Some images from Christmas Present

Happy Christmas to all! We're looking forward to seeing more family soon...

The Gingerbread House

It's a little drippy. I couldn't get the frosting the right consistency the next morning. But all things considered, we did okay. Take special note of the dog in the front yard....and the Pez windows.
Here are a couple pictures from Helena's house the other day. I may have explained to some of you about the Devo hats and the Czech Beehive cookies...
To me they brought to mind little Christmas trees, Helena said she'd never thought of that, but her sister-in-law covers them in chocolate and white chocolate and makes them up like penguins.
The kids became suspiciously quiet while we were working, but when I went to check on them they were sweetly reading Curious George together.
This morning there was more snow. We got up and went to breakfast at Georgie V.'s. Clara enjoyed her O's and then she flirted with the entire waitstaff.
Here's a picture of our tree, with all the white stuff outside. There actually are a few wrapped gifts under it now....and Santa is taking up space in our third bedroom closet with the rest. It's so nice to not have to be clever about hiding gifts...this is probably the last year for that.
Here's how it looks out our front door. There are lots of large snowmen going up around the neighborhood. Henry and Pete went out to deliver cookies to the neighbors and checked out the snowmen as well.
Here's our Christmas card wall. Henry, surprisingly, has not yet tried to dismantle it to use the bead garland as a crane or gear contraption.
Finally, this is the snow cake we've been making in the backyard...since we never took in our patio furniture this year.
I'm sure I'll post more later, when I have a couple Christmas cocktails in me and more pictures to share!

A message for Santa

We hope that Santa checks in with the blog. We think he's probably pretty tech-savvy, as he's had to change with the times for at least a couple hundred years. We were going to just write Santa a note, but with this weather we weren't sure it would reach him in time. So, Santa, if you're listening, here's what Henry would like for Christmas:

Sweet Happenings

Things have been busy around here! I'm so tired I don't even think I'll write much about it, but here's a little photo narrative...
Pete's been keen on building fires in the fireplace. We had not done this until now (our third winter in this house). It's going fine, but really does suck the heat out of the rest of our drafty house...
Henry and I can't seem to stop baking. Here we are at work on the chocolate crinkles...which I can't stop eating. Henry's job was to roll them in sugar and then powdered sugar. He was a pro.
Clara played in her high chair while we worked. Henry handed her a few of his kitchen toys, but she especially seemed to enjoy his oven mitts.
We also have been crafting. Here's Henry working on making some gift wrap.
And Franklin got in on the craziness this morning. He kept hanging out under the table while I was rolling out the gingerbread dough (so he could lick the floor). Pete took this photo of him covered in flour.
I really didn't intend to do a gingerbread house completely from scratch. But when I asked Pete to look for a "kit" at the grocery, this is what he came home with. It was a box with a couple bags of mix (one for the dough, one for the icing) and a few cookie cutters. Best to just jump in with both feet I guess!! The dough had to sit in the fridge for about several hours, so when it was time to roll it out it was quite firm. I contemplated just making some sort of gingerbread glacier rather than continuing to roll it all out....I suppose it was good exercise.
Henry consulted The Gingerbread Baby for inspiration.
Later in the day- after the baking and several hours of cooling- we had the grumpiest gingerbread-assembly session ever. Everyone was grumpy. Henry kept jiggling the table, Clara didn't want to be in her seat...and I guess Pete and I are just grumpy because we're old farts.
The assembly was messy and stressful.
But here's what we ended up with...tomorrow we get to decorate...if Pete leaves us any M&Ms, that is.
Also tomorrow Henry and Clara and I will go across the street to try our hand at some Czech cookies with Anna and Sebastien. The kids haven't left the house for about 36 hours. Today was wicked cold and windy. I left a couple times for groceries and some (last-minute?) shopping. Did I mention that I'm not sure when my house is going to get clean? It may never happen... Is this a surprise to anyone?

Rosy Cheeks and Runny Noses

To pick up where we left off...when we returned home last weekend this is how Henry chose to decorate the tree. I worried that the mask was going to scare Clara, but she thought it was hilarious.
She helped Papa put up some of the ornaments, like this one that was from Auntie Liz for Christmas last year. "But wait," you say, "Clara wasn't born yet- you didn't know she was a girl!" Yes- that's true. And Liz let us know that if we didn't produce a girl we would have to return the gift. Fortunately, we came through.
We decided to retire a couple ornaments this year. Just a couple that were hideous or didn't mean anything to us. Here's a little photo vignette, which I accidentally got backwards. It demonstrates what happened to the little plaster angel I made once in Girl Scouts.
I would say that here is the final product, but we're still decorating. I thought we were missing a few ornaments, and a couple days later I realized our main box of decorations was still in the third bedroom.
Fast forward to today. After a busy morning at the library (I think we got one of everything- Christmas books, Christmas craft book, non-fiction books about polar bears walruses and elephant seals, audio book, Christmas movies, Christmas cds, a book for myself!) we drove through Starbucks for some hot chocolate. I had told Henry we could get some, but then Clara was very sleepy in the car. It turned out well, we drove through and parked in the lot to watch a big crane at work, sip our cocoa and listen to Wiggly Wiggly Christmas (The Wiggles!!!) while Clara napped a bit. When we got home we were going to have some lunch and nap, but Anna and Sebastien were just heading out for sledding. So...(Mom of the year? At least for these last couple days?) we snacked, bathroomed, snowpantsed and headed back out. Don't ask how I pushed the stroller and pulled the sled over unshoveled curbs...it was a workout.
Here is Henry sharing his sled. Helena pushed the kids and I caught them (usually with my foot- since I was holding Clara, who was unhappy in her stroller) at the bottom.
We stuck around for a bit and then headed back home. Clara was pleased to be back.
On the docket? Casserole comfort food for dinner. Christmas dvds (The Grinch!) while we await the snowstorm. More cookies (thanks NPR!) and a gingerbread house tomorrow....? I might be crazy...I've never even made one with pre-made pieces before, and we're starting from scratch. Well, a mix...but still...

As an aside...check out my classroom website (over there in the links) and our new blog! Yay!!

It's Beginning....

It's been busy holiday times around here.
Friday morning we had our neighbors over to bake some cookies. Here are Henry and Anna decked out and working hard.
Here they are with their oven mits, which they didn't actually get to use, but they did enjoy waving them around.
Friday night was dominated by Clara becoming ill. Sometime around 10 or so we heard her coughing in her crib. When I went to check on her she had thrown up. We got her cleaned up, and then I sat with her upright for a few hours sleeping in the rocker. Eventually we went to bed and she threw up again there. Pete changed the sheets, I changed Clara again and we sat up in our bed for a while. She slept well when she was sleeping, and seemed otherwise fairly normal, but it was not a good night.
Early Saturday morning I had a dentist appointment, and Henry had his first ever cleaning. Here he is in the chair. He was very good for the hygenist and the dentist. He did tell me after the polishing, though "Mom, that bubble gum toothpaste didn't taste very well."
Clara continued to be sick throughout the day and into the night last night. Pete and I kept our plans to go to a party thrown by his boss. It was a nice time, but I had to change just before leaving because Clara had thrown up again. I was a little distracted at the party and we didn't stay very long.
The last time she actually got sick was at 1:30 this morning. Since then she's kept everything down. So we went downtown, as planned, to meet Pete's parents at the Drake. We've gone before at Christmas time for the tea, but this year we went for the brunch. Here's a family shot in front of the fancy tree.
And the kids with their Grandma and Bampa.
Pete was the coat guy.
And the nutcracker guy.
Clara even ate a few "Morning O's" (being the Whole Foods organic Cheerio).
Liz was caroling, and when they came by our table Clara was enthralled with her auntie.
Here's Pete and his parents.
Santa came around to say Ho Ho Ho and hand out some presents too. He told Henry how much he had grown this year.
Here is the present he pulled out of his bag for Clara. It was a "potty" book. (That's not like "potty talk" that Henry so much enjoys....)
Here are Henry and Bampa admiring the chocolate fountain. The food was amazing.
And here's the happy girl in her pretty Christmas dress. I'm so glad she felt well for the occasion!! Thanks Grandma and Bampa.
(Also- look how cute my husband is.)

When we got home we finally put decorations on the tree....I'll post some photos of that sometime in the next coupla days.

Good Grief!

Henry can't get enough of Charlie Brown. We have about all of the specials on dvd and this weekend every other phrase out of his mouth is "Good Grief!" or "You sly devil!" and sometimes "Good Grief! It's four o'clock! I'm supposed to be at Grandmother's at 4:30!".
In any case, we didn't get the pink aluminum tree we told him we would today. Here we are with the tree we chose.
Our original plan was to go to a tree farm and cut down our own, but Pete was feeling so-so and it was dreadfully cold. And we found out that the reindeer were going to be at Red's again, so we just stayed in town. Here's Henry warming up inside the shop.
And Clara meeting a reindeer. We actually arrived too early, so we had to make a second trip back to see the real reindeer.
So here we were on trip two. This also marked Henry's first time ever speaking to Santa! If you take a close look at Santa's basket, you may see what made Henry feel so friendly. You might also notice that this reindeer only had one antler. We were told she'd been busy playing reindeer games. I really wanted to pet her nose (it looked so soft!) but when I asked they said she doesn't care for that. So we stuck with petting her shoulder, which was also quite soft.
Finally, I made Henry pose by this snowman topiary. I thought the ornament nose and corncob pipe were pretty funny. Look at Henry though, you can see that he's saying "Good Grief!"
Now the kids are napping. I need to finish up some Christmas cards and then start taking down the streamers so we can put the trees up. We got two this year....I always feel like the family room is a little lonely without one. We were going to get one for the kids' room, but I couldn't find one small enough. Good Grief.