Dancing Machines

I had PBS on the other night and a show called "America's Ballroom Challenge" came on. Kate was pretty transfixed by the glittery costumes and terrific movement. Liam loved the music and shook a tailfeather. I suppose one can balance out his enthusiastic cry of "Cha Cha Cha!!!!" with his regular shouts of "Touchdown" that ring through the house. We are raising a well-rounded man. Here are some videos of the kids boppin to the beat - I grabbed the camera to try to capture the cuteness. The announcer for the show is in the background, but you get the idea. By the way - the little man will be TWO on Sunday! I can hardly believe it! We are going to go tomorrow to get him a fresh big boy haircut as he is pretty shaggy for such a big boy. :)

Goodnight Moon

Last night there was a total eclipse of the moon. The eclipse began a bit before the kids went to bed and we had an absolutely perfect view of it from Liam's bedroom window. There was not a cloud in the freezing cold Minnesota sky last night and the moon was framed beautifully for us. We let the kids stay up a little late and we all sat in Liam's dark room and watched the eclipse and talked about the moon. Kate was fascinated and asked a million questions. She is so interested by space and talks about it a lot. She already knows about gravity and the tides and learned about how the earth and the sun and the moon line up. She was so curious and inquisitive. She called her Nia and Gramps in Miami (who were watching the eclipse from their balcony seaside) and said "Good news!!! There is a Clipse!!!! And the moon will be red!!!!!". Liam was adorable and just kept gawking out the window shouting "Moooooon! Moooooon". We also recited "Goodnight Moon". It really was a neat thing to see and the timing was so convenient at bedtime. When the shadow finally enveloped the moon, Liam enthusiastically shouted, with no prompting, "Bye bye Mooooon" over and over. It glowed rusty dusty copper and the kids went to bed.

Ice Cold

I like the cold. I do! Irish gals do not generally look or feel fantastic in the heat - think red faces and a constant sheen of sweat with tendrils of hair usually plastered to one's forehead. I adore sweater weather and have a mild obsession with the fashion of what is known as "outerwear"....I like a crispness in the air. Now, as you may know, I spent a large part of my formative years practically living on the equator, so I have many years of sunburn and sweat and swimming through the atmosphere to school under my belt. I recall days when literally 5 minutes after stepping outside, one felt like they needed to go back home and take a shower and put on a fresh change of clothes due to insta-soak humidity. Things smell extra horrible in the heat, too - garbage goes from bad to toxic in 1.2 seconds, pavement overheats and the asphalt stinks, and since I lived in Asia, animals were extra "ripe" - be it the dogs and livestock running in the streets of Jakarta or the pig heads and cow tongues hanging in open alley shops in Hong Kong. Heat can just be, in a word, GROSS. And I pretty much despise "gross".

That said.

I would really not mind traveling to the hottest possible place on the planet right now. Tomorrow the temp is supposed to be below zero - again, with the windchills in the negative 30 to negative 40 range - again. With blustery wind. I KNOW, I KNOW!!!!! "You live in Minnesota, Maggie, what did you expect?" Well, I expected a week or two of this off and on. But it has just been bone chillin cold for weeks now. My feet are incapable of warming up. Cold toes make me really cranky. I just want to go for a little while to one of those locales where you can literally feel the heat soak into you. Where it makes you toasty and sleepy and cozy and relaxed. I would even take a little bit of nasty humid awfulness right now over this c-c-c-c-cold.

But I DO love my sweaters. And I love snuggling with the kids under blankets reading. And I love our cozy little buttoned up house with the wind and whiteness outside. This particular winter is just feeling extra long. sigh. May cannot get here soon enough (because honestly it is still pretty chilly until then). Going to go now and put hunters hand warmer packs in my Ugg Boots to see if that will toast my toes up.

Tales of Two Kiddos

Kate and Liam are really keeping me on my toes these days. They are a lot of fun and really are each others best buddies. They play together and are so sweet with each other – Kate will read stories to Liam as they snuggle on the sofa, they have dance parties together that completely crack me and Nick up, and they play trains and cars for hours. I really am so crazy about them and happy about the fact that they are such buddies. That is not to say that Kate does not get frustrated by the fact that she has a “Liam Shadow” and acts out now and then, but that is to be expected.

Liam is a wonderful boy. He loves all things car and truck related and I cannot believe he will be 2 years old in 2 weeks! He is much more verbal now and while he is still not as chatty as Kate was at this age, he understands a lot more than we realize. He will answer questions and has a great memory. He knows all his shapes (pretty obsessed with shapes, actually) and all his letters and their sounds. In fact, one of the things that delights me to no end is his slight obsession with letters. He points them out wherever we go. But he has a very unique way of identifying them. For instance, I was changing him the other day and stood him up on the changing table and was talking to him as I fixed his shirt and he pointed to the letters on my sweatshirt (again, it was the Butler sweatshirt – I should call it the literacy shirt or something). He pointed to each letter and said “Buh, Uh, Ti, Elll, Eh, RRrrr”. He does this with every word he sees. He SOUNDS out the letter. If you point to any letter or say “What does the P say”, he will tell you the sound correctly every time. But if you ask “what is this letter” and point to a M, he will say “Mmmmm”. So funny!

Kate is so big, I just cannot believe it. There are moments when she is talking to me or I am watching her as she playing and I just for an instant catch a glimpse of grown-up Kate. For a fleeting moment she looks wise beyond her years, or her face looks older and I am left almost breathless by the thought of her becoming a smart, strong, wonderful woman some day. She continues to surprise us with her humor and sweetness and curiosity.

Here are some Kate stories:

Kate’s Teacher told me this one. At school the other day the teacher read a story about a polar bear. In the story, the polar bear apparently caught and ate a fish. At the end of the story, Kate loudly announced to the class that “Polah Beaws (still has trouble with her “R” sound, though she has the “L” sound down now!) don’t just eat fish, they also eat SEALS”. Some kids apparently oohed and aahed while others seemed dismayed at the news. The teacher said “yes, different animals eat lots of different things”. I am sure she thought that may have ended things. Well, then Kate said “and then the FOXES come and eat the cawcass of the seal that the Polah Beaws did not finish”. (she seriously said “carcass”). One of the boys protested VERY loudly “FOXES don’t live with POLAR BEARS!!!! FOXES live in the WOODS”. Kate, according to the teacher, looked at the little boy very frankly and with one eyebrow raised said “Not Awctic Foxes”. The teacher agreed that yes, there were such things as Arctic Foxes. The kids were all fascinated. She asked if anyone knew what color arctic foxes were and of course little miss smarty pants shouted “WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!!”…….the teacher then asked if anyone knew WHY they were white and Kate yelled “FOR CAMOFLAUGE!!!!! That is so they blend in to the snow”. And that pretty much ended the Kate Story Time Brain Bowl.

Her teacher and I just giggled. It is nice that her teacher really gets the way Kate works and encourages that and builds it into the day instead of dismissing her. She does that with all the kids and their interests and so the kids really do learn from each other. I asked Kate where she learned about Arctic Foxes and carcasses of all things. She told me that she was watching “Planet Earth” with Gramps. I have no doubt that she probably asked questions and my Dad explained it in a very matter-of-fact way without it being a scary thing (as polar bears eating seals could be for a 4 year old) and Kate just really accepted it, absorbed the info, and retained it word for word as she tends to do. I think it is great! She has a really healthy balance of fantasy (read: unicorns and princesses etc) and reality.


One other trait of Kate’s that is starting to shine through is her appreciation for giving to others. Naturally, due my involvement with Ever After Gowns (www.everaftergowns.org) she sees me working a lot on a charitable effort. The other day I had done a dress pick-up when she was at school and when I picked her up the minivan was full of tulle and sequined finery. She asked about it and I was explaining to her and she asked “What is Prom”? I explained how it was a dance etc. and she interrupted me enthusiastically and said “OHHHH!!!! That is where everybody gets dressed up and does the MANGO!!!!!” Trying not to laugh I said “Really? The Mango? What is that?” She said “it is a DANCE, mom, you know, the MANGO”. I just said “hmmmm…the mango”. And then she said “OH WAIT, I mean the TANgo. Not the MANgo. Of course” (totally waving her hand around and acting very laid back). I did not really get into the fact that people were not really ballroom dancing at Prom to my knowledge – let her imagine a “ball”. She is four!

Finally, last night I was proud beyond measure. As I was tucking Kate into bed she said “Mom, I think later this week we need to make two big piles. We need to make one big pile of clothes that are too tiny for me now. And another big pile of toys that I don’t use anymore. And then we can give them to kids that don’t have toys and clothes!” Well, my heart just melted. I said “oh sweetie that is a WONDERFUL idea. I am so proud of you!” She then revised her statement by saying the following “Actually, I think we need to make a pile of clothes and toys and then make MORE piles from that. One pile will have clothes and toys that we are going to give to kids that don’t have any. The other pile is stuff that we will SELL”.

Even better. ;)

Ni Hao!

That means "Hello" in Mandarin and we now hear that about 27 times a day. Why? Because Kate has started taking Mandarin lessons! She just loves it. Now every Saturday I take Kate to the China Academy - which happens to be across the street at the college so we just cross the street and we're there! She is in the preschool class, and parents are asked to sit in so I get to pick up a bit as well. At home we get to listen to the provided CDs a certain number of times a week and just work on the songs and words which to Kate is like a game! All of the children in the class, except for Kate, are actually lovely little girls who were adopted from China. The parents are just terrific and it is a really great hour out of my day. Coming up this month the girls are singing songs in the Chinese New Year show that the whole school puts on. I am really looking forward to learning a lot and seeing Kate's progress as well. My experience as a child in Hong Kong mostly exposed me to Cantonese, not Mandarin, so this is starting from scratch for me! We'll see how it all goes!

brrrrr

Just in case you were wondering it is 15 degrees BELOW zero right now. That is just the air temp. The windchill is something like 40 below. I do prefer the cold but this is ridiculous.

Artistic Genius

Liam sat down for a painting session the other night. It went from an adorable joyous experience to a messy meltdown, but it was priceless and fun to watch. Here are some pics....

'Cause you Gotta Have Friends!

Earlier this month I had one of my much treasured get-togethers with my best girl friends from college. As we do at least once a year, we gathered for a weekend of laughing until our sides hurt, talking until our voices were gone and enjoying bottles of wine and great dinners. These girls weekends feed my soul and I am so blessed to have these ladies in my life. From college days to boyfriends, husbands, careers, babies, illness, travel, moving and everything in-between we have been there for each other - going on 15 years now. And none of us see that changing. Thanks, ladies! And thanks to all the husbands and boyfriends for taking over kid-duty and dog-duty so we can fly around and visit. Much love! Though we were two gals short this year due to one being pregnant and living in Europe and some important commitments, we had a blast and had some great speaker-phone calls with both of them! :)

One of the mighty has fallen

One of the wonderful things that we loved about our home when we bought it was the gorgeous, majestic and very tall Elm in the front of the house. The branches hung over the roof, the light was beautifully dappled, and there was something so storybook about the branches blowing in the breeze just outside of the organza curtained windows of Kate's cozy bedroom. We loved that tree! Sadly, the tree got Dutch Elm disease and was "marked for death" by the Parks & Rec team here - sporting a red spray-painted ring for about a year. It took that long for the Parks team to get to it with all the Dutch Elm that has spread through the city. As the months wore on, Nick and I got over the disappointment of losing a great tree and grew more concerned with safety as the tree grew more and more brittle, with leaves completely shedding in the summer and small branches falling down. We really worried about it crashing into our roof during a bad storm. Well, the tree finally came down! It was sad to see it go - but the kids were absolutely fascinated by the process. They sat in the front window for hours watching the crew work. And I must say that it was pretty interesting to watch! Here are some pics of the kids watching the whole process. Bye bye Elm! We sure will miss you this summer!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Kate has had some funny comments lately. Here are two examples:

Yesterday was a “Kate Challenge” day. In other words, she was out of sorts. Liam has been doing a lot of fun, adorable, and commendable things as of late – from saying new words to knowing the alphabet, pointing out letters, and telling us their sounds. Every time he does something new we cheer and applaud appropriately, but I think that Kate has been getting QUITE jealous and has been acting a little upset and out of sorts, despite the fact that we make sure to give her equal applause for her great deeds. I realized that perhaps she needed a little one-on-one time, so Nick decided to keep an eye on Liam so Kate and I could hang out. I suggested to Kate, “Why don’t you and I go downstairs and play some board games? Daddy will stay up here with Liam!”

Kate responded with extreme enthusiasm in a loud whisper “Mommy! That is a GREAT idea! That way, Liam will never respect us!” I looked at her quizzically, thinking I knew what she meant to say but asked anyway, “Respect us? Liam will never respect us? What do you mean?” Kate answered, very knowingly, and this is verbatim, “Mom, it is just another way of saying that he will never guess what we are up to downstairs!” I said “Ooohhhh! You mean he will never SUSPECT us!” She put on a semi-sheepish smile and totally played it off, one hand on her hip, the other waving in the air “Yes! Suspect! Of course!” Too funny.


Tonight we decided to head out of the house as a family. It was actually warm here today! In the 40s! Positively balmy. When Nick got home from work we took the kids out to dinner. It was a nice night out and the kiddos behaved beautifully and I did not have to cook! Yay! As we left the restaurant and were strolling outside, I commented that it was a lovely night. It really was! There was a cool breeze, but it felt terrific and fresh and clean after being frozen in the house for days. Kate was blinking and ducking her head away from the breeze and REALLY being very overdramatic. I commented on it and she said something about the wind. I told her I LOVED the breeze! She said very calmly “Well I don’t! It is blowing in my face!” I said “Oh, the breeze is wonderful, Kate! It feels so fresh and clean! Fresh air and wind is part of nature! I love nature! Nature is good for everyone!” Kate very frankly informed us that “Well, it’s NOT good for meeeeee.” What?! We need to get this girl out more. The housebound frozen-ness has made her forget that she used to tantrum when it was time to come inside!

Please God let it warm up soon! No luck…it is going to drop back below zero this week. Sigh.

How do you spell "Freezing"?

M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A!!!!!!!!!!

It is pretty darn chilly here! This morning I think it was -14 without windchill and -29 with the windchill. Nice. To be honest, once it goes below zero, cold is cold is cold. You go outside and the inside of your nose freezes instantly. It is a really dry cold, though, and that is not bad. The wet cold is the cold that seeps into your bones and is miserable. This kind of cold that we have basically allows you to barely utter an expletive before it is frozen out of your mouth and you tuck your head into your shoulders, hunch down, bury the hands and shuffle furiously (no running, please, unless you want to break your bum on some black ice!) to the next enclosed area - either car or building as those are your only two options when it is like this.

The kids are a little stir crazy. There is a ton of snow on the ground, but obviously they cannot play in it and that is a small form of torture in their eyes. But I would like them to keep their fingers, toes, and noses so I keep them indoors. They have found ways to occupy themselves. Kate is working on her reading a lot- of her own volition - so that is great. Although when we are in the car it proves to be a little frustrating to her. She has taken to trying to read signs as we are driving so we will be sitting at a stoplight and she will be sounding out a street sign "S, sssss, N, nuh nuh, E, eh , eh...." then the light turns green and I drive away to the wails of Kate: "Mooooommmmm!!!! I was not done reading that Siiiiigggnnnnnnnn!!!!!! Now I'l NEVER know what it said! NEVER!!!!!" - Oh the drama.

Liam has invented a new game to burn energy and keep him busy indoors. I have to video it and try to get it on here because it is hilarious. He has no clue that he has essentially adapted a form of keg racing for his own toddler enjoyment. Where he came up with this I will never know:

Liam has this great wooden truck that Nick got him on one of his trips to Poland. It is beautifully crafted and very durable. Liam will stand at one end of the hallway and place his sippy cup of milk in the truck bed. He bends in half, resting his hands on top of the truck and, in a jackknife position, races full speed to the end of the hallway pushing the truck with it's cargo of milk. When he reaches the end he very quickly grabs the cup of milk, stands up, throws his head all the way back and tips his cup right in the air and CHUGS that milk, complete with zealous gulping sounds. After a few dramatic pulls off the sippy and a giant exhale of breath ("Ahhhhhhh") he slams the cup back in the truck bed, resumes his position, and barrels back down the hallway to repeat his drinking ritual at the other end. He will do this about 10 times in a row. It seriously is like he is training for some college keg team!!!! And the fact that he has this adorable toddler belly only adds to the hilarity.

I love the kiddos! They continue to be so much darn fun! I may re-evaluate the fun factor after one more week of sub-zero temps, but I doubt it. As long as we have a supply of play-doh, board games, books, crayons and markers, and music for dance parties then I think we will be ok!

Proud proud proud

I am such a proud Mommy! Today, Kate READ!!!! I was beginning to wonder when this would start happening - she knows all her letters, all their sounds, and how to write all of them and identify them. She has been very into practicing writing so I figured the reading might come up soon, but I really wanted it to be at her instigation, not mine. Well, today she looked at my sweatshirt and asked me "Mommy, what does that say on your sweatshirt?" I asked her "what do you think it says?" and she looked at the first letter, "B" and yelled "BOSTON!!!!". Good guess, given my affinity for that town, but it was the wrong answer. I crouched down and held out the sweat shirt and said "why don't you try sounding out each letter and see if you can tell me what it says". She did just that! After sounding it out aloud, she proudly exclaimed "BUTLER!!!!!!!!!". I wish I could have captured that look on her face when she realized that she figured out what it said all on her own and was right! She was totally elated. I cheered her on like crazy and we high-fived all over the kitchen. Kate, jumping up and down, actually said "Let's read some MORE!!!!!!" Sweeter words were never spoken! :)

Not one to close a window of opportunity, I went upstairs and selected a book that we never read, but is relatively easy. I remember that my first book was a Dr. Seuess book, so I chose "Fox in Sox". I literally never read it to her because, honestly and maybe I am odd for this, I really don't care for Dr. Seuess books! Nevertheless, Kate climbed on my lap and proceeded to sound out and read 5 pages from "Fox in Sox". I had to explain to her the "kn" sound (Dr. Seuess books have all those silly made up words), but she did really well! She was so patient, did not get frustrated, and recognized the words on the later pages as ones from earlier pages, so did not have to sound them out as much. I noticed that she would try to guess the next word - for instance, one stanza is "fox in box" and she would say "Fox in (and then insert the word "a") box". It makes grammatical sense to her, which is great - but we worked on just reading the words and trusting the letters and not anticipating the next word too much because it could be a surprise! We called her Daddy at work and also Nia and Gramps in Florida and she read a page to each of them aloud, sounding out the words along the way. They cheered her on and it just made Kate beam.

I am just so proud of her and excited. I will admit it is largely because I ADORE reading and it was a big contributor to joy in my own childhood - and in my whole life. Books are so wonderful and I hope that Kate gets a fraction of contentment from reading that I get. Plus, let's face it - it is exciting to have her have another way to independently occupy her time! I cannot be the cruise director ALL the time! :)

I look forward to lots of time snuggled on the arm chair poring over letters. I am sure there will be bouts of frustration and testing of patience, but what a milestone for Kate to reach! Yay!

It's Chilly in Chatterville

To start with, it is FREEZING here. With the wind chill it is about MINUS 14 degrees tonight. It certainly has been colder here in MInnesota, but we have been spoiled lately with some pretty mild temps (aka 20s and 30s F) and so it just seems EXTRA cold now. One of the side effects of it being so cold is that we tend to stay in much more. Trying to venture out with the kiddos in this weather involves an insane amount of bundling, frozen car doors, and whining car batteries. So, if we don't HAVE to go out, we don't. I generally love staying home bundled and warm with the kids, coloring with them, playing play-doh, baking etc. It is usually pretty pleasant and snuggly and sweet. However, Kate has turned some sort of developmental corner that has made it a bit difficult to have a long, pleasant, housebound day with her.......she won't stop talking. She talks and talks and talks and talks. She contributes a running commentary on anything and everything. If I am making grilled cheese she will ask about every step I take and then interject with her own bits of information as well. It goes something like this:

"Mom? What are you doing? Are you making grilled cheese? Can you cut the crusts off? What kind of cheese is that? Do you know I also like string cheese? Is that wheat bread? I like wheat bread. Do you know that wheat bread is made with wheat? What is white bread made with? Do you know that Finnian at school likes pizza? Pizza is like grilled cheese except it has tomato sauce on it and it is not a sandwich, but it is cheese and bread just like grilled cheese. Do you remember the time I ordered grilled cheese at the Rainforest Cafe? I went to one in Texas, too, in San Antonio. I fed the ducks there, too. Do you know that baby ducks are called ducklings? Like in the book "Make Way for Ducklings". That is in Boston, that is where those ducks live. Hey didn't you get married in Boston? Do you know those ducks?"

I am not kidding you. This goes on all. day. long. It does not matter how many times we ask her or tell her to be quiet. She is un-silenceable right now. It is trying on our patience! :) It happens anywhere and everywhere. If I am on the phone she will interrupt me and I will hold up one finger to tell her to wait. Then a whole hand. Then give a glare and excuse myself and tell her to wait her turn. We have had the "do not interrupt, it is rude" talk a million times. To counter the rude interruption, she will use her version of polite which - as opposed to just not interrupting me - actually consists of her saying "excusememommy, exusememommy, excusememommy" over and over and over until she gets put in time out. It is just not sinking in. Tonight she did not get a story at bedtime and when she asked why I told her it was "because clearly her ears were broken today since she did not hear anything I said to her about not interrupting". She said "No my ears work for stories". Nice try! :)

I do love hearing the way her brain works and the funny things she has to say. For instance, Nick and I were working on reorganizing one of the rooms today and she came in and told us that "This room looks just brilliant!". I love that stuff. But if she would just take five minutes to stop talking now and then....... :)

You know, before I had kids if you asked me how much time I would need to recharge and relax and what that time would entail I would probably say at least a full day at the spa or even a getaway to the Caribbean. It is amazing how silly that all sounds now. Today, when I went to run an errand, I realized that all I really need to recharge from a persistent pre-schooler is a SOLO trip to Target, sans children. With a Starbucks in one hand and my iPod earphones on, I strolled alone and to my own soundtrack. Other mothers passed me with distraught children in shopping carts, the children's faces red and tears shed as they clearly protested to their mother....but their wails were silent to me and I just floated along with my Macchiatto and my music! :) Who knew that 45 minutes to by some organizational Rubbermaid storage tubs was just as good as a day at the spa? Well.....almost. I would still take those over Target in a heartbeat, let's be real. But I HAVE learned to find the joy in the truly simple things....it could have been gas station coffee and "Muzac" and all would have been well. And coming home to kids who hug me as if I were gone a week makes it even better.

So, it is cold. My ears are getting talked right off my head by my chatty four-year-old. But I love it and if I need a break and cannot get away, I have a great coffee maker and that little iPod is good for anywhere! Toasty wishes to you all!

Moments

We have had a lot of fun this week with the family. Here are some pics.


Kate catching snowflakes on her tongue and tromping through the drifts to Nia's house.




Gramps showing his stellar "Wii" gaming skills.



Liam and Kate giggling.



Liam the ar-teest.

Christmas Joys for Little Boys

Liam LOVED Christmas. Last year he did not really get it, but this year, as mentioned in my earlier post, he had a great time. Here are some pics of the little man on Christmas morning. He especially had a great time with his new train set. He LOVES his trains!

The Great Cookie Decorating Contest

Every year, we have a Christmas Cookie Decorating Contest. This is a McKenny tradition that is much loved. Everyone gets to design and decorate a cookie (or cookies) however they wish. Christmas-themed cookies are not mandatory. There are two rules only: 1. My Dad, Ed, is the judge and 2. The judge CAN be bribed. In the end, everyone gets some sort of award (I am consistently the winner of the "suck-up" award, for instance). The contest is always a lot of fun, very messy, and very funny. People have gotten pretty creative over the years with their creations - even going 3D with their designs. Here are some pics from this year's event. Nick won best overall for his excellent artistic and 3-dimensional creation. Kate won the most spirited. It was such a great time!

Some shots of Kate the Cookie Decorator!






Nick's Winning Basketball 3-D cookie scene.

Kate's Christmas Show

Kate's Preschool puts on a little Christmas program each year. This year they sang a bunch of adorable songs for all the parents. Kate sat front and center and did a wonderful job singing and doing all the motions that went along with the tunes. After the little show, Santa surprised the kids with a visit! Well, Kate apparently is terrified of Santa in person. She has a huge affection for him in stories and in theory as he leaves great gifts under the tree, but when the big guy is "in the house" she freaks out. At the show, Kate made a bee-line for and literally hid behind the teacher while the other kids sat in a circle around Santa, took pics with him, and accepted gifts. When Santa called Kate's name, she retreated even further from him and refused to take the gift from his hands. Some parents actually looked at me like they were embarrassed for me. What is the big deal? So she is afraid of a strange guy dressed up in a fake beard and refuses to take a gift from a stranger?! What the heck is wrong with that?! Good girl, I say! She is certainly brave in many other ways and her having apprehension about Santa is just fine with me. Interestingly, she is not afraid of the big fake characters (like people dressed like Barney the Dinosaur or Elmo) but Santa is just too much to handle. Fine with us! Here are some pics of Kate at her show and of her reading the book that Santa brought for her at the party. Kate takes after her parents for sure - while other kids were ripping open the candy cane that came with the book, Kate climbed up on a chair, opened that book, and read while the other kids ate candy and had pics with Santa. I adore her.

Joy!

Merry Christmas to all! What a wonderful day it was here in Minnesota! I am still smiling! The kids, though SO excited to see Santa, slept until 8am, so there was no crazy-early wake up call (like the ones I know I gave my parents when I was a kid!). The children had a great time with every gift, giving full attention to each one and saying "Thank You" after each gift. (Well, Kate said thank you, Liam just got so excited over each present that he cried out "OPEN OPEN" until it was out of the packaging - the cruel joke of how kid toys are packaged to be 'adult proof' is another entry!) They were thrilled by the presents that Santa left and were just a joy to watch as they reveled in toys and tinsel. My folks and Patrick joined us for Xmas morning and we just had a really nice time exchanging wonderful gifts. The kids went upstairs to the playroom and Uncle Pak helped them set up the new train set while my Dad sipped coffee and Nick made Belgian waffles FROM SCRATCH, fresh berries, and bacon. I slaved over setting the table! ha ha :) We had a great big delicious family breakfast and then the kids went back to playing! Mom, Dad and Patrick headed over to the McKenny condo and Kate and I baked a pie and as we were sprinkling cinnamon over apples we looked out the window to find GIANT FAT flakes of snow falling outside. Before long, every tree branch had a coat of white and everything was muted and blanketed - on top of the foot of snow that was already there! :) It was lovely. There is something about baking inside our cozy kitchen with Kate while my sweet baby boy Liam napped and Nick puttered with Xmas gadgets that fills me with more joy than I can say! :) The snow really was icing on the cake!

We all trekked in the gorgeous snow to Nia and Gramps' house, with the pie, for a de-li-cious Christmas dinner. Mom really knocked it out of the park, I have to say! Good family. Good wine. Good food. Good conversation. GREAT laughter.....this was brought on by my Dad's Xmas gift, a nintendo Wii. We had a lot of fun "playing" tennis and bowling and boxing each other. Kate got to sing along to the High School Musical game. Who knew my Mom was a secret video game tennis and boxing star?! It was just family fun, with the help of technology! :)

Anyway - the kiddos are tucked snug in bed, as is pretty much everyone else at this late hour! But I just had to blog about our wonderful day - and how very thankful I am for all the gifts in my life. Not the purses and perfume, train sets and toddler toys....but the people and the moments and the grace. Those are the gifts and thank you to everyone who is a part of that! Much love!

Kate's Big Night

If you read the blog regularly, you know that Kate is very into "High School Musical". She loves it. Knows every word to every song. It is really adorable. Well, last week Mom and I surprised Kate....we told her we were having a "girls night out" and after getting dressed up and leaving Nick and Liam at home, the three girls went to dinner. Kate thought that was great. After dinner, though, we drove downtown and Kate suspected that something was up. As we walked into the arena, where the soundtrack to "HSM" was being blasted, and where hundreds of giggly screaming girls were jumping up and down in anticipation - each holding a ridiculous amount of newly purchased "HSM" merchandise in their hands - Kate realized that she was there to see "High School Musical on Ice" with us. She LOST her MIND. She was SO excited and cute and was jumping up and down and saying how excited she was. It happened that our tickets were right on the ice in the front row, and that was really terrific. The show was so great - so wholesome and clever and fun. I did not watch most of it, to be honest, because I was so busy watching Kate's priceless reactions to everything. She had a blast. She was up dancing along to every song. She clapped wildly at every spin and jump and lift and, because of our proximity to the ice, the performers identified her as a huge fan and subsequently would not skate by her without a wave or a wink in her direction. She was beside herself with glee. It was one of the most fun nights ever for me - - and my mom - - simply because of Kate's joy. So fun.


Kate at dinner.



Kate at the show!!!!

Root, root, root for the Red Sox.....

As you probably know, Nick and I are Red Sox fans. So are the kids, as far as they can be at their ages! Both diligently sing "Take me out to the Ballgame" and insert the proper team. Both love watching the games with Nick and I on TV and cheering along. Both have always owned a Red Sox hat since before they were born! :) Here they are with their latest version of the Red Sox chapeau that we brought them back from Beantown - courtesy of Aunt Stacee and Uncle James. Woo hoo!

Boston, you're my home!

Here is a quick run-down of the WONDERFUL trip that Nick and I took to the East Coast. I cannot say enough that it was PERFECT. The weather was great - we walked everywhere - and the company was phenomenal.

Here is the rundown:

Saw dear friends Rick and Phil who were at our wedding and we celebrated Rick's Bday. Brunch with my wonderful friend, Carol, who I used to work with at the law firm and who was at our wedding. Dinner at our FAVE Indian restaurant around the corner from our old apartment. Ran into our old "across-the-hall" neighbor (who informed us that the Pat's QB, Tom Brady, and his supermodel girlfriend, Giselle, have bought the whole brownstone RIGHT across the street from our building - as in, paparazzi are camped in front of our old apartment). Stayed at the Park Plaza where we had our wedding reception. Saw my best bud Stacee and her terrific brand new husband, James (they eloped the week we were there!!!!!) and spent time chatting, laughing, sharing wine, and eating Italian food in the North End and being cozy at 75 Chestnut with wine and good food. Ran into one of Nick's Yale classmates at 75 Chestnut. Ran into the guy who SANG in our wedding on the street....went to St. Cecelia's where we got married and said many prayers of thanks. Drove to Connecticut to visit our very much missed friends, the Dunns. Celebrated Erin Dunn's bday and had tons of wonderful conversation and a great dinner out at the state's oldest tavern in a very cool private room. We laughed until our sides hurt and walked until our feet felt like they would fall off. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pics:
Nick and Maggie in front of the old apartment!


With my dear friend, Carol! Such a lovely afternoon.


Standing in front of one of our favorite Boston haunts - "The Green Dragon"

I know, I know....

I have been missing in action. Here is the reason.....

It is because I have a new addiction - it is called "Rock Band", as in the game for Xbox. I am NOT a "gamer". But I AM a singer - and apparently I rock a pretty awesome fake video game guitar. I AM horrible at the Drums, I will admit. Nick says it is pretty hysterical since he attests that I have the best rhythm of anyone he knows, but drums slay me. Let's not talk about negative stuff though. Let us talk about how FUN this game is and, I will admit, how awesome I am at it! :) Now, for the Grammy acceptance speech as the lead singer - I owe everything to my band - my awesome drummer/bassist - and super husband - Nick. And my amazing brother and lead guitarist, Patrick. Together we perform as either SurveySays (say it two ways, it has double meaning) or The Big Dig (as in we are a band from Boston....in our imagination)!

Is it pathetic that I am having so much fun with a video game? I don't think I have played one since Super Mario Brothers in high school. It is so much fun and I never thought I could sing "Creep" by Radiohead so many times and love it still! Nick is even more hooked than I am. The other night we stayed up so late playing it with Patrick that we sounded like addicts when we finally shut down the game....."What were we thinking? We are so weak! Why did we keep going?"

So we are having fun rocking out while the kids dance around. My parents love being our audience and Dad even jumps in on the guitar now and then. It is hilarious. We laugh so much. I actually wonder how younger kids play this game - so many of the songs are so "classic" (read: old), I wonder if they even know them! Oh well. I am having fun living vicariously through a video game for an hour here or there. My real life still remains pretty darn great and exciting.....but I can still dream of being a superstar!

SUPERSTAH!!!!!!!

Yay for Vacay!

I know our little blog has been free of posts recently, but Nick and I have actually been on vacation!!!!!! My mom, an angel here on earth, stayed with the kiddos while Nick and I took a trip back East. We had an absolutely amazing time visiting with old friends and strolling for hours along the cobblestones and bricks of Boston. I will post some vacay pics soon. In the meantime, though, I have to do a million things for holiday prep.....my Dad arrives tomorrow and we are all looking forward to a great Christmas. More to come....

Reasons to be Thankful

Nick's sisters and brother-in-law-to-be came for a Thanksgiving visit and it was truly TRULY wonderful. We had such a great time. Lots of fun family time, pie cooking (and eating!), board games, dinner out, cocktails, sightseeing and so much more. Gosh we had a great weekend! It ended all too soon.

I am thankful for singing really loud in the car while my sister-in-law snaps a pic of my silliness.



I am thankful for my sister-in-law Ava and our soon-to-be brother-in-law, but nonetheless still referred to as, Uncle Joe. Seriously one of the best guys ever. Nice work, Madelyn! ;)



I am thankful for table settings and the people that we were so lucky to have grace them.



I am thankful for family hugs and that our visiting Southerners were as crazy about our kids as we are.



Kate is very grateful for a plethora of ornaments for the tree - as evidenced by her slightly insane ornamental overload expression on her face! :)

More Reasons to Give Thanks

We are thankful for river sunsets. Here we have Joe, Mad and the rest of us standing by the St. Croix river in Stillwater, MN....a beautiful and quaint riverside town. We went browsing through antique stores and bookshops - a great afternoon!



Kate is thankful for her Uncle Joe and for our aquarium membership. Here we see Uncle Joe and his number one admirer, Kate, at the aquarium. They are members of the mutual admiration society.



Kate and Liam are thankful for their cool Auntie Madelyn and for merry-go-rounds. Mad took Kate and Liam on the Carousel with her. Such a great Auntie!




I am thankful for cuteness.

We are now the proud owners of.....

At-home medical equipment!!!! C'mon, now, are you really surprised to see a post relating to some sort of health ailment?! I told a friend today that if our house were not so old, I might consider investigating to see if it was built on the former site of some sort of toxic waste dump with how healthy we have all been lately! :)

But it is true, we are now the owners of one "Nebulizer". In fact, the reason I have not posted about all of our wonderful Thanksgiving activities is because the past three days have been spent in a rather sleepless fashion with several trips to the doctor because Liam apparently has Asthma. The little guy started wheezing and whistling a few days ago - it was not like croup, and was not quite a cold. My instincts told me it COULD be asthma....coupled with the fact that Patrick had asthma when he was little so it just all sounded familiar. I did not express my suspicion to the doctor because I did not want him to think I was some loony mom who overreacted. But after he listened to Liam's chest he raised the possibility himself. Long story short, Liam had to have a breathing treatment at the pediatrician today and we were sent home with our very own machine and a massive supply of albuterol (spelling?). In fact, I am up right now because Nick and I just had to give him another treatment as Liam awoke gasping and wheezing from his sleep.

It is REALLY hard to give a 20 month old a breathing treatment. It is pretty basic stuff as far as operation goes. A tiny mask emits a very fine cool mist for about 10 minutes. He does not even have to have the mask strapped on to his face, but I have to hold it close enough to his face so that this mist drifts up into his airways. Easier said than done. The compressor makes a very loud noise and Liam writhes around and swats at the mask constantly. He is also, shall we say, very loud in his protests. Eventually we will all get the hang of it and hopefully Liam will realize how fast it makes him feel better and he will learn to cope better. Poor little guy.

So - asthma. Pretty common, but kind of a bummer. We have to wait and see how it progresses and what his "triggers" are. It could just be the sudden change from chilly to frigid. He does not have smoke exposure or stuffed animals in his bed. I have always had allergy barriers on the mattresses etc. Who knows where this stuff comes from, right? Maybe he will just get it once a year, maybe it will be more frequent. Whatever happens, it is manageable.

An interesting coincidence is - my study at Yale was all about Asthma in adolescents. Mostly we focused on it in minority and urban youth populations......I just realized that I am full of stats about asthma and the socio-economic impact of treatments in urban and underprivileged youth. I can tell you about spirometer readings in the Hartford Public School district. Guess I need to brush up on some other details as a Mommy, though! :)

I will post fun pics from the holiday weekend soon. We all had such a WONDERFUL visit with Nick's sisters Ava, Madelyn and her fiancee - the wonderful Joe. It was awesome.

I leave you with a funny story about Kate:

Today in the car we were singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". We were singing together and as the end of the song approached, I decided to jazz up the ending....it is hard to translate in typing, but I kind of made it a big band kind of finish..."Santa Claus is coming, you know that Santa is coming! Oh Santa....big Santa is coming tooooooooooo" (I am crescendoing here and have a lot of jazzy feeling in the voice) Kate interjects with a VERY loud and emphatic "NO NO NO MOM!!!!! NO MOM!!!! DOOOON"T!!!!!!! DON'T DO A BIG FINISH!!!!!!!!!" I literally almost choked with laughter. I asked her "No big finish, huh? What's a big finish?" She goes "YOU KNOW! What you were DOING! When you get all loud and change the words and make it all long and taking forever at the end....THAT is a big finish. Don't DO that, MOM!!!!!!!!!!"

Well, pardon me! No Judy Garland moments for me, I guess. :)

I am Running Out of Words for "Cute"

Liam is so much fun. He is really just the sweetest boy. He is so happy and pleasant and fun. He absolutely loves cars and trains and rocketships and airplanes. He spends most of his playtime pushing around some sort of transportation vehicle and making appropriate accompanying sound effects. His vocabulary is increasing pretty rapidly now (as is often the case, Kate had been doing much of Liam's talking for him - informing me of his every need and when I am working on language with him, she tends to jump in and yell the answer before he can respond, just to let me know how smart she still is! :) Anyway, here are just a few of Liam's little sayings....

- Whenever he does something that may cause him dismay, such as drop his yogurt on the floor or pull all the books off the shelf, he follows it up when a long, drawn out, disappointed "Ooooohhhhh, Liiiaaaammmmmm"

- Cars = Cahs ; Train = Twain ; Fish = Whoosh ; Please take this or May I have that = Have? ; Please = pwweeeaaaassssseeee ; Yogurt = gogurt ; Buzz Lightyear (he is a big "Toy Story" fan) = BUZZZZZZ!!!!! (always yelled) ; Trucks = Trust ; Thank you = Teak-choo ; Books = bux ; If he has a wet diaper he points to it and says "Kinkles" (variation on tinkles) ; the bathroom is "bahfwoom" and he loves to brush his teeth so he will point to the bathroom and say "bahfwoom, teeeeef, pweaaaassse" and then point to his teeth.

He is just a sweetheart. I adore him.

Oh Deer

Do you know that in Minnesota it is the general norm for many men to take one full week of their annual allotted two week's vacation time and go travel north wearing camoflauge and hunting orange to go sit in a box on stilts or crouch in bushes for a week straight with their buddies while they wait for a doe or buck to frolic by to get their year's worth of venison?

I personally don't have anything against hunting. Man has been hunting forever and we exist today because of it (I will probably get some PETA flag now and get emails explaining that humans were actually more gatherers than hunters and the human body can exist on soy alone and deer have feelings too.) NO offense to vegetarians and vegans of the world...kudos to you, in fact, for that kind of discipline! But I just really don't care if there is hunting season....hunting is fine by me.

But I am annoyed by it - from the human perspective, not the deer's perspective. Here's my beef - or venison - - - FIRST of all, my contractor just did not show up for a week. Did not tell me so. Just bailed. Why? Because he was sitting in a tree waiting to get a 6 pointer. That is really annoying. For God's sake CALL me and tell me you are going on vacay. After a week of no shows and cell phone tag (he only got random service up north) I finally spoke to him and just called him on being hunting all week. At least he did not lie. I cannot believe how this state literally shuts down. You know it is deer opener when you go to Menards on a Saturday to buy stuff for a remodel and the parking lot is completely empty. I went to the lumber place with one of the guys last week for one hour and his blackberry kept going off....it was his hunting buddies who were texting their kills to him. He would exclaim "GEEZ that 8 pointer should have been MINE!!!! I should be THERE!!!! I found that clearing!!!!!!" At one point I actually said to him, "Um, excuse me, I am RIGHT HERE. Let's just get this done and you can get back to shooting, ok?"

SECOND, with literally 650,000 registered hunters (estimates say 500,000 go hunting during the opener) is there anyone left that is NOT hunting (other than Nick?). It is not like Minnesota is a hugley populous state. I was literally invited to three different "hunting widows" parties last week. I guess I just need a bit more time to acclimate to this. I mean - I can see the appeal of it! I do not view it with distaste or look down on it. I just don't understand it enough I guess. I can certainly see going once and it being very cool hanging out in nature....Minnesota is stunningly beautiful and after our trip north this summer I could easily see passing a whole day sitting and enjoying the scenery and peace (interrupted by occassional gunfire), watching the animals and feeling the anticipation - though personally I could not shoot one. Too pretty! But I would also fear for my life....

With half a million people with guns and bows hiding in the bushes and trees in the dusky light I just don't think I would feel very safe, even if I had a blinding orange hat on. I am too much of a control freak to trust others not to be stupid and accidentally shoot me. Literally every day since opener there is a story on the news about someone getting shot and/or killed while hunting. One guy decided to walk across a field without wearing his orange vest, dressed in cammo, holding a life size deer decoy. One guy aimed for a deer, missed, and the bullet hit his brother in the leg right across the glade from him. If hundreds of thousands of people are tucked here, there and everywhere, might a stray bullet hurt? Do they only give licenses to sure shots?

Admittedly, I don't know a lot about it. I looked it up and it actually seems pretty complicated to get a permit and you can only "bag" so many depending on where and how you hunt etc. It is well regulated and all that. I am just annoyed by the hoopla and the fact that people seem to think it is perfectly acceptable to be working for someone and then leave with no notice to go off ANYWHERE for a week. I am sure that many hunters follow the proper channels and ask for time off or give a heads up....but not all, as I can attest.

I just think of being at my job, leaving Friday, smiling when people say "See you next week!" but not really acknowledging them. Then I just hop a flight to New York City and spend a week seeing broadway shows, going to museums, shopping and eating amazing food and going to spas with my girlfriends all while cleverly evading direct phone contact with my job. That would be MY ideal bonding week. How would that go over with the boss? I guess the deer hunters would not understand the broadway baby as much as the broadway baby misunderstands the deer hunters. Oh well. Oh deer.

Fall Back...

From exhaustion! I remember our "single" days, or time before kids when the day that all the clocks turned back for Daylight Savings was actually fun in a strange way. Bars stayed open later! You could get "another hour of sleep" they say! With children in the picture "fall back" day becomes the longest day ever. Especially when you have kids on a "schedule" - and I guess I did not realize how predictable some of our actions were time-wise until today. First, you don't get more sleep because they wake up at the same time, only now the clock reads 6am instead of 7am, so psychologically you are muddled from the get-go. Then they start to get cranky around 11:30 for what seems like no reason. REALLY cranky. Then one of them starts to cry out "Eat! Eat!" and you realize that, according to their body clocks, they should have eaten by now because it is 12:30 to their tummies and food usually happens by 12:00. By 12:45 new time, they get cranky AGAIN because their bodies are saying that naps should have begun by now. Same confusion at dinner time. By 6:30pm the parent is looking at her watch wondering if it is bedtime yet (because the internal clock says 7:30) only to realize that she still has 90 minutes left. Sure, we could just let it go, but the way our life runs does not really work with a 5pm dinner and a 7pm bedtime....the kids would never see Nick with his work hours that way. So it is better to tough it out right away and just deal with it. But gosh it was a long, cranky day. Who knew one little hour could make such a difference! I almost think it would be easier to jump 5 time zones than to make such a minute adjustment. Well....maybe not, with all due respect to my international friends with kids who travel time zones often! :)

Maybe I am just tired from a great busy weekend, instead. Nick has been painting the new bathroom/hallway walls all weekend. Also we got the yard and garden mostly winterized today. I pulled up all the annual coleus and some bushes that did not make it through the dry summer. I deadheaded the perennials pruned the cherry tree for winter, raked all the leaves in the yard and got the perennials ready to be burlapped to try to save them this year from the rabbits and squirrels on the coldest of days. Nick finished up putting dirt back around the new patio and prepping it for seeding and winter fertilizing. I am always so pleasantly rejuvinated after working in the yard! It is so therapeutic and I enjoy it so much. I am learning, so we will see what makes it through this winter.

Also, Nick and I actually went on a DATE last night! We went to a great Tapas place and had some amazing Spanish tapas and beverages. Then we went to a concert - a band called Stars, that is so excellent, and a Norweigan guy named "Magnet" opened for them with nothing but a guitar, a soundboard and his gorgeous voice and it was awesome. Then we headed to Brit's pub for a bit before heading home. It was so nice to get out just the two of us! The kids were super for the sitter! Now we look forward to a week of hopefully big progress on the bathroom. Should get the tile and the wainscoting in. I love my floor tile and cannot wait to see how it looks!

OK - this post is pretty darn boring, I must say. I have talked about clocks, paint, food, and dirt. Woo. I live a life of insane excitement!

Happy Fall Back Day!

Cweepy

Kate and Liam had a great Halloween. Kate loved her Snow Princess outfit. Nick, however, is ready to sit on the porch with a big stick after I heard one of the boys at school tell Kate "you look beautful, Kate, like Queen Amadala from Star Wars". Now, being compared to Natalie Portman is one heck of a compliment, but none of us were prepared for it at age four!!! Also, a Mom at preschool told me this week that her son came home from school and told her he wanted to marry Kate. Sheesh.

Anyway, all that aside, Halloween was pretty wonderful! Liam was a puppy and I could not stop snuggling him in his outfit. He had a great time and for some reason called every pumpkin that he saw a "bottom". I would correct him and he would just repeat "Bottom!" So on every porch that we trick-or-treated at, Kate would hold her bag and politely say "Trick or Treat" while Liam would widly point to any visible pumpkin or jack-o-lantern and scream at the top of his lungs "BOTTOM!!!!!!" It was so funny. Kate told me that walking around trick-or-treating in the dark was "so cweepy". Nevertheless, she and Liam seemed to have an awful lot of fun - - with the exception of when we were on our way home and Kate tripped on an uneven sidewalk and skinned her knee which was met with much drama and wailing. She later told me that if the sidewalk had not been so "cweepy" maybe she would not have tripped. Here are some pics from Halloween!


Snow Princess




Puppy




Obligatory porch picture




Walking the princess and her pup

My Two Guys

I am crazy about these two!