarium and to Port Discovery. We stayed at the Renaissance Harborplace -- very nice, but self-parking at $21 a day? What is up with that??? Well, I did get the room for a deal on Priceline -- so I won't moan too much.

Anyway, we had a blast. The new addition to the aquarium is VERY nice. Inner Harbor is a great deal of fun during the holidays -- very festive with the lights and decorations, people caroling along the waterfront. Lots of fun.

The pavilions at Inner Harbor could teach their retail sales help a little bit on the "May I help you?" front. DH went into one of the stores and he was nearly accosted by one of the clerks -- "What can I help you find today?" before he even made it completely inside the store. He said, "Nothing" and walked out. I HATE when I get followed around like that. Send me straight to buying online!

Pictures from The Nutcracker

Two pictures from our visit to see The Nutcracker:

What a little sleep will do - quick post

DH arrived back on Friday so I was in bed and asleep at 6:15 PM. *AHHHHHH*

Saturday Natalie and I went to the Nutcracker and had a great time. This year's production had lots of new choreographic twists to it -- VERY well done!

Sunday we went to get the kids' pictures taken -- it was a great photo shoot but My Princess was a little cranky and let everyone know about it.

I'll fill in more later...

What Kind of Freaky Mother are You?

Who knew?


You're a punk rock mommy! DIY is probably your
motto, because you're a punk mama at heart.
Your kids are getting your independent spirit
and guts, and learning to solve problems
themselves. You love it when they show their
independence, even when it's breaking your
heart.


What kind of a freaky mother are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Today is Friday...

Today is Friday, Today is Friday, Friday is fresh fish...

Ooops -- slipped into the Eric Carle book for a moment. Must be the lack of sleep.

Yes, today is the last day of solo parenting. United Airlines, no mess ups with flights from San Jose this afternoon, thank you very much.

Our parents' group at preschool did a fundraiser to raise money for bonuses for the teachers -- we sold wreaths this week and it turned into a pretty nice fundraiser ($800 profit). I put the wreath in my car Wednesday night and opted to store it outside instead of in the house so that it would be in better shape to hang on our back door. Well, I was up until midnight on Wednesday night (actually more like 1 am Thursday) doing laundry and was up at 5 am Thursday cooking. (Yes, I was making a casserole for dinner at 5 AM Thursday.)

As we were leaving at 8:20 am Thursday morning, my daughter says, "Why is the wreath over there in the carport, Mom, and not hanging on the door?"

I nearly lost it. But I am happy to say I bit my tongue.

But REALLY!

Little Man seems to be doing much better. He's been on the Albuterol since Monday night and he was supposed to be on it for 3 to 5 days. I think I am going to stop that medication today as the wheezing is gone. He'll still be on the Omnicef for another week for his ear infections, but he really sounds so much better.

Of course my daughter now has sniffles, sneezes, and coughs. Perfect timing for Daddy's arrival and for the possible first snow in DC sometime this weekend.

Dad and mom see the attorney this afternoon. I think my dad managed to do the living will part but not my mom -- dad said she broke down in tears just reading the paperwork, and said that my brother and I would know what to do. Sheesh.

My advice to all -- do everyone a favor and complete a Living Will WAY before you are eligible for a AARP card.