Sunday, December 30, 2007

Making Merry

This post is delayed due to the wonderful stomach bug I received for my birthday. 48 hours later and I am finally feeling better. Let's just say it's hard to change a diaper when you can't even stand up without passing out.

But, onto better times...we had a great Christmas. As Terry commented several times, this is really a magical time for Sophie. Her belief in Santa, reindeer, elves, the whole kit and kaboodle is so earnest. She received "magical reindeer food" (oatmeal ground up with blue glitter; the glitter attracts Santa and his sleigh) as a party favor earlier in the month, and as instructed, spread it all over the front yard before going to bed. Seeing her try to cover as much ground as possible with her girly throw was funny.

We try hard to instill the true meaning of Christmas, and in keeping with that, before we see the tree, we first go to the Nativity to put Baby Jesus in the manger. Sophie was wondering whose turn it would be this year...I think she's got that job covered for at least a few more years. She surprised us by asking to sing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus. Emily and Michael joined in too. A parenting moment that brings a tear to your eye.

Here's her reaction seeing Lily (the elf) camped out in the tree. Lily is supposed to leave Christmas Eve, but Sophie left Santa a note asking if she could stay until New Year's Day. Nice man that he is, Santa agreed. Lily, however, hasn't moved from the tree since. I told Sophie she must be tired after all that flying back and forth....I know I am tired of coming up with new hiding spots. Can't tell you how many times it hit me at 2am that we hadn't moved her.

To say Michael liked his Tonka truck might be an understatement.

Sophie's plasma car (flatma car, as she calls it) was a big hit as well. Notice my new chair in the background. SO much nicer on my back as I sit and type this. Thank you Santa Terry!

Emily really like her drawing desk. It drove Sophie crazy that she opened one gift, and played with it for 20 minutes, perfectly content to not open anything else. And made me realize, that again, less is more.

All dressed up later in the afternoon.

Grandma and Grandpa Maier came over in the late afternoon for dinner. The Gould grandparents came over the day after Christmas. It was nice to spread out the visits, and continue the festivities for another day. Also, I think everyone got a better visit, with not so much chaos. It certainly was less chaotic for me. I actually relaxed on Christmas Day, and enjoyed being with my family. Isn't that what it's all about?

Thursday, December 27, 2007

The Twelve Days of Christmas

I know you have probably gotten a lot of forwarded Christmas "stuff", but this one really is worth the time it takes to listen to it. Very funny. Thanks to my sister Peg for sending it. I think it struck a cord with me because it reminded me of my high school Choir days, and our annual Christmas Concert. For years I went to listen to my sisters, then one day, I was the one on stage, and they came up as "alumni" to sing the finale, which was ALWAYS "O Holy Night". Good times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Whirlwind Visits

Seems like the week before Christmas was non stop, but in a good way. It was full of family, and for me, that is always the best. As happy as I am to live in Atlanta, I do miss my siblings. As many of you know from their blog, Mike and Kat are home for good. A big "Yaa" for that! They spent last week with our parents in Roswell, and we were able to see them a good bit. Right off the bat they put their jet lag aside to attend Breakfast with Santa with us.

I think Emily really wanted a bite......

Kat, Will, Mike and James

Emily and James check out the train display.

Sophie was relieved to have her own visit with Santa.

Later that week my sister Mary came down with her son Dave, who is 11. They stayed with us, which I really enjoyed. During their visit, I hosted a playdate for Mike and Kat and some of their friends. We had a great time together....there were four 2 year olds, (James, Tiller, Emily and Michael) one 4 year old, (Rollie) a 15 month old (Henry) and BebeeWheel, as Emily calls him, who is almost 4 mths. Sophie was at school so she missed all the fun. I didn't get the chance to take many pictures, but here is one that will show you the level of activity.

From bottom left: James, Emily, Tiller and Michael who is once again on the wrong side of the gate.
Mary enthralls Tiller and Emily with a book.

On Friday Dave and I went to the Cyclorama, while Mary stayed home to cook and watch Michael and Emily. I was very impressed. Not only did she manage to prepare all the chicken (and it was pounded to Dottie specs) and whip up homemade foccacia, but she took them outside for a walk, fed them lunch, and had them down for nap at 1:06. She gets bonus points because she let them ride their trikes up and down the sidewalk. That can be dicey with the two on one ratio, combined with the attention span of 2 year olds. Now that's a sitter for you!

Christmas post and pictures to come, too late to start that tonight.....

Monday, December 17, 2007

Scaling New Heights

Last week I ended up making about 20 loaves of pumpkin bread; enough for the preschool and kindergarden teachers and other staff, plus our neighbors. I was able to do most of it during nap time, but one batch I did make first thing in the morning. I set Michael and Emily up with some stickers and one marker each at the kitchen table to keep them busy. They both love "art"; especially Emily. She will sit for 40 minutes and sticker a page. Michael enjoys it too, but is not as adept as Emily, as you can see by these pictures:





Her fine motor skills are pretty amazing (in my own unbiased opinion, of course), she has no trouble peeling the backs off of the stickers, and placing them exactly where she wants them. She is also capable of cutting, as I found out the other day. She disappeared, and when I found her in Sophie's room, she was gleefully sitting at the table, going to town on a picture Sophie had drawn. She did a nice job cutting a border all around it. Oh, and her large motor skills are fine as well. About 30 minutes after I put the 3 of them to bed, I was upstairs, and there was Emily, standing in her doorway watching me with a big smile on her face. Apparently, scaling her crib rail poses no problem. (At least it happened at 7:30 pm, and not at 3am, like when Sophie climbed out for the first time, came running and crying down the hall, and scared the you know what out of us.) When I walked her back into her room, she went right to the bookshelf, chose a book and walked back over to her crib. She said "read book in there, mommy". Guess she will be another late night reader....I chose her middle name well!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Git er Done

Sunday was action packed at our house. We didn't make it to Mass as Sophie had been up sick the night before. Sunday morning she was feeling much better, but no need to expose all the other kids in PSR to her stomach bug. Terry and I tackled the front lawn while the kids helped. This was Michael and Emily's first true exposure to jumping in the leaves; he loved it, she wasn't thrilled about getting "duh-tee".




After playing in the leaves and on their bikes, they were ready for a well deserved popsicle. Yes, that's right, a popsicle in December. Because this week we are in a "heat wave" and the temps are in the mid to upper 70's. Totally crazy. But don't worry, Mary is flying down next week, so it will surely snow, as it always does when she attempts to travel in December.

To get all the leaves out, a bath was in order. Michael and Emily napped after that, while Sophie, Terry and I decorated the tree. Again, kind of strange decorating your Christmas tree with the windows open and shorts on.

Since the kids were bathed and the tree was up, how about getting the picture done for the Christmas card? Sure, it's all in a day's work! Michael and Emily were enthralled by the tree, so much so that it is off limits unless one of us in in there with them. Hopefully, the novelty will wear off, and they will get over having to touch every single ornament...or maybe not. But it is neat seeing their reaction to it.


The picture taking session went well, it only took about 15 minutes and I was able to get a decent shot. This is not it, by the way, but one of our many "out takes". By this point, Sophie was done sitting still while I said things like, "Oh wait, just one more, Michael/Emily turned their head/moved/blinked." She's lucky she didn't have to sit through one of Tom Maier Sr's marathon photo sessions; didn't they last all Thanksgiving Night??

The great thing is that very evening I downloaded the photos, cropped and edited them. Terry and Sophie chose from the two best ones. Then I designed the card and ordered it online. Now that is getting it done!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Everyone has one, I guess

An obsession, that is. All three of my children are deep in the throes of obsession right now, each with something a bit different.

For Emily, it's her "gasses". A hand me down from big sister, but she doesn't seem to mind. She also doesn't mind wearing them upside down.



For Michael, it's his "caas". Thanks to Aunt Pat and Uncle Tom, he now has a dozen. And you can't just carry one around, you must carry the entire plastic case as well.


And for Sophie, it's Lily, her elf.

Lily returned the morning after Thanksgiving, and has been busy hiding all over the house. Finding her each morning makes getting up for school so much easier. Lily is running out of new and original places to hide however, so any suggestions would be welcome!

Last but certainly not least, is making noise. Always a favorite with these two.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Surviving Santa

I had some returns to make last Friday at North Point Mall. I knew Santa was there, but wasn't sure how the line would be, or if I really wanted to do the picture without Sophie. I did dress them festively (is that a word?) in case the opportunity for a photo presented itself. Michael had woken Emily up that morning at 5am, and they were cranky. The car ride put them to sleep, and since I had a magazine handy we hung out in the car for about 30 minutes while they napped.

Our returns and subsequent shopping went well, as did a quick stop in the food court for lunch. After that we went to the play structure, conveniently located right behind Santa. They played while I kept an eye on the line. When it was only 4 people long, we made our move. They were in a great mood, so I was curious to see how they would do. Here they are, awaiting their turn:

When it was our turn, Michael commenced frowning and refused to even look at Santa. He did climb up in his lap and sat for the picture, although he never made eye contact. Emily wanted nothing to do with him, same as Sophie when she was that age. After I pried her arms from around my neck, and convinced her to sit on his knee, the photographer got her to smile. Here's what we ended up with:


One day they'll thank me, you think?