squelch

Oy.

I had plans to write a post about our fabulous trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. (Here's the lowdown. The kids loved the waterslides. Claire went on one, that Brian went on after sending her down. When he got to the bottom he said, "if I had gone on first I would never have let her do that." But by the time he got to the bottom I had gotten her calm by telling her what a big girl she was, and how brave, etc. Having a room on the waterpark level is nice, but when you walk by the waterslides 297 times and the kids want to go in every.single.time. saying "not now" becomes a bit exhausting. I also rediscovered that my husband is an arcade junkie, and Claire looks to be not far behind, even though she is too young to really play any of the games they had. All in all, a great trip, and I look forward to going again.)

I planned to write about how thrilled Claire's teacher was that part of our Christmas gifts was a class gift of a new bird feeder since Claire constantly tells me how the bird feeder is broken, and she wishes they could feed the birds.

I planned to write about how the largest grocery store in town does not carry a single jar of plum preserves, but does have vidalia onion jelly. However, the smallest store? Had three different kinds of plum preserves, at different price points.

I planned to write about our upcoming trip to Texas, and how I am panicking a bit about taking an almost-two and a three-and-a-half year old on an airplane for 3+ hours and staying sane in the process.

But all of that is going to have to wait because oh the craziness of the last few days. Thursday, approximately three minutes before I needed to leave to pick up Claire from school, I discovered a giant wet spot on the basement carpet. It was wet enough that it went "squelch" every time I took a step. Ugh. Then I looked closely at the laminate flooring. Hmmm, the seams shouldn't peak up like that. I've never noticed that before. Then a quick look in the closet with the furnace, water heater, and plumbing for Brian's bar sink. Wet everywhere. Ack. Panic. Have to leave the house. After consulting my parents (helpful), and Brian (not) while I drove to and from school, I started calling around for plumbers when I got home. I had one recommendation, one whose van I'd seen around, and another who a neighbor had seen in another neighbor's driveway. Good enough. The first two weren't available to come out that day, but the third was. So I spent the rest of my afternoon learning how to turn off the water to and drain a water heater, find the master water shutoff for the house, and trying my best to sop up the wet with a variety of towels while I waited for the plumber. Not exactly how I'd planned my day. (Big thank you to my dad who drove up to help, and like me, couldn't find the leak, but certainly calmed me down a little.) The plumber arrived around 5:30, but unfortunately, he couldn't find any leak either. So we went to bed with no answers, and a very damp basement.

Friday I ran to the grocery store before the cleanup people were supposed to come between 9 and 11 to do a lot of the grocery shopping for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Then I waited. And waited. And waited. They came around 12:45. Their estimate for cleaning up the damage was a little less than I anticipated, but they would only rip up the Pergo and clean underneath it, not replace it. I said I'd be in touch. They did not pull up any carpet (which I'd hoped for as our plumber had said it was possible we had a cracked foundation). So instead I foisted Claire off on a generous neighbor, left Ben fussing in his crib, ripped up carpet and set up a fan myself so that it was no longer sitting on the sodden pad, and could dry out. Then Ben and I headed over to the neighbors so that I could just pretend the problem didn't exist for a little while. When I came home Brian was home, and we went downstairs together. At this point nearly everything was dry except the base of the furnace which is attached to a humidifier, so we put in a call to the company that services our furnace. The guy came right over, and shortly he and Brian discovered the problem. The pipe from the humidifier wasn't sloped correctly, and had developed a small clog, causing it to back up when the humidifier was going strong. Not visible when the furnace/humidifier wasn't running. So the problem has been found, and fixed. Now we need to figure out how to clean the mess up. Fun. Or not.

Needless to say the goodies I usually make for friends and neighbors? Will be New Year's goodies, not Christmas ones. And our holiday cards and letter? Happy New Year everyone. That's when you'll get your card. I had to take some things off of my plate, or I would not survive the next three days. I decided how could I celebrate properly the true reason for the season if I didn't give myself a little peace on earth? I hope to, but may not, have the chance to post again before Christmas. So a very Merry Christmas to all, and to all a restful night.

Best Shot(s) Monday - Christmas photos

A few weeks ago I took 280 photos trying to find the three that were just right for the Christmas card. I frankly wasn't thrilled with the lighting I had in any of the shots, and if I had had time, I would have redone them at a different time of day, or in a different room, but I didn't. Here are three that didn't make the card, but deserve to be spotlighted, anyway.

Trying to get two kids to look happy at the same time?
Ain't gonna happen. At least at this point they were having fun!

Even the weird lighting can't disguise that pretty smile!

Hello, GQ called. They're ready for the "toddler" edition.

To see more pictures from Best Shot Monday visit Tracey over at Picture This, and look for more adorable links in her comments.

A bevy of contests

Wow! There are tons of opportunities right now to pick up some great prizes!

5 Minutes for Mom has quite a few contests up right now. Every woman knows that finding the right jeans is not an easy task. The ones that fit nicely, and feel comfortable, and make you feel good about how you look? Yeah, not easy to find. But True Jeans really tries to help. You enter your measurements, and they'll give you alist of what jeans to try. And right now by entering this contest, you could win a $200 gift certificate! Wow!

The lovely sisters also scored a great prize from Best Buy. You could win a shelf system from Insignia, that includes an iPod dock, a CD/DVD player, and much more. Wow again!

Over at A Readable Feast, Anne-Marie is giving away a great big basket of children's books. At our house new books are always a big hit.

Hmmm, I'm convinced there were more contests that I was going to mention here, but I can't think of them now. It is almost bedtime, so my brain cells are done for the day, I think.

Olive

One of my favorite Christmas stories is Olive the other Reindeer. It's about a dog named Olive who hears people singing Rudolph, and thinks that instead of saying "all of the other reindeer" they are saying "Olive, the other reindeer" so she heads off to the North Pole to help Santa out.

Claire chose to have that story read to her 2 or 3 times on Sunday, and then later that evening I caught her singing to herself as she looked at the book, "all of the other reindeer...Olive the other reindeer...Lucky the other reindeer." It was so cute. And fitting given how we had tortured dressed Lucky up on Saturday when we went to pick out our tree.

Best Shot Monday - birthday pie

Ben seems to be thoroughly enjoying the birthday pie on Saturday.

To see more pictures from Best Shot Monday visit Tracey over at Picture This, and look for the links in her comments.

Long time no type.

Well, I certainly hadn't intended to finish off a month of posting daily by not posting for an entire week. Sadly, we found out last Thursday that Brian's grandma had passed away, so the next few days were a blur of making plans, doing laundry, cleaning up, doing laundry, packing, doing laundry - you get the drift.

Our trip was too fast, and it was - of course - sad, but at the same time we got to spend some quality time with family that we don't see often enough. That, at least, was a blessing. I am grateful that Grandma got to meet and hold both of her great-grandchildren. She loved holding them in her lap, and they loved that she wore long dangly necklaces that they could tug on. Brian has lots of stories from when he used to fly out to Texas every summer to see his grandparents, and when the kids are older they will get to hear about Grandma Norma, and what a strong woman she was. Brian was excited to find an ice cream maker that he used to use with his grandparents when he was out there visiting, and he shipped it home so that he can make ice cream with Claire and Ben. (Hopefully that's one item that was on my Christmas list that I won't get this year!) I know they won't have their own memories of meeting her, but we have lots of pictures to show them, and hopefully that will be enough.

We came back to two little ones who have been physically on top of me for the last 48 hours. Or at least that's what it feels like. Just five minutes ago Claire asked me, "why are you under that blanket?" I told her I was cold, and she said, "I'm cold, too." So she went upstairs to get her blanket. On her way up the stairs she said, "do you want me to sit next to you?" with the most hopeful lilt in her voice. It obviously meant, "may I please sit next to you?" Of course this means she is currently laying on top of one of my forearms while I type, touching my lips and chin and giggling.

Ahhhh

Well, it is day 30. Thirty days of daily blogging, come to an end. Somedays it was hard to find inspiration (and occasionally, internet connectivity), but I managed to make it through. Goodbye NaBloPoMo - see you again next year - maybe.

In other exciting news - today Claire made the brilliant observation, "when we walk faster, it doesn't take as long to get there." Perhaps she will become a scientist one day. Ben was laughing and charming as we ran errands - until I didn't have a quarter at the store to let him ride in one of those mechanical trucks that they put right next to the front doors to torment parents. And so I carried him, screaming, while pushing a cart full of bulk food purchases to the car, and then strapped him into his car seat while he made sounds as though I was torturing him. I saw the other mothers watching. Some looked sympathetic, but a few looked triumphant. I think they were just glad to see that it wasn't only their kids who do that. He did befriend lots of people, including one of the barristas (sp?), by getting his groove on at Starbucks. All in all, it wasn't a bad day.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I changed the look again to reflect the season. However, I'm not sure that I like how the photos show up on this background. We'll see, I might change my mind. I reserve that right.

In other news, the other night Ben counted from eight to thirteen twice. I have been unable to get him past eleven on repeat attempts, though. It was entirely random, too. I told the car to change the radio station, and after I said the numbers of the station I wanted he chimed in with the counting.

This week Claire's class is studying Japan. So she now says, "sayonara" when prompted, and is learning to eat pretend food with chopsticks. She is thrilled that this week all of her friends are back at school, as a few of them took extra time off last week for Thanksgiving trips. In fact she told me yesterday, when we talked about wearing a new outfit we'd bought at the mall to school, "they're going to be so proud of me!" When I asked for clarification she told me, "My teachers, and all my friends. They're going to be so proud of me wearing my new clothes to school!"

Tonight as I got them ready for bed they were pretending there were monsters in some of the rooms, and running around shrieking. We all went in Ben's room, and closed the door to keep the monsters out. Claire told me they were "just pretend", so I wasn't scared. In the middle of putting on his PJs, Ben said to me, "mon-stah" in a very deep growly voice, and then shrieked this high-pitched piercing shriek. Then he laughed hysterically. Later Claire pretended to zerbert the floor, and told me she'd zerberted the monster. She continued by telling me the monster was in her belly now so he couldn't eat us. Whew! I'm glad she took care of it, I was starting to get worried.

The minds of children are amazing things.

Oi.

Today after picking Claire up from school, we picked Brian up for lunch and headed over to the mall for some food court goodness, and a little Christmas shopping. Up until that point the day had gone pretty well.

At lunch Ben dropped a full cup of ketchup under the table. Then Claire kept trying to crawl down there to play. Brian got sick from something he ate, and had to bail early. Then, after losing Claire for about 3 minutes in Macy's (oh the gray hairs - the thoughts that run through your head. I was already mentally composing the description I would give people so we could start an all-out childhunt), Ben fell asleep in the stroller. This may seem like a good thing. But, firstly, he is too big for the stroller, and during much of his sleeping his feet rested on the front wheels which meant I had to tip the stroller up onto only its two rear wheels for a lot of the navigating. And, secondly, that he absolutely would not nap until after we got home.

On the ride home, in the back seat for several minutes all I could hear was, "yes!" and "no!" The kicker? They were not arguing about anything. There was no question to be answered. They just wanted to be ornery, so were disagreeing with each other. Over nothing. at. all. It was funny, but also, mildly annoying.

Ben's lack of nap at home meant that today, after I got up, I did not have a single child-free minute until about 30 minutes ago when Claire was tucked into bed. That makes for a very. long. day. No matter how cute the children are. Mama needs a break.

Your daily dose of cute

The kids are growing up SO fast. I can hardly believe the changes.

Claire has suddenly decided that she's a "big girl". So now I am not Mommy, or Mama. Simply Mom. Her conversations are peppered with, "right, Mom?" and, "OK, Mom?" Like this one in the car Sunday as we talked about going out for lunch.

"Hey Mom! You can sit next to me. Because we're both girls. Right, Mom? RIGHT, MOM? And Daddy can sit with Ben. OK, Mom?"

And Ben is constantly cracking me up. This morning Claire got in the car first, and when I lifted him up into his seat he reached over to grab her hand. "Ho hans, Cwawe?" Then again on the ride home he asked to hold her hand. She kindly obliged.

On at least three occasions this morning he climbed into my lap, rolled over to look up at me, and with his best flirting smile said, "hewwo" and then reached up for hugs and kisses. When I smother him in kisses or tickles he almost always belly laughs and then asks for it "AGAIN!" And he has this sweet little voice when he is asking for something he really wants. Like this morning when I was having pumpkin roll for breakfast he climbed up beside me, and sweetly asked, "I twy?" How could anyone resist that? The glint in his eye tells you he knows that he is irresistible, and he loves it.

So much sweet. It'll almost give you a toothache. But it is so worth it.

Best Shot Monday - leaves

Even the dreariest November day is brightened when you can look out your door and see this.



There are a lot more Best Shot Monday pictures to see, so you better "leaf" here and head over to Tracey's (don't forget to look for all of the links in the comments)!

Thanksgiving day in pictures

In addition to tons and tons of great food (which reminds me - it's about time for a slice of delicious leftover pumpkin roll!), there was a lot of other fun going on.

The bubbles were obviously a big hit.

Although Ben's technique leaves a bit to be desired.

And sometimes the results were a little puzzling.

And what would Thanksgiving be without a little football?

Legos provided plenty of fun while the kids waited patiently for the turkey to finish cooking.

And of course, after we were all stuffed, there was time for snuggling...

...and kisses.

And of course, a Thanksgiving nap. (Don't despair ladies - he's single!)

All in all it was a great day.

Home again, home again

Despite having some great times with family over the last few days, it felt so good to just drop into my favorite chair at home. There is so much to do, cleaning, decorating for the holidays, laundry and unpacking - even washing dishes left from making mashed potatoes Thursday morning. But yet I don't want to be anywhere else right now.

In some excellent news, we found out Friday that Grandma miraculously woke up from her coma. So we have even more to be thankful for than we thought. We were so thrilled to hear that she seems to be her usual feisty self. All I kept saying was, "Wow," and, "that's so amazing!"

Fall Fun

Earlier this week it was unseasonably warm. Which meant it was a great time to go outside and play in the leaves. The smell of fallen leaves, the rustling sounds - it all brought back memories of growing up, and raking leaves into piles and jumping in.

Ben thought running through the carpet of leaves was loads of fun. He also thought it was hysterical when Claire or I would toss a handful of leaves up in the air, and they would fall on him as they drifted back down to the ground.


Claire made "leaf angels" and threw handfuls of leaves up in the air (or at me) over and over and over again.


Even Tiger came outside to play.


And what would be the best way to end the afternoon of fun? Sharing popsicles with friends, of course.

(Note how both of my children are too consumed with eating
their popsicles to look at the camera.)

Thankful

There are so many things we have to be thankful for.

I am so amazingly thankful for my kids. They make me laugh each and every day, and somedays that's just what I need to keep me going.
I am thankful that I have a husband who loves me, understands me, and accepts me. And who works extra hard so that I can stay home right now.
I am thankful for our extended families. We have a truly amazing network of brothers and sisters, parents, etc.
I am thankful for my friends - old and new. They make my world a better place to be.
I am extremely thankful that we live in a neighborhood full of kids and families - neighbors that stop over just to say hello - that offer to help - that my kids love to stop by to visit.

And tonight - I was very thankful for a nice cold glass of a great white wine after I arrived at my parents house and got the kids tucked into bed.

ps - stay tuned - pictures coming soon!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

In the grand tradition of Thanksgiving Eves, we went out tonight. To test mattresses. Oddly enough, the store was quite empty. I can't imagine why there weren't more people out, trying to appear comfortable lying on a mattress in a brightly lit store while a salesperson stares at them. The store we went to was a "healthy back" store, so they had several giant exercise balls that the kids enjoyed knocking things over playing with, while we tried out some new mattresses.

We followed that up with a delicious dinner at an Italian restaurant near our house. The restaurant was nearly empty, not surprisingly. Almost all of the families that were there had kids close to the ages of ours, so I didn't feel quite so badly when they demanded spaghetti and meatballs, and then ate almost none. They did devour the vanilla bean gelato, though. I preferred the bread pudding myself.

Then home and bedtime, so we can get up in the morning. Cook a lot of potatoes, and head out to stuff ourselves full of food for the rest of the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

Contests, contests everywhere!

Janice and Susan, the lovely ladies behind 5 Minutes for Mom, also run a store called Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles. The stuff there - well, I pretty much would like to have any of it. And they are generously sponsoring a contest for one lucky person to win a retro pedal car for their very own.

They also have their fabulous Christmas giveaway going on. They already have 13 great contests going on, and it's not over yet!



So take a few minutes to look at what they're offering - you won't regret it!

A conversation with Ben

Ben: Ben pulls my ear. "Eeeeah?" (he has a Boston accent)
Me: "Yes, Mommy's ear."
Ben: Ben pulls his ear. "Eeeeah?"
Me: "That's Ben's ear."
Ben: Ben pulls his other ear. "Eeeeah?"
Me: "Oh my goodness! You have another ear! Two ears! One, two."
Me: So then we count to two on my fingers a few times. "Two ears. One, two."
Ben: "I thwee."
Me: "No, you're not three. You're one. One." Holds up one finger.
Ben: "One." Looks at me coyly. "Thiwteen?"
Me: "No, Ben, you're not thirteen. You're one."
Ben: "I gwow?"
Me: "Yes, Ben. You'll grow."
Ben: full of big smiles

Not much to say

We got some bad news today about Brian's grandma in Texas. We are busy sending up lots of prayers. That's about all that's on my mind right now, so sorry this is going to be brief.

We are thinking of you, Grandma.

Fun times

As expected, the Hokies won. After the game we went to Hokie House for food, beer, and pool. The people watching was excellent. There was one group of four, three men, and one woman, who kept us entertained with constant drama much of the evening. There was fighting, crying, hugging, and kissing. Over and over and over again. They did not all leave together.

There were also quite a few folks out, that I am sure, Clinton and Stacy would not approve of. Perhaps the young woman in the silver sequined top, layered with a pink cabled, hooded cardigan. Or the one in the black tank top with silver sequins at the hem and neckline, combined with a pair of hiking boots.

It certainly made for good conversation while Brian was busy playing pool and making new friends. I think he might be an honorary fraternity brother now.