Oh, Christmas tree...

There seems to be some concern (clears throat) about Bode Wm's need for Christmas decorations. I won't name any names (clears throat) (AUNT DAWNIE) but everyone can rest assured that Bode Wm knows that we are celebrating Christmas in Portland.  And we are doing Christmas-y things in our spare time (viewing Christmas lights, listening to Christmas music, reading Christmas stories (thank you Aunt Melinda!).

Yes, he's excited, and yes, he probably would feel better if  our whole house was a-blaze in lights a la Clark Griswold's house in Christmas Vacation. 

But that is not going to happen.

Remember his little "tree" that he brought home from school? We decorated it with scraps (really) around the house.  I removed a small strand of star garland from one of Gianna's school art projects and put it on the tree. I drew some stars and Christmas "lights" for Bode to color. Being the selfless and devoted mother I am, I even sacrificed my very latest issue of Bazaar, and cut it up (the tinsel portrait of Karl Lagerfeld's design team, a gold star necklace, a diamond bangle, etc.). (If RWF happens to look at the tree, he might think that I've done lost my mind and am dropping some really expensive hints.)  I actually taped the cut-outs to the tree using a roll of packing tape left by the movers. (Crafty! Martha's got nothing on me!)

We have a Charlie Brown tree in place.  It stands by its lonely self, mostly ignored by everyone, against the living room wall. It's not perfect, but it will do for now. 

Now everybody sing it with me: "Oh, Christmas tree. Oh, Christmas tree...."

xo

Have a happy weekend

I hope that your weekend is full of love and smiles!
xo

Andrew!

Andrew (cousin to Bode, Gianna and Nico) is in New York for a wedding. He drove in to see his cousins today.  Aunt Dawnie and Uncle Craig showed up to see their son, and to spoil their niece and nephews for a few hours. 

This morning, when I revealed that we were having special guest stars Aunt Dawnie, Uncle Craig and Cousin Andrew on our show today, the kids went ca-razy.  They immediately began chanting, "Aunt DAWN-NIE! Aunt DAWN-NIE! Aunt DAWN-NIE!" as if she were some kind of rock star. 

Gianna is getting to be such a big girl. But she retains her little girl demeanor around Uncle Craig though. They enjoyed sitting together, lunching together, and had a few rounds of  "hamburger/french fries" as well.

The rest of the day kind of paled for these monkeys. But they really needed a quiet afternoon of downtime after hanging with their favorite local celebs!

We enjoyed seeing everyone.

Happy Friday.
xo

Thursday

This morning we made oatmeal cookies. We ate some of the cookies (at 10 AM). Once the sugar kicked in, we ran around the house until we collapsed, and then read books.  

Staying inside and trying desperately to act like the weather does not suck.

Happy Thursday to you.

xo

Nemo

The storm ("Nemo") wasn't so bad.  We lost power around 2 A.M. Saturday morning. Bode woke us up with a blood curdling scream.  It made for a long, interesting morning.  I sat with him in his dark room, talking about the snow storm and why we lost power. While we were talking,  a snow plow came into our driveway. We stood at his window and watched the snow plow push the snow out of our drive.  I think we both found watching the warm headlights of the truck moving around our snowy property very soothing. 

"Nemo" was kind to us. We got about six inches of snow.  And other than the interesting power outage, which lasted only a few hours (thank God!), nothing significant happened.

We were so happy because RWF came home on Friday night, after a very "Planes, Trains, and Cars" travel day.  He also had to drive through stormy Nemo to get home.  I am so thankful that he arrived home safely.

We did spend Saturday in bed (practically).  RWF and I were feeling very tired. He was jet-lagged and tired. I was tired from solo parenting and the early morning wake-up. And the monkeys, who were not tired at all (of course!), were more than happy to jump around us, laughing it up in our cozy bedroom. 

We hope that you had a happy weekend, safe and warm.
xo

Go West, young man

Bode was feeling well enough to go skiing today with his dad.  I have missed seeing my little guy ski this winter.  Before they left, I asked RWF to take some snaps of Bode for me.  Somebody took these snaps of RWF and Bode today. I can see in the snaps that Bode isn't feeling that hot.

Skiing West Mountain

RWF actually took a video of Bode skiing for me. It was a lot of fun for me to watch.  RWF took the video on Bode's last run, and you can tell that Bode is just whipped. He crashes into RWF, which is kind of funny...  I will try to post it later.

What are your plans for MLK?  Bode and Gianna are trading sniffles, so we're laying low.
xo

Saturday

Here is Nico hanging out with his big brother Bode and his faithful companion P in the playroom on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Happy weekend.
xo

Happy New Year

While I was making my traditional Hoppin' John for New Year's Day,  I looked out to the living room and saw everyone piled into one chair.  It made me so happy to see everyone so close, together.  I ran and got my camera to capture this:

Bode and Gianna love to sit with RWF when he is watching tv. They probably love watching tv, too, but they always want to sit with "Daddy" when they have the opportunity.

They have spent so much time with RWF over this holiday. It has been wonderful for them.  RWF took these shots today while out on a walk at Saratoga Spa State Park:

Super cute!  I wish I could be with them outside. I miss our walks.

Instead, Nico and I stay cozy inside.  I absolutely adore this baby.

In this photo (below), he looks like Gianna did when she was a baby.  He has Gianna's eyes in this photo at least.  And new hair growth is blonde, baby.  Is he going to look like Gianna?

I took Nico to the pediatrician yesterday. He weighs 14 lbs and 5 oz.  He is doing great. He cried after the nurse gave him a shot in the thigh (ouch). The nurse said, "You're not fooling me, with those thighs!"  Poor little guy.

Best wishes for health and happiness.

xo