Christmas 2012

I wish I could post tons of photos that would reflect what a great Christmas we had. But, instead of lugging the camera around and getting mad at Seth for dashing out of every photo I try to take, I "lived in the moment," which really means that I just didn't even think about getting the camera out. *Sigh*

Instead, I'll have to just paint the picture with words. First of all, I have to admit that I failed to capture Chippy's last day with us. The boys woke up to find that Chippy had made a zip line leading from the ceiling to the door. Such fun! On Christmas morning, Chippy wrote a short goodbye note on the easel. I wish I could say that Chippy's antics this year were as fun and magical as they were last year. But they weren't. I don't know if it was his antics that were underimpressive, or just the novelty of Chippy that had worn off, but I don't think we'll be talking about him well into July and August 2013, like we were in July and August 2012. Oh well. Mommy  Chippy did his best!

Part of what made Christmas great this year was Baba's visit. (Baba is my mom, for those who don't know her.) The boys loved having her around, and I loved sleeping in for a few days in a row while Baba entertained the boys at 6:30 a.m. She is exceedingly patient with them, especially Seth. She played a million games of Zingo with him, and played "doctor" a million more times. Not only that, but she made her famous iced sugar cookies (when I was growing up, she made a zillion of these, along with tons of other kinds of cookies and fudge and baked goods, to give to neighbors and friends), and cranberry nut bread, and side dishes to bring to the inlaws for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I actuallly gave gifts to our neighbors this year! Of course, I realized this sets a precedent. So now my mom will just have to come for Christmas every year! In any event, I loved walking around our street and delivering gifts with Seth. It reminded me of Christmas Eve when I was young, when we seemed to spend hours delivering the cookie trays. I don't think I'll ever be able to make the cookie trays like my mom did. But even something small like a mini-loaf of bread or homemade stove-top potpurri (my gift this year) means a lot.

Another thing that made Christmas so magical this year was SNOW! On Chrismtas Eve, Ed's aunt and uncle host a party. They live in Damascus, MD, which is north and west of where we live. As we drove to their "farm" on Christmas Eve, the snow began to fall. And by the time we got to their house, there was at least an inch or two on the ground. The driving was pretty treachorous, but the absolutely joy on William's face was worth it. (Seth had fallen asleep on the drive up, but he was excited, too, when he finally woke up upon our arrival.) I let the boys play in the snow to their heart's content, despite the fact that they weren't wearing snow gear. When they finally got cold, I put their knit gloves, hats, and socks in the dryer (and even Seth's pants!), fed them dinner, and then once their stuff dried, they went out again. They were in heaven.

Christmas morning was pretty great, too. No snow at our house, but the boys woke up and went downstairs. At first, they turned the TV on, and didn't even go in the playroom, where Santa had left their toys and stockings. Baba got up with them, and I got to listen from my room as it dawned on them that they should check out the playroom. They squealed! They shouted. Then they ran upstairs to tell us what they got. We all went downstairs and opened gifts. In the past, I've made eggs benedict on Christmas morning. But I was so involved on setting up toys for the kids and playing with them that time kind of got away from us. Mom and I had made cinnamon rolls a few days before, so we put those in the oven, and that sufficed. I think Ed missed the eggs benedict, but we'll try again next year!

After that, we headed over to Ed's parents for more presents and lots of fun with the boys' cousins (and second cousins, and first cousins once removed), aunts and uncles, Grandma and Grandpa, and Mema and Pepa. By the end of Christmas Day, I was EXHAUSTED. Happy, but exhausted. But the fun wasn't over. On the day after Christmas morning, it snowed again! At our house! And it stuck for just a little while. And I got out my camera! (Seriously! See below!)

 

It snowed for about an hour and then turned to rain. We spent the rest of the day indoors, playing games, playing with toys, getting on each other's nerves. You know--the usual vacation stuff.

 

I wish I could say the rest of our break has been as magical, but alas, it hasn't. I worked the Thursday and Friday after Christmas, which frankly, was a nice break. Otherwise, I've been breaking up a lot of fights, trying my hardest not to yell, playing a lot of games, cleaning up a lot, and generally trying to appreciate the time I'm spending with the boys--feeling grateful that my boys are healthy enough to fight, make messes, and make me want to yell at them. I am incredibly lucky and blessed, and if all I do in 2013 is remember that fact every single day, that will be than enough. Happy New Year everyone!

Gilligan Chippy

We woke up this morning to find Chippy had gone fishing.

For whatever reason, this just reminds me of Gilligan in Gilligan's Island. "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale . . . "

Magic Seeds

Chippy brought the boys magic seeds on Friday morning.

With instructions:

We planted the seeds when we got home. We're still waiting to see what grows. But this is what we found on Saturday morning:

Wonder what it's going to be? (And no, it's not an ashtray with cigarette butts. That was Ed's first guess.)

******Totally forgot to follow up this post with what actually grew. Here's what we found two mornings later:

Nice, huh?

Chippy Fail

Chippy didn't move on Wednesday night. Or if he did, he returned to the exact, same place we found him on Wednesday morning. (On the piano, with all his pictures. Sheesh! He must really love himself!)

What can I say, Chippy was tired! And later that day, I frantically searched the Net and found this: http://fromgrindtowhine.com/2011/12/12/twelve-ways-to-save-your-butt-when-your-elf-on-the-shelf-forgets-to-move/

When we got home on Thursday evening, I slipped a letter on the piano to William from Chippy. Chippy told William that he didn't go to the North Pole because he didn't want to tell Santa about William's bad day on Wednesday. Nice move, huh? William did not want to talk about his bad day, so he didn't say much about Chippy's note. But he had a much better day on Thursday and Friday. Thanks Chippy!

Egomaniac

Chippy replaced the pictures on our piano with pictures of himself. I guess he thought our decor was lacking!

Don't even go there with the quality of the pictures. He probably had to go to Target at 9:00 p.m. and beg the photo guy to let him print 6 pictures of himself before the machines shut down. At that point, I'm pretty sure he didn't want to spend time trying to work on the quality of his pictures.

Yesterday (Tuesday), the boys woke up to find that Chippy had painted their noses! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of that one. Chippy was doubtful that that prank was even going to work. He was pretty sure the paint would rub off on the boys' pillows or covers. At the last minute, Chippy decided to get into bed with us, but then William woke up with paint on his nose, so then I had to scramble to explain why Chippy was in our bed and why there was paint on his nose. Nice going Chippy!

Breakfast a la North Pole

When Chippy first started coming to our house a few short weeks ago, he was quite organized. Then it all seemed to go to hell in a handbasket. I have a feeling Chippy had intended to prepare a more elaborate North Pole breakfast. But then push came to shove, and in the end, I Chippy came to realize that four year olds and six year olds are pretty easy to impress. Here's what Chippy brought on Monday morning.

William LOVED the donuts. Seth didn't care for the donuts, but he thought it was nice that Chippy brought them.

I just hope Chippy doesn't blow a gasket before Christmas comes!

First Responders

Today, Chippy wanted to honor the people who protect us, help us, and risk their lives for others.

"Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." --Fred Rogers

Group Hug

Chippy might have had other plans for his return from the North Pole in the wee hours of Saturday morning, but instead, he looked to some friends for love and support. The boys didn't know that Chippy was grieving, but I did.

The Best Mummy Could Do

As Seth noted, "Chippy sure likes toilet paper!"

Shave and a Haircut . . . Two bits

Chippy needed to take care of some personal business this morning:

Ed was not amused. Those razor refills are expensive!

Snowball Fight!

Chippy took on the Rescue Bots in a snowball fight. But since snow is scarce in these parts, they used marshmallows. William thought this was great, since he managed to eat a handful of marshmallows before I cleaned them all up.

 

Can't say for sure who won, other than William.

On a Roll

Chippy decided to go for a joy ride down the stairs. Guess the bannister wasn't thrilling enough for him.

 

The boys thought this was funny. Ed was not amused. Keep it coming, Chippy!

Show Off

Last night, Chippy decided to show the boys what a real gingerbread house looks like.

Impressive, no? Let's see that from another angle.

 

What's that? You want to see it from yet a third angle? I know. The artistic talent just . . . overwhelms!

 

 

Nicely played, Chippy. Nicely played.

 

Meanwhile, on Sunday, William and I exchanged a few words and he got sent to his room. When I went upstairs to talk to him, I found this note outside his door:

 

 

There were two things that thrilled me about this note. First of all, he wrote it completely by himself. Usually, getting him to write is like pulling teeth. Second of all, he said please! How awesome is that? Looks like I might need to be a bad ass a little more often! Nicely played, William. Nicely played.



Our House Is a Very Very Very Fine House

We celebrated Hanukkah with Ed's family on Saturday night and the boys got to spend the night at Grandma's and Grandpa's! (And Ed and I got a kid-free night and morning! Guess who slept 'till 8:30 a.m.? Oh yes wedid!) Even though the boys weren't here, Chippy still reported to Santa and returned from his nightly trip to the North Pole, this time, with tons of candy and graham crackers for the boys.

When we opened the Advent calendar, it became clear what Chippy wanted us to do with all that candy and the graham crackers--make gingerbread houses! (In case you missed how the graham crackers play into this, go back to this 2009 post about "gingerbread house hell" and then the follow-up post to see how it all turned out.)

So, in about an hour, somehow I managed to put together 5 "gingerbread" houses (yes--I used the hot glue gun again--so much easier than icing!) and then made the royal icing to hold the candy on. Then I picked up the babysitter, got dressed up, and Ed and I went to our neighborhood "grown-up" party, leaving the babysitter with William and Seth, our two neighbors, Charlie and Jack, and all the gingerbread house supplies. (Aren't we brilliant!)

The boys proudly showed me their creations when we got home:

Yep--that's about right. Hopefully they had fun! LOL. And the best part of all is that the babysitter CLEANED IT ALL UP!!! Brilliant. And yes--she got a very big tip.

Top O' the Mornin' to You!

On Saturday morning, the boys couldn't find Chippy. Then I opened the refrigerator to find this:

Chippy had dyed our milk green! The boys thought it was kind of weird. Of course, this might have had a greater effect if we had translucent milk cartons rather opaque (d'oh!), but Chippy gets an A for effort.  You win some, you lose some.

A Chip Off the Old Block

On Friday morning, we caught Chippy red-handed pilfering our chocolate chips.

The boys didn't mind, since they got to pilfer a few chocolate chips of their own that morning! Please note that Seth now likes to get in pictures:

I hope Chippy didn't get a stomach ache from eating all that chocolate!

That's One Swingin' Elf!

Chippy decided to fashion himself a tire swing from one of the boys' trucks. He hung it from the ceiling fan. Nice work, Chippy. 

 

Too bad Mommy can't take a decent picture. It's the camera, I swear!

Today's Advent calendar activity was a joke: Why does Santa have three gardens? So he can hoe hoe hoe!

We needed a joke today because Seth's daycare party was tonight. Ed had to work late, so I had to drive out to Falls Church to pick up William and then head back downtown for the party. Luckily, traffic was light. I didn't have to go get William, but he really wanted to go. The boys had fun and it was nice to be able to talk to other parents and not worry about what the boys were doing every second. Watching the other parents chase toddlers, it made me happy that I have older kids. Six and four are pretty awesome ages, actually. Minus the four-year-old tantrums and the six-year-old attitude, of course. :-)

That's a Wrap!





Chippy's talents know no bounds!

 



The boys thought this was hysterical. I can't believe Chippy didn't wake the boys up, cutting and taping so much wrapping paper. I guess the boys are sounds sleepers.

Our Advent calendar activity today was to go buy our Christmas tree. After work, we did our traditional go-out-to-dinner and then get-the-tree-from-Home-Depot routine. We were pretty quick about the whole thing. I never spend too long trying to pick out a tree. Once you get it home and string up the lights and add tinsel, garlands, and ornaments, you're pretty much good to go, no matter how wonky your tree may be. Tonight, after the boys went to bed, Ed and I brought the tree inside and put it up. The top half is nice, but the bottom half is, well, wonky. Oh well. Like I said, ornaments, tinsel, yada yada yada. We'll decorate Friday night and hopefully I'll get some pictures.

For the record, Ed HATES the whole Christmas tree tradition. So I appreciate the fact that he puts up with it for me. And not only puts up with it, but actually goes with us to get the tree, ties it on the roof of our car, brings it inside, and lies awkwardly on the ground, turning the screws into the trunk. If that's not true love, I don't know what is. I'm sure there will come a year when he's willing to cough up the money for a prelit artificial tree. When he does, I won't fight him on it. He's been a really good sport all these years, so it's the least I can do. (And not having to string lights on a Christmas tree? Priceless!)

Let Me In!

In the middle of the night, Ed heard noises downstairs. He investigated and decided some kind of critter was trying to come into our house through the chimney, so he closed the fireplace flue. When we woke up this morning, we discovered Chippy had been locked out! Oops!

Poor Chippy. And as William exclaimed, "Daddy! He was just sick. That's not good for him!"

I tried to get a picture of the boys with Chippy, but Seth couldn't sit still, and I wasn't using the flash. Typical four year old!

Today's Advent calendar activity was a success, although it's a surprise, so I can't reveal it here. I guess things are looking up!

William also brought home a note from his teacher that explained that his class decided that collecting food for needy families at Thanksgiving was so awesome that they want to do something to help needy families for the Holidays, too. So they chose to get gifts for children at a local homeless shelter. They each chose a specific child and brought the wish list home. They also brought a list of other items that families and the shelter need. This is the second child that William is "adopting" for the holidays, and he is so eager to help. He wanted me to read him the other items that families need, and he asked if we could get some of those things, too. I wish I could get it all! And I'm so happy that William really wants to reach out and give to others. It makes me feel better about all the excessive crap toys that William will recieve for the holidays.

You Sank My Battleship!

Chippy's feeling better! Well enough to take on Ironman in a rousing game of Battleship.

As Seth noted, however, it looks like Chippy doesn't really know how to play Battleship.

As for the Advent calendar, today's activity was to take a bubble bath. Easy enough, right? Except guess who forgot to get bubble bath? I guess organization isn't my strong suit after all. Thank goodness shampoo makes decent bubbles. One of these days, I'll get this right!

And the Hits Just Keep Coming

Today, poor Chippy was not feeling very well.

And yet, he's still got that smile on his face! What an elf.

The boys were not sure what to make of this development. William said he was faking. Seth seemed unconcerned. I think so far, Chippy has not quite lived up to expectations. LOL.

Speaking of expectations, along with the arrival of Chippy, December 1 heralded the arrival of the Advent Calendar. Chippy actually brought the boys this Imaginext Advent calendar.

 



They like it, but they've already opened four doors. They don't quite see the point of waiting for 24 days to play with all the different parts. I can sympathize. I mean, all the parts go together. You can't really play with it until all the doors are opened!

Meanwhile, I also created 24 days worth of special holiday-themed activities for our own advent calendar. On day 1, the task was to write letters to Santa Claus. Late in the afternoon, I finally convinced them to sit down and make their lists. Day 2's task was to make homemade ornaments. I had some craft kits to make Christmas trees, reindeer, and a Santa face. I asked them if they wanted to make the ornaments--several times throughout the day. "No thanks!" "Not really." So while the boys played, I got out the glue and put together the Santa face. Later, I noticed that Seth had taken it upon himself to fill the Advent calendar drawers with candy, since I had neglected to do that this year. Silly me for thinking that fun activities and family togetherness would mean more than cheap candy.

I guess someone in the Hahn household had better step it up a notch! It just goes to show you that all the planning and organization in the world can amount to a hill of beans in the eyes of a four year old and a six year old. Good thing they're cute!

Chippy Not-so-Triumphant!

So I have three drafts of posts that I started to write but never finished. That pretty much sums up my life right now. On Thursday, William came down with strep throat, again. His first bout was several weeks ago. Both times, he woke up complaining of a sore throat. He didn't have a fever, so I basically told him to suck it up and go to school. Both times, we got a call less than an hour after school started that he was running a fever. The first time, he threw up once I got him home. So I took him straight to the doctor for a culture, which came back positive. On Thursday, he didn't throw up, but Ed took him to the doc anyway, and sure enough, strep again. Fortunately, he started getting better immediately both times. So all is well, for now.

Way more exciting than strep throat, however, is the return of Chippy the Scout Elf! The boys have been eagerly anticipating Chippy's arrival and were disappointed that Chippy didn't come back right after Thanksgiving. I explained to the boys that Thanksgiving came early this year, and Chippy needed a little more time to prepare for his strenuous assignment. He made his grand entrance by taping wrapping paper in front of the boys' bedroom doors and sliding down the bannister.

The boys were not impressed. Instead of happily crashing through the paper and squealing with delight upon discovering Chippy's latest antics, as Chippy had envisioned, they simply ducked under the paper and missed Chippy entirely as they ran downstairs and searched the house for him. When they finally noticed him (after I asked, "What's on the bannister?") they looked confused. Seth asked, "What's he doing?" I guess I should be glad that the thought of sliding down the bannister hasn't even occurred to them. At any rate, hopefully Chippy won't disaapoint them over the next 24 days!

Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three

Hello . . . hello. Just checking to see if anyone is still out there. I can't believe I have only one measly post for the whole month of November! Good thing I didn't attempt NaBloPoMo. Geeze. You would think that I've been crazy busy or struggling to keep up or getting mad amounts of things done around our house. But no. Just been doing the usual. Working. Meal preparing. Wrangling. Reading. Chatting. Drinking. TV watching. Refereeing. Voting. Celebrating. Errand running. Shopping. Hugging. But not posting. Definitely not posting.

In my defense, work has been very busy with all of my list updating after the election. And also with our work for the upcoming inauguration. When it rains, it pours! But overall, things have been great. We've had two low-key weekends in a row, with few commitments, lots of play time, and pretty nice weather. I've accomplished my 2012 goal of reading at least 24 books. And it looks like I will probably end up reading 30 before the year is out. (That's ONE New Year's resolution accomplished, in case you're counting.) Speaking of resolutions, in true Beth fashion, I've put off the whole exercise goal until the very end of the year. But I haven't given up! After the four-mile run in May, I pretty much stopped exercising again. But after talking to a friend about focusing on weight training, I decided to make an appointment with the trainer at my gym. We met on Thursday and are meeting again tomorrow. The plan is to do 20 minutes of cardio, then lift weights twice a week. One other day, I'll do something on my own. Either a long walk or a video or maybe some kind of class. I might sign up for yoga, and in the spring I want to take tennis. So my goal for now is 3 days a week. Totally doable, right?

William and Seth are awesome, though not without their challenges. They are super excited for Christmas and can't wait until Chippy the Elf returns. They eagerly pour over toy catalogs, circling everything they want for Christmas, which amounts to just about everything on every.single.page. Santa Claus is going to have fun figuring out what it is they really want! They also have each chosen a little boy their own age from the Angel Tree at William's taekwondo studio and are trying to decide what they want to get for their "angel friends" as they call them. They are very excited about it, which makes me happy.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I have felt so much gratitude every single day for all that I have. There are so many moments that bring me so much joy. At night, while I read to the boys, while William reads to me, while Seth sits in his bed after the lights go out flipping through books, while William crawls into our bed in the wee hours of the morning to snuggle with me--these are just some of the moments. Even when I've had it up to my eyeballs with the whining and the fighting and the eye-rolling and the outbursts and the ignoring and the rudeness, I know in my heart that I am so fortunate to be experiencing all of those things with two healthy kids, in a warm house, in a nice neighborhood, with a loving husband and father and a supportive family. It's such a cliche at this time of year to be "thankful" for our lives. But it's a worthy cliche, and one worth repeating. Our friend Maria challenged a group of us to give five "gifts" in one week--whether it was to our friends, family, or complete strangers. It could be a compliment, a note, a paid coffee tab, or an actual gift--anything that might make a difference to another person. I took her up on it and it made a big difference in my week. I hope it made at least a small difference to those I "gifted." I have tried to continue giving gifts over the past few weeks. I've given a gift card to the last person in line at Starbucks. I have hugged my kids and made it a point to tell them that I love them and complimented them when they deserve it. I drove around the block a few times today until I found someone about to pay the parking meter and handed her my ticket, which still had two hours on it. I've complimented people--both strangers and people I know--and I've held my tongue with people close to me, because as LauraC noted, sometimes, not saying something is the nicest thing you can do. I feel like performing these small acts of kindness are a great way to not just feel grateful, but to be greatful. Like all new habits, it's hard to get started, hard to get to a point where the habit takes on a life of its own. But this is one habit I'm really, really working toward owning. This also all points back to an essay I posted years ago from NPR's This, I Believe series called Always Go to the Funeral. I love the whole essay, but here's what I keep coming back to:

"Always go to the funeral" means that I have to do the right thing when I really, really don't feel like it. I have to remind myself of it when I could make some small gesture, but I don't really have to and I definitely don't want to. I'm talking about those things that represent only inconvenience to me, but the world to the other guy. . . . In going to funerals, I've come to believe that while I wait to make a grand heroic gesture, I should just stick to the small inconveniences that let me share in life's inevitable, occasional calamity.

So this Thanksgiving, I'm trying really, really hard to not just talk the talk, but to walk the walk. Following through on things has always been one of my biggest challenges--one of my biggest weaknesses. So I make this pledge knowing that I will not always succeed. But also knowing that when I do succeed, it will make a difference to others, and not just myself. We would all love to make profound changes in the world, but everything that is profound starts off as just one small thing that usually snowballs. For now, I will work on that one small thing and feel grateful that I might make even a tiny difference in the world. Thanks Maria! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Company

We had company this weekend! Heather and Ben drove up from North Carolina to spend some time at the Air and Space Museum, and we were fortunate enough to get to spend some time with them as well. William and Ben were like two peas in a pod and spent as much time as they could playing with toys and watching really bad TV shows.

Heather and I got to chat quite a bit. (I guess the kids really are getting older! I'm not used to actually getting to talk with a friend when the kids are around.) I feel like I've known her forever. And I definitely wish we lived in the same town.

Can't wait to see them again soon. Hopefully next time they come, I can be their tour guide and show them lots of cool DC stuff. This time around, they were pretty much on their own. The good thing about DC is, there will likely always be something here that hasn't been done or seen before.

After Heather and Ben left this morning, we did the usual Sunday morning laundry/grocery shopping/playing. At 2:00 p.m., William had his final tee-ball game It was chilly out there, but he had a good time, and he says he wants to play baseball in the spring. I did manage to take a few pictures.

Overall, it was a really great weekend. Made even better by the return to standard time. I may be one of the few people who actually dislikes daylight savings time. I do appreciate getting an extra hour of daylight in the spring and summer, but losing that hour in the spring is the WORST. Getting that hour back--even with darkness falling at 5:30 p.m.--is awesome. An extra hour is like manna from heaven. And now when I wake up, the sun will be rising! I hate waking up to blackness. (I realize as the days get shorter, I'll eventually have to wake up to darkness again, but for now, I'll take it!) So I'm off to take full advantage of my extra hour by immersing myself in a book. Or maybe watching Revenge. Or maybe just going to sleep.

Blessed

We were extremely fortunate to have suffered virtually no damage from Hurricane Sandy. Just two days of near-constant rain and a lot of wind. But we never lost power, no trees or limbs fell near our house, and the Halloween costume even arrived on Tuesday! With two extra days at home, we did some cookie-baking (and eating), lots of game-playing (Seth is a bad loser, in case you were wondering), a little cleaning (pulled out the fridge and dusted it down and mopped the floor underneath), lots of laundry, and LOTS of TV-watching. Plus, I read a book. So I can not complain one bit.

The weather should be great tonight for trick-or-treating. (Cold, but clear.) Seth's costume is mostly ready. As I mentioned, William's costume arrived, but I'm not sure that he's going to wear it. Our neighbors (Jack and Charlie) are dressing up as the Ghostbusters, so William decided to be Slimer (you know--the green ghost?).

The costume is really cool--it's inflatable and comes with a battery-powered fan that blows it up. But I don't think it's very comfortable, and the mask is a bit claustrophobic for William. I might cut out the face and paint William's face green. Or he might forgo the hood altogether and I'll just paint his face green. I'm not sure that anyone will know who he is if we do that, but I'm not sure that he really cares. And that's the important part. LOL. I long ago realized that I don't have to be a perfectionist or impress anyone other than my kids. If they're happy, that's all that matters.

Meanwhile, November is here, daylight savings time ends this weekend, election day is upon us, and the "holidays" will pretty much officially begin in the world of retail. I have two months left to work on my 2012 goals. Guess I better get to work!

Hurricaine's a'Coming!

We're home, hunkered down, waiting for the storm. School is closed. My work is closed. Unfortunately, Ed had to go in. But he works nearby so hopefully it's not a big deal. I'm letting the kids gorge on TV with the assumption that we will, at some point, lose power. Our neighborhood has tons of old trees, so it's only a matter of time. We've got water, flashlights, and batteries. I couldn't find any D batteries, so hopefully, the one backup set I have will be enough. This area goes completely CRAZY when it comes to storm prep. By Friday night, the shelves of Target and Safeway were cleaned out of bottled water and batteries. I think by Saturday, all generators were gone. There were lines at gas stations. Still, I guess it's good that people are taking it seriously.

I hope that Halloween won't be ruined, but seeing as how William's costume is supposed to arrive in the mail today, and I haven't even put together Seth's costume, it won't be the end of the world if it doesn't happen on Wednesday. William is going to be Slimer from Ghost Busters and Seth wants to be a Conehead Zombie (from Plants vs. Zombies) covered in spiders. I have the cone for his head, and I have jeans and a red tie. I don't have a brown blazer, or spiders (have no idea where the spiders came from, but I aim to please!) but I'm sure we can make do somehow. I might try to make a dash to the costume store today if it's open for some face makeup. I want to hit up the library, too, because of course, the books that I requested last week are available TODAY.

The last few weeks have been pretty good. We've been to a few pumpkin patches, a truck touch, some birthday parties, and a community Halloween festival complete with haunted house, carnival games, a Reptiles Alive show, and lots of candy. We've raked leaves and jumped in the piles, and generally enjoyed great fall weather. William's reading continues to improve (although I finally figured out that I've actually been having him read books that are a little bit above his level) and he seems to still enjoy school. We'll learn more at his parent-teacher conference next week.

So that's our update! I'm off to take a shower while we still have hot water. Hope everyone in the Northeast stays safe!

The Digital Age

I just got an email from my brother-in-law letting me know he's in town. I emailed him back to suggest dinner tomorrow night or the next night. I then texted my babysitter to see if she or her sister or her brother would be available either night. She and her sister are available! So I texted my BIL to see what night worked best for him. He answered, I texted back the sitter, and now our plans are made! And we did it all without uttering a single word. I guess many arguments could be made for whether or not that's a good thing or a bad thing or will be the eventual downfall of society. All I know is that for someone who hates using the phone as much as I do, it's a Godsend!

Ironically, as much as I abhor the phone, I'm very late to and not very savvy with digital media in general. I don't update my Facebook page very often. And I've quit following Twitter altogether. And I still hunt-and-peck when I text, rather than double-thumbing it like the rest of the world. And yet I blog. Blogging, however, is passive. You can read it, or not read it. There are no expectations. With Twitter, and FB, and even the telephone, there are expectations. And it's constant. I can't keep up! I guess email is like that, too. But I'm much more comfortable communicating via email than any other media, really. I wonder what all of that says about me? Loads, I'm sure.

Regardless, it just makes me wonder about how the boys will be communicating when they grow up. And it also makes me wonder why I don't have an unlimited texting plan. And now I'm off to read my ebook on my Kindle!

Politics on the Playground

On the way home from school today, we had the following exchange:

William: "Mom, who's going to be our president?" 

Me: "Well, President Obama wants to be the president for four more years, but Mitt Romney wants to be president, too. The election is in one month." 

William: "Well, if Romney is our next president, he's going to get rid of Sesame World."

Me: "Do you mean Sesame Street?"  

William: "Yeah, Sesame Street."

Me: "Did you talk about that at school today?" 

William: "We were talking about it during after care."

Seth: "Will Womney get wid of Disney World, too?" 

This just cracks me up on so many levels. I tried to explain to William that Sesame Street receives public funding, and that people feel differently about how the government should spend money. I'm not sure how much of it actually got through to him. I've told him who I'm voting for, but I've also tried to emphasize that we respect other people no matter who they want to vote for. And that just because we support one candidate, it doesn't mean we think the other candidate is "bad."

Man--I didn't really think 1st graders would start getting political. Thank God I didn't have kids during the Monica Lewinsky scandal!

A Birthday Surprise

For the Columbus Day weekend, the boys and Ed and I traveled to Florida to surprise my mom for her 70th birthday. (I didn't blog about the plan ahead of time just in case my mom read my blog.) All of my siblings were there, too--the first time we've all been together in 7 years. (For those that don't know, I have two older sisters and two older brothers.) My mom was definitely surprised. We all came together in bits and pieces, so she didn't realize that we had actually planned it all until William and Seth and Ed and I showed up on Saturday afternoon. Although it was a very brief visit, we all really enjoyed it--especially William and Seth!

We left bright and early on Saturday morning for a flight to Jacksonville with a plane change in Atlanta. When we boarded the first plane, the flight attendants gave the boys wings and asked if they wanted to see the cockpit. I thought they would just peek in and wave to the pilots. But the pilots actually got out of their seats and let the boys sit down and play with controls. Seriously! We were all dumbstruck. Needless to say, the boys LOVED it.

It was a good thing we had that experience, though, because once we got to our row of seats in the VERY back of the plane, William gleefully jumped into the window seat only to lift the shade and realize the plane's engine was completely blocking the window. Such a bummer. But the boys handled it well and luckily, it was a short flight. We had better seats on the second leg, from Atlanta to Jacksonville, but Seth claimed the window seat for that flight. William was a good sport. As it turned out, we had the exact same situation on the ride home, so at least it worked out evenly for the boys. They each got to look out a window once.

While we were in Jacksonville, the boys had a blast jumping on my sister's trampoline, annoying playing with their teenage cousins, playing Wii, eating whatever they wanted, staying up late, and watching TV in bed. The cousins (Katie and Melanie--my sister's daughters) were SO patient and sweet with the boys. They really put up with a LOT. On Saturday night, we had an oyster roast with frogmore stew for my mom (just our family--we kept it low-key) and we finished up the last of everything for lunch on Sunday. It was all very low stress (maybe not for my sister who hosted--Thanks Rose!) and a lot of fun. I hope my mom enjoyed it as much as we did. We said our goodbyes on Sunday night and got the boys to the hotel for a good night's sleep before our 4:30 a.m. wake-up call on Monday morning. The boys did great for the trip home. Seth fell asleep on the second leg of the flight home and I even got to finish a book on the plane. If this whole trip taught me nothing else, it is that life is DEFINITELY easier as the boys get older. Maybe not psycologically, but definitely logistically!

The boys can't wait to go back and visit everyone. Hopefully it won't be another 7 years before we all get together again! We did get a close family friend to take pictures of mom with the grandkids and a picture of our whole family together. Hopefully they turned out okay. Seth and William were not very cooperative, so I don't have high hopes. But I'll post 'em when we get 'em!

Fall is Here--Mega Update

Wow--I can't believe it's October already. I know it's a cliche, but September flew right by me. We've been lucky enough to enjoy some absolutely gorgeous fall weather, though, so for that, I'm thankful. William has been in first grade for almost one month now, and things seem to be going well so far. The homework is manageable and his reading has improved so much in the last month. The other night, as he read to me, I started to point under each word as he read it, but he informed me that "first graders read with their eyes, not their fingers." Well excuse me! LOL.

Our back to school night is this Thursday, so I'm very eager to hear from William's teacher and to see how things are going so far. I still worry about his ability to focus and follow directions and stay on task. He's impatient and rushes through schoolwork--especially when it comes to subjects that don't interest him a whole lot. But he takes pride in his work when he does well, and doesn't like it when he's not prepared, so I think those things bode well for him. His class is studying each of the 50 states and each night, he brings home a simple work sheet on a state and he's supposed to look up a fact about that state that he can share in school the next day. One night, we didn't do it (he resisted and I decided not to push it) and in the morning, he was upset that we didn't have time to do it before school. I really, really want to get into the habit of making HIM responsible for his work and I think that was a good lesson for him.

Meanwhile, William has been taking tee-ball this fall and it has been such a good experience so far. It's a "clinic" rather than a competitive team, so practice is once a week and it runs for 8 weeks. So far, we've had practices that run through hitting (off the tee), fielding, and throwing/catching. The group was divided into 3 "teams" and for the final 3 weeks, the teams will scrimmage against each other. William is not the most athletically gifted kid in the world (he gets that from his mom, I'm afraid), so I was a little worried about what it would do to his confidence. But luckily in the clinic, there's a wide range of ability among the kids, so he doesn't stand out as the worst kid on the field. While he's definitely aware of his skill level, he also notices how he improves the more he works on it, so I think (I hope) that he's learning a lot of great life lessons. And most important, he thinks it's fun. I'm so, so thankful that we have this option of a clinic.

So that's the scoop on William these days. As for Seth, he's growing up right before my eyes. (As all kids do, I guess.) On Saturday night, he joined William at the Taekwondo studio's Ninja Night Out. From 5:30 to 9:00, the kids play Super Mega Dodge Ball, eat pizza, watch a movie, and play more games. In the past, Seth has never been up for attending (he could start attending when he turned 4), but this weekend, he said he wanted to do it. William seemed very excited to have him attend, too, and he promised to watch out for Seth. We dropped them off and picked them up at 9:00 and Seth was happy as a lark, informing us that he "only did one bad thing"! (Which meant, an instructor only had to speak to him once, when he was playing a little too rough with William. LOL) I asked them which movie they watched and they didn't know what it was. William said, "Something about a deer." "Bambi?" I asked. Yep--it was Bambi. Then later, when Ed asked what they watched, Seth said, "Bamboo!" Too funny.

On Sunday, we went to the Taekwondo annual picnic and the boys got their faces painted. Seth went off to play on the monkey bars after his face was done and a woman asked, "What are you? A tiger?" And Seth said, "No, I'm a human!" Love that kid.

 We have not signed him up for any activities since his soccer clinic a year ago. He has said repeatedly that he doesn't want to take any lessons, so we're not pushing it. He is starting to show some interest in Taekwondo so we'll see where that leads. Maybe he'll want to play soccer in the spring.

Plans for October are under way. The fall pumpkin festival is coming up. We might try to go camping, if the weather allows (and we think the boys are up for it). There's a fall truck touch at the end of the month that I'm sure the boys will want to attend. And of course, there's Halloween. As of today, William wants to be a bat again and Seth wants to be a ghost.

As for me, I'm still trying to get back on that exercise bandwagon. My tombstone should have a picture of me chasing that bandwagon etched on it--since that is pretty much the story of my life. I'm also looking to have a closet consult. A "professional" stylist will help me weed out my closet, put together outfits, and then help me make a list of pieces I will buy over time to create a wardrobe I actually like. Still trying to figure out if this is something I can afford, but I feel like I desperately need the assistance! Speaking of desperately needing assistance, decorating our house is another place where I haven't made much progress. We did finally get the study and the boys' rooms painted (did I ever mention this?) so that has been a huge improvement. I have ideas about the hall, living room, and dining room, too. We found a painter that we really like, so we will probably wait until next spring to paint those spaces. (He's painting the outside trim right now, so we have to take the hit to the pocketbook a little at a time.) Baby steps, people. I have been reading quite a bit, and am now part of a book group made up of a bunch of great moms in my neighborhood. It's so nice to have made that connection with a fun group of women. I'm also volunteering in William's school once a month, helping with art class or the computer lab, or with class parties. All good things. Life is good. I know October will fly by as quickly as September did, so it's helpful to write it all down. It helps me take stock of our lives and how we really are managing to do fun things, to make memories, to live in the moments. September was a busy month--starting first grade and tee-ball, going to book festivals and food festivals and picnics, our first high school football game, hanging out at the mall, and lots of time playing outside and inside with neighbors. Hopefully October will be more of the same!

National Book Festival

On Saturday the boys and I hit the Mall for this year's National Book Festival. I took a big chance on taking the boys by myself, but it was awesome! My expectations were very, very low, so that may have had something to do with it. But the boys really enjoyed it and they were very well behaved.

It didn't start off too well, though. I hit traffic driving into DC, and then I couldn't park where I was expecting to park. I found a spot close to my office, but then we had to make the long walk to the festival. I was trying to get there by 1:40 p.m. because I wanted to hear the book talk by Mary Pope Osborne, the author of the Magic Tree House books. I thought the boys would enjoy it. We hustled and got to festival and found the tent. It was packed, but I managed to shove urge the boys to get in closer. We got a spot where we could actually see the author and then waited for her to come on stage. The boys were tired. And cranky. They didn't like waiting.Then she finally came out and started talking. The boys were still tired. And even more cranky. They whined, "This is boring!"



Mary Pope Osborne in the black and white tunic

T. C. Boyle, author of Tortilla Curtain and many more!

So we bailed. My next goal was to get T. C. Boyle to sign a book for a friend of mine, so we headed toward the complete opposite side of the festival (I don't even know how many blocks, but it seemed like a LOT) where the authors were signing books. William wanted to go to the activities tent. Seth wanted to go to PBS Kids tent. I wanted to at least make an effort to get the autograph, so we stopped for ice cream and got in line for the book signing. It was a beautiful day, but we were in the blazing sun, and it got pretty hot. The kids sprawled in the grass in my shadow and ate their ice cream. I started talking to the woman in front of us. People around us commented on how well behaved the boys were. They started getting antsy. But then the line started moving. Oh my goodness! It looked like I might actually get the signature! The boys held it together, they handed T. C. Boyle the book when it was our turn, and he signed it! Mission accomplished!

After that, I told the boys we could do whatever they wanted for however long they wanted.

We went to the states tent and got a stamp for every.single.state on William's map. We went to the tent with Scholastic books and did crafts and watched an eStoria book.

We rode the Carousel on the Mall and waited in a RIDICULOUSLY slow line for what we thought would be Gatorade, which they were out of, and then maybe Sprite, which they had but they were out of ice so it was luke warm, but in the end, turned out to be water. I added more ice cream for good measure. Then we visited the PBS kids tent and then the Target tent and then we finally headed back to our car at around 5:30 p.m. The crazy part was that the boys  walked the entire way back to our car WITHOUT WHINING. Epic, people. Simply epic. Seth even commented on the fact that he wasn't even asking me to hold him.

Here's proof of their good moods on the walk to the car:

 

 

Seth enjoyed a cherry italian ice that stained his face for the rest of the day!

So, it turned out to be a great day. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the rest of our weekend, though. On Friday night, it was elementary school night at our high school's football game. The kids got in for $1, and they LOVED it. I don't think they watched the game for more than one minute, but William found a bunch of buddies and they all threw a football around in the grass. Seth stalked followed the school mascots, throwing them high-fives and hugs every chance he got. (The high school's mascot is a mustang, the middle school's is a huskie, the upper elementary's is a tiger, and Williams's school is a hippo.) Ed and I played man-to-man coverage and had to drag them home just after half time. We had fun and if the weather stays nice, we'll be heading back.

On Sunday, William had his 3rd tee-ball practice. He's enjoying it and already getting better. Here are two photos I snapped.

I'm so glad I enrolled him in this fall clinic. It's been a really good experience so far.

So that was our weekend. Lots of fun, but I'm still exhausted!