Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I am thankful for funny children. When I was putting Kate to bed tonight, this is the conversation that took place:

Kate: Good night, Mom! Tommorrow is Thanksgiving, right?

Maggie: Yup! Thanksgiving! We are going to celebrate with Nia and Gramps, won't that be great?!

Kate: It is the day when we eat Turkey That Used to be Alive, right? We eat dead cooked Turkey tomorrow, right?

Maggie: (pretty tongue tied and not knowing exactly what to say). Yes, we eat turkey and lots of other delicious things, too! Now off to bed!

I cannot believe she thinks of things like that!!!

Gobble gobble! For you meat-eaters, enjoy your dead cooked turkey! For my veggie friends - dig into that Tofurkey! At the rate that Kate is going, I may be calling you for T-giving veggie recipes before you know it!

Kate the Great

Kate is growing SO fast. I can hardly find pants for her that are long enough for her super long legs but will stay put on her teeny tiny waist (oh to have such problems, myself!). She is bright and sweet and funny. She is reading up a STORM, plowing through books with us and on her own. I love listening to her in her room at bedtime practicing reading out loud. She is a 5-year-old darling and we adore her. Here are some pics!

Kind of Crazy Date Night

Nick and I have been fans of the music of NIN for a very long time - it served us well during the angsty, "no one understands me" teenage years and as adults we appreciate the talent and innovation that goes into Mr. Reznor's production. It is not for everyone, but we enjoy it and Nick has never seen them in concert despite 20 years of being a fan. Until last night! We got to go to the concert and it was great! Granted, we were probably the preppiest people there, but so what?! There were an awful lot of piercings, tattoos and multicolored spiked hairstyles to behold but luckily a lip piercing and shredded clothing was not required for admission. It was a great crowd, actually, with kids as young as 15 and adults into their 50s. Having been around for so long, NIN appeals to many and always manages to be more than current - they stay pretty cutting edge. I would never venture to say it was wholesome fun for the whole family, but it WAS fun and a GREAT show. It is not like we had seats in the mosh pit! ;-)

Finding Humor in a Less Than Ideal Situation

Liam has been keeping us up nights. Nick and I did not expect to lose this much sleep over our children until perhaps they reached the teenage years, but here we are, wandering slightly dazed through our days clutching enormous cups of very strong coffee. Several nights I have found myself actually falling asleep as soon as I put the kiddos to bed which, if you know me at all, is at least 4 hours before my usual night-owl bedtime. Why all the sleep loss you ask? It is because of our son, Liam (also known as "Thunder",) and the sounds that he is now emitting as he snores and snores away. Such noise should not be able to be produced from such a small individual and has resulted in the following:

a. he wakes all of us up and no one gets a good night of sleep - this makes for terrific interpersonal dynamics the following day
b. he wakes himself up - tossing and turning all night long, he is not getting good sleep and will, accordingly, fall asleep the next day truly in mid-sentence. Example: "Mommy, I love playing with this car. It....is...so........(snore snore snore)"
c. I lie awake listening to every breath because, in a new twist on the snoring, he is now also suffering from sleep apnea where he will be snoring away and then all of a sudden stop for a few seconds and wake up coughing and gasping and sputtering for air. My heart also stops in these moments and there have been times when I think I may have managed to teleport myself, not really remembering how and not understanding how quickly, I suddenly find myself in his room over his bed checking on him.

SO....our pediatrician checked out his tonsils - which apparently are alarmingly huge - and referred us immediately to an ENT specialist. The ENT took one look at Liam's throat and declared that the tonsils and adenoids have to go. He said that the tonsils are graded on size on a scale of 1-4, 4 being the largest and Liam's are "4s....if I could give them a 5 I would". Super duper. Poor little guy! Nick and I have also noticed with great affection that Liam often sounds like a muppet (check earlier video post of Liam eating a popsicle for an example). The doc said this was because of his tonsils being so large that talking around and through them causes a funny voice which will change when the surgery is done. He also said Liam's propensity to only want to eat things like yogurt and applesauce (soft foods) may have a lot to do with the fact that it is tough to actually pass food through the tonsils. Oh my goodness!!!

So there is no doubt, the tonsils and adenoids must come out. It should solve the snoring, breathing, eating , voice issues and more. His surgery is December 12 and he will have to be admitted and stay overnight in the hospital because he is so young. I am sad to think of him being scared in the hospital and being uncomfortable during the recovery but know that this is the absolute best thing for him - and for us all! It is "routine" and no big deal ultimately. He will be a-ok. He is stubborn enough to give us hell while he is going through it, but that same attitude will help him recover quickly

NOW FOR THE HUMOR!

The nurse gave us a "comic book" at the appointment to go over with the kids and introduce them to the procedure. I have to credit her for the absolute unflappable attitude with which she presented the book to us. I looked at her closely to see if she was masking the obvious or if she really was naive enough to not see the bawdy humor and inappropriate undertones of what she was actually showing to me (hint - it is the title). I could not read her at all. SO below is a picture of the book that was given to us. If you are so pure-hearted and unscathed as to not know what it means, God Bless you (and email me if you want to know, or ask someone - though innocence such as that should really remain intact). If you get the joke, laugh along with me. And, REALLY, can you believe that this title got by a publisher somewhere? Do they know the joke and think it is funny? Maybe this is just what the procedure is called in the medical world - - - though I would think it more pertinent for a plastic surgeon's office.

I know, I know...

I am a slacker! I have been terrible at posting compared to my old posting habits. The juggling of school with everything else has really thrown me off my blog game! :) Just a heads up that, especially since I have the week of of school, some fun posts will be heading this way - and some particularly hilarious ones, if I may say so. Sooooo....keep an eye out! More Harris antics and news coming right up.......

Causing a Commotion - and other such things....

Here are a few fun tales of Kate from recent days.....

• Kate called me into her bathroom the other day, very frustrated as she was getting ready for bed. It seems that the bathroom light switch had accidentally been set to the "motion detector" status and, timing out, the lights kept going out on Kate in the bathroom since it was not detecting motion from her short self as she brushed her teeth. "Moooo-oooooommmmmm! The COMMOTION DETECTOR is MAKING me NUTS!!!!!!"
• Yesterday, Kate was very interested in the story of Thanksgiving. She had been asking what November had in store for her (since October had Halloween and she is at the age where she judges months based on what fun event happens during it's time....don't we all?!).  I began to explain Thanksgiving. I told her about the Mayflower, which prompted this response from Kate: "Mom! Do you know that flour is a food but flower is also a flower? It is the same word, but different meanings! Isn't that funny?"  After enthusiastic discussion over other words that sound the same but are different (pear-pare-pair, bear-bare etc.), back to the tale of the pilgrims et al I turned.  When I was done sharing all I could recall from elementary school about the thanksgiving meal, Kate asked me "So, when the pilgrims and the native americans were done eating their big dinner, did they all go into the living room and play the Wii?" She was very sad when I told her "no" and even more shocked and sad when I told her they did not even have electricity or televisions and certainly no "wii".  She said that maybe they would enjoy putting on plays for each other instead.  I told her I thought that sounded just great.
• Kate has taken to asking me a lot of questions about her food. She wants to know if things are organic, how they are grown, where they are grown and how we obtained it.  When it comes to meat in particular, she has made a point of asking me "Was this alive? Did this come from an animal? Did it have eyes?"  I answer her pretty frankly in saying "Yes it was, but it is our food."  She has yet to refuse it, but I wonder if I have a little veggie baby in the making.  
• Spelling is out. You know....that fantastic way that adults have of communicating with each other  in the presence of children when they do not want the children to understand the conversation and to avoid probing questions about adult topics from teeny people ("Well, they are getting a d-i-v-o-r-c-e", or "The guy was a huge j-e-r-k", or "The k-i-d-s are making me c-r-a-z-y").  I did not realize the extent of Kate's spelling talent until the other day when I was talking to my friend on the phone and said "I have to limit the c-a-n-d-y or there will never be b-e-d for the k-i-d-s and I have so much homework to do". i just did not feel like getting into a conversation about candy with Kate when Halloween candy was all that she thought about.  Kate, sitting playing with her toy puppy on the floor looks at me and says "Mom! But I WANT Candy! I will go to bed at a normal time!"  At least I was not spelling something naughty! 

New Names

My children have given themselves new names. I am not kidding. They are calling each other - and responding to each other when using the names as easily as if they were their birth names - "Lily" and "Sam". Should I be concerned? It is only when they are playing pretend, such as playing house, or zoo, or (my personal favorite and most quiet imaginary play) Library. Right now, though, they are playing construction and "Sam" just said "Lily can you please pass me the hammer? I need to fix this table". Cute names, though, right?!

Best Halloween Candy Passing Moment

A gaggle of giggly girls, about 8 or 9 years old, rings the bell. Nick answers, passing candy out while kindly exclaiming over their costumes. “Here you go, Cowgirl! Here you go, Cat. Here you go, Pumpkin. Here you go, uh, um, are you a princess?” He assumes this based on the pink dress and the pink sparkly feather boa that is criss-cross wrapped around the girl’s neck and dangling down in front. The girl, frankly but somewhat in an exasperated tone, says “NO. I am a breast-cancer-awareness-ribbon!!!!!!” Then the 8 year old she turns on her heels and flounces off with her candy.

Nick is left speechless. Me too.

Happy Halloween

Kate wanted to be a witch this Halloween. Liam wanted to be a dinosaur. Luckily, we had a hand-me-down costume from their cousin Jack that was actually a crocodile, but ALL Liam saw when he saw it was dino-tastic-ness. Tyrannosaurus Liam!!!! Kate had a blast being a witch. She was most excited because I let her wear a bit of orange eye makeup to enhance her costume. Too funny! Below are several posts of all the kiddos over Halloween.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

Tyrannosaurus Liam

In front of the house - ready to get some candy!!!!

Love this sign - both Halloweenish and Bostonish.

Dino-riffic

This year we went with Mr. Potato Head pumpkin decs. The kids LOVED doing it! And it was sharp-object and stinky pumpkin gut-free! :)

Cheers

Patrick, Jillian, Nick and I went out to dinner and for some cocktails to celebrate my bday. We had such a fun evening out! :)

Vegas

Long story short, I had the chance to take a quick jaunt to Vegas with my good friend, Kory...basically for free! I had a great little get-a-way with Kory and we danced the night away and walked our toes off during the day. No gambling or craziness, really, just lots of sightseeing and good dinners and dancing. Kory's cousin is a VIP Host at a hot club in Vegas and very kindly used his connections so we were treated like movie stars the whole time. SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!

Some of you may know that I have an unexplainable affection for Justin Timberlake. He was perfoming at the hotel we stayed at - the night we left. But there were posters of him everywhere. This is me trying to be cute.

Kory and Mags.

We were seated in the VIP section at a club at the Hard Rock hotel and this pic was snapped and posted on the internet - hence the logo in the corner. Oh so fake-important! :)

My impression of a Hollywood starlet in those hats they are all wearing. Not mine, by the way! :)

Kory and Mags at our table at KOI, overlooking the Bellagio fountains.....it was AMAZING.

Apples and Pumpkins

We spent the most beautiful, perfect, glorious day at Pine Tree Apple Orchard selecting pumpkins and apples galore. We took a tractor ride around the gorgeous orchard, posed for pics and ran around the corn maze. I LOVE FALL!!!! Here are a series of pis in several posts.

Silly posing.

Liam on the tractor

Sooooo many apples

Pine Tree Apple Orchard - a little piece of heaven on earth. Seriously.

The gang on the tractor ride around the orchard.

Apples and Pumpkins

Maggie and Liam - strolling through pumpkin patches and corn fields on a perfect Minnesota day.

Apples and Pumpkins

Nick and Liam on the quest for the perfect pumpkin.

Hi

Where has the time gone? Was my last post really three weeks ago? I must say, I think that the adjustment to grad school along with everything else has cut into my blog time! The good news is I have finished my first grad school class! I LOVED the course material and am really enjoying being a student again. So far so good…..

Despite all the studying, the whole Harris crew has been super busy! Nick has been traveling all over the country for work. I took a quick jaunt to Vegas, Nick and I celebrated our birthdays, my Mom came to town and SO much more. We have had lovely fall excursions with the kiddos, Liam and Kate are entrenched in their various activities – little gym, music class, dance class, Chinese class and school. SO – there have been lots and lots of photo ops. I will be sure to post soon. Just didn’t want anyone to think the blog had faded away.

For now I am calling it a night, but keep an eye out for pics and posts – coming soon! ☺

In the meantime, I thought you might like to know that the other day Liam announced to me – in true Boston fashion – “Mom, I’m wicked cool”. I pretty much fell on the floor laughing. Clearly confidence is not a problem with this one!

One, Two, Three Funny

Some funny snippets of kiddo conversation:

ONE
Location: The Children’s ER
Time: 2am
Reason: Kate has the Croup and sounds like a sea lion.
Scene: Kate is sitting in her jammies in the ER with her arm in a blood pressure cuff. It is the automatic kind, hooked up to a machine. Kate is terrified of what one nurse once called “the huggie bear” and the name – and fear – remain today.

I had a chat with Kate on the way to the hospital, anticipating a meltdown when it came time for “the huggie bear”. I basically told her that she was 5 years old, now, so was old enough to use special tricks to get through it. I told her to think about happy great things while it was going on and JUST when it seemed like it was super tight on her arm, she had to think about the HAPPIEST thing in the world and then, surprise, the tightness would go away. This was a very lame attempt on my part as nothing else had ever worked on getting her to be calm during a BP check. It would lead to a vicious cycle – because of her stress, her BP would be high for a little peanut like her and they would want to check it again. SIGH.

Imagine my surprise when during “the huggie bear” Kate took a deep breath and said “OK, Mom, I am going to try your special trick”. She was tense, but closed her eyes and just as I expected her to say something like “ponies” or “princesses” she took a deep breath and said “Ok. There is an anaconda on my arm. There is an anaconda on my arm. It is squeezing my arm but will go away soon. Go away anaconda, go away.”

Not exactly what I had in mind, but whatever works!


TWO
Location: The Children’s ER
Time: 3:30am
Reason: Again with the croup.
Scene: Kate is getting ready to leave the ER after receiving steroids to make her breathe easier, literally. It is the middle of the night and we are tired…

Nurse to Kate: "Bye bye, Kate! Have a great rest tonight! Get some sleep for me – I am here the rest of the night working."

Kate – turning to look at the nurse – very calmly and frankly says : "Well, you know, if you are lonely and want to talk to someone in the middle of the night, you can call China. Everyone over there is awake right now because it is daytime there, so you won’t wake anyone up and I am sure they would love to hear from you!

Ok, then!!!!!!

THREE
Location: the mini-van
Time: sometime deep into a road trip
Scene: the kids have been in the car for hours and are ready to watch a video. This is from our Colorado trip and I have been meaning to blog about it for a while. I had purchased some special road trip games and videos and had been spreading out the disbursement over the trip. The kids were starting to get antsy so I told them I was about to introduce another surprise. The kids, especially Liam, were SO excited.

Liam, bouncing in his car seat, squealing: “Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!!!!!!”

Kate, somewhat indifferent due to her being pretty fed up with being in the car: “OK, thanks Mom. So what is it?”

Maggie, building it up from the front seat as Nick drives: “I don’t knoooowww. What could it beeeeee?”

I reach into the bag and find the new Strawberry Shortcake video (some gifts were more for Kate, some for Liam) that is tempered in it’s girly-ness in that it is about going to a Dude Ranch and camping etc. Given our wild-west vacay I thought it would be nice. Liam is giggling and squealing and practically escaping his car seat in excitement.

Maggie: “Here it is!!!!” (And I reveal the video).

Liam, instantly freezes in his seat and all joy flies from his visage. “Oh,” he says with a completely flat tone. “It’s pink.” He looks out the window, depressed.

Everyone in the car erupts into laughter. Well, except Liam.

Funny

You know you are an overtired parent when a comedien's bit about "Dora the Explorer" has you rolling on the floor laughing. Probably only fellow parents of young ones will find this remotely funny, but it brings the LOLs to our household and is clean humor.

Luciano Liam

Liam has been gracing us with several interesting versions of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" these days. I think it is a result of one of the playgroup classes we take during the week. Here is one version - interrupted by him spotting a "hairerplane" (aka: airplane) through the window. Too cute, I say.

Slam Dunk

More video of Liam and his stellar basketball skills - the boy has game.

Get Your Head in the Game

Liam is exposed to the soundtrack to "High School Musical" regularly thanks to his older sister. There is a basketball scene in the movie with a song called "Getcha Head in the Game"....here is Liam singing and shooting hoops. He gets really into it. TOO FUNNY!

Translation: "Get your, get your head in the game, gotta getcha getcha getcha getcha head in the game"

SURPRISE!

When I asked Kate what kind of birthday party she wanted for turning FIVE she told me "a surprise party".  Well, with everyone in town for the wedding, I thought it would be a great chance to do just that! Kate stayed at my Mom and Dad's place on Saturday night after the wedding and Sunday morning we all gathered at home to wait for Kate and surprise her with a birthday brunch party! I made beignets and fruit salad and a yummy cheesy egg dish and we had brunch and birthday cake. It was a great morning and Kate was SO surprised! Here is the video of the "surprise".

Birthday Girl!

Here are some pics from Kate's early bday party.  She wanted a "pegasus" theme, so I did a cloud theme (hence the cloud cake) and had pegasus figurines on the table and pictures of pegasus on the wall etc. She loved it!

Kate's Cloud Cake

We called this "the birthday helmet" - was supposed to be a crown, but - not so much!

Blowing out the candles!