We had a big weekend

We celebrated Super Bowl Sunday by getting a van.

Sorry she's cut off on both ends. I was a little bit embarrassed to be photographing my van and didn't want the neighbors to see me. Although I should just check my dignity at the door for all eternity, since I now drive a van and all.

Kidding aside, I've wanted a van for some time now. We were really crammed into the Forester. The kids' car seats were separated by a few inches, not nearly enough for someone to sit. (Unless you're lucky enough to be my mom, who has on a few occasions been shoved into this tiny little space. No more, though! Grammie can have her own personal row now.)

Just look at all that space between car seats! And the back row of seats is folded down, leaving a veritable cavern in the back.

Laura approves.

I approve. It basically does everything except get Will out and take him into his classroom.

So now we're van converts. I can't imagine that we ever didn't drive one. (Speaking of driving, it drives really well and doesn't seem all that much bigger than the Subaru.)

In other news, Jamison also got a Prius. Two new cars in one weekend (more accurately, in one day--we were the Toyota dealership's favorite customers that day). I don't think we can handle much more excitement.

Speaking of excitement, we're pretty excited that we finally watched "Downton Abbey." We're hooked. It's definitely a little different than "Friday Night Lights" but it's really, really good.  (I was listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" this weekend and there was a joke made about telling the audience that the Super Bowl was some event that was on at the same time as "Downton Abbey." I cracked up.)

All for now...

Oh, we're still around...

I'm still on Official Computer Restriction. So I'm breaking my self-imposed time limits this afternoon to show you some obligatory pictures of my children.

I surprised the kids by taking them for a picnic at the playground on the way home from getting Will at school the other day. Their sheer joy at such a small thing made me want to do it a lot more. (Weather permitting, of course, although winter has yet to really show up here except for brief cold periods. We've only had snow once or twice and neither time was the messy accumulating kind. Our brand new snow boots are brand spanking new, two full months into possible-snow-territory.)

Will fully embraces the "big kid" section of the playground now. It seems like it was a few months ago that he was a little hesitant to go down the big slides. (And they are kind of tall.) No more.

Not to be outdone, Sister has to go down the slides by herself now. She still embraces the toddler part of the playground, though. More my speed.

Playing spaceship. There was a complicated navigation pattern that I was supposed to be following (I was the driver, as Will was on the lookout for baby aliens). I don't usually think that Will and Laura look alike until I see them in pictures. Then the resemblance is obvious. Like in this picture.

I found this in the fridge the other day. You just never know, do you?

In other earth-shatteringly monumental news, I got a new steam mop that has really had an embarrassingly significant effect on my life. It really is a game-changer. (Sidenote: Here is where I have to mention that Jamison reviewed the options I gave him and chose one other than my initial choice based on reviews. I would hear about it later if I neglected to say so.) I actually purchased one a few weeks back at Big Lots for a steal and loved it the first day. (I have a love/hate relationship with Big Lots. Right now it's a bit skewed toward the "hate" end of the scale.) However, the second day, the water coursed through the mop and out the bottom at an alarming rate, leaving a huge puddle on the floor. Needless to say, I was not thrilled. But I had seen the Steam Mop Promised Land and I made it my mission to get another one asap. And here we are. Thrilling, right?

And now my steam mop and I have some more mopping to do. 

And PS. Eileen, your thoughtfulness is really overwhelming. I so appreciate your putting me on the traditional African clothing mailing list. In return, please look forward to receiving a catalog featuring lederhosen and such for your visual pleasure. Enjoy and you're welcome!

Focus, I have none

We're on Day 4 of 5 of Daddy being out of town so please excuse my babbling and lack of structure and organization. I have also pretty much stopped using my actual camera since my phone is so much easier and fits so much better in my purse. (And, truth be told, the memory card that I have in my camera is full and I'm way too lazy to delete pictures at the moment.)

So.

I take lots of pictures of Laura these days because she's a much more willing subject than her brother.

Sister loves her some spaghetti. As does her brother.

Conked out. The ten-minute ride to get Will at school is often too much for her.

Both of the kids are suddenly way into coloring. It's way nice and way more peaceful than some of the other things they've been way into.

Poor Will is seriously under-represented in my pictures here lately, isn't he?

In case you were wondering, this is what a ham hock looks like. I made pinto beans (soup beans for all my WV peeps) and cornbread for dinner last week and the recipe I used relied heavily on one for flavor.

This is what I fixed myself for lunch today. It's delicious and I highly recommend trying it. Top and tail some green beans (fancy speak for trim the ends), cut them approximately in half and steam them until they're to your liking. I like them fairly crisp. Mix some Dijon and mayo in a bowl, add the beans and mix all the deliciousness up. Sprinkle with sea salt (and I really think it must be actual sea salt instead of table salt, since it adds a nice crunch that table salt wouldn't). I bet you didn't think you'd be getting a recipe from me today, did you? (Well, not really a "recipe" but whatever.)

I received this catalog in the mail today. I'm still trying to figure out what we have bought at some point that placed us on this mailing list.

And finally, as bedtime is rapidly approaching, here is a picture of our bedroom, my very favorite room in our house. It's the Zen amid the chaos and I like it more and more the longer we live here. She's come a long way from her yellow striped wallpaper and wall-to-wall ugly carpet. See?

Well, that's all for now. It's supposed to be frigid tonight so our super cozy flannel sheets are calling my name.

Hello there

It's 2012! How did that happen so quickly?

Here's what our car looked like before we headed back to Cincinnati from WV:

(All of these were taken with my phone, so they may be a little blurry.)

I can't even begin to describe the amount of gifts the kids got. I still have no idea how we crammed ourselves and the mountain of stuff into the same relatively small vehicle. But we made it back and most of the new stuff made its way . . . straight onto Laura's bed. (Not her crib, fortunately for her. We have a full-size bed in her room as well that is now home to our Christmas overflow. It's not pretty but it has nowhere else to reside until we get the basement back in working order. It makes me break out into hives if I think about it too long so I'm going to move on now.)

Look! It's a hair clip! She's starting to slowly let us put items of containment in her hair. She's also on her own personal mission to somehow cram herself into the dishwasher without me noticing. Speaking of noticing, please refrain from noticing the bag of trash. Or refrain from judging me, at the very least. My housekeeping skills have been a little bit suspect in the past few weeks.

Look who's forward facing now! (I know, she's not supposed to be turned around for another few months but I couldn't fit her in any longer rear facing. And I'm a total Nervous Nelly about car seat safety so I've already fretted enough about it for all of us.)

We've had lots of family game nights.

Speaking of games, Will loves this one that my sister and her fam got for him. It involves thinking and planning and doesn't make a lick of noise so it's a hit for everyone.

She is the sweetest child.

With the start of the new year, we've made a few changes around here. We're determined to eat out less so I've been cooking a whole lot more, which I always enjoy when I get back into the swing of things. My major accomplishment was actually accomplished some time ago but I'm really off the Coke this time. However, I've been supplementing my water drinking with chocolate milk so I don't know if I should boast about it, exactly.

I'll try to write something soon. I'm limiting my computer time these days because I have about eighty million things to do around here and about one hour in which to do them, unless I want to stay up until the wee hours of the night. But that interests me not in the least. Right now, for instance, it's 9:05 and I can't wait to finish this and get in bed. And they say parenthood makes people boring. (Obviously "they" didn't know me pre-parenthood.)

A study in contrasts

Laura is completely terrified of Santa. See?

This is my favorite Santa picture so far, as cruel as that may be. I especially like how Will is completely oblivious to her terror, smiling away. These two could not be any more different. It's still kind of disorienting to me that they are actually two separate beings with two very distinct personalities and temperaments. Disorienting but welcome, since I don't think one family can support two Wills.

The one Will that we do have, though, has been a very busy boy here lately. We wrapped up his school year last Friday with a party at school which closed with a preschool mosh pit of sorts as his classmates serenaded us with their own personal jingle bells (and jumping!) and carols. Then we took the kids to their very first wedding on Saturday and we all survived! (It could also have something to do with the fact that my mom and aunt were with us, so we weren't flying solo.)

But backing up a bit, we took the kids on the Polar Express Sunday before last. (Happy birthday to me.) I can laugh about it a little now but at the time, our journey there was anything but laughable. The Polar Express is in Indiana, about an hour and twenty minutes from here (according to Google maps, that is) and we had a bit of a mixup about departure times and boarding times and leaving here times and it culminated in me figuring out that we were an hour away from departure and still sitting here in Cincinnati waiting on our food at Penn Station (priorities, people!). There may have been a little shouting and Will worrying in the backseat the whole drive there (on two squealing wheels, no less) that we weren't going to make it. And I have to say that I had many a vision of arriving there only to watch the train pulling away and then having to come up with some way to make it up to him because his mother has a problem with time and planning and general common sensical-ness. But we made it, with about five minutes to spare, and the kids loved it.

The kids wore pajamas, just like the kids in the book.

The story was read aloud.

Waiting to arrive at the North Pole (actually a field in the middle of nowhere decorated to look like the North Pole, complete with Santa's house).

Waiting for Santa to stop by our seat.

Notice that Laura is not in this picture.

She wouldn't even take the bell (that all the kids got, also just like in the story) from him.

But she perked up after Santa departed and she could play with her bell without the threat of Santa returning.

And then we went back to the station. The kids were looking at the full moon, which was pretty spectacular, especially out in the country with no street lights and other urban disturbances. I tried to take a picture of it but my photography skills are lacking.

Santa Claus is making his appearance after the kids are sleeping tonight and then we're headed to WV for our usual family festivities. I hope everyone enjoys lots of laughter, full bellies, and time with your nearest and dearest over the next few weeks!

We breakfasted with Santa

This picture cracks me up (or, as Will says, cracks my head right off). We continued our merry-making with Breakfast with Santa at the gym this morning. We were one of the last tables called for our turn with Santa and Laura was a little unsure of what this whole Santa bit is really about. By the time I approached him, she was clinging to me for dear life. And while it may sound totally cruel, I was secretly a little bit excited that she was doing the slightly terrified, crying, reaching-for-us pose that so many kids have in their annual Santa photos (she recovered a bit, as you can see from the picture).

Will has never, not once, for even one split second, hesitated to go sit on Santa's lap, so we have no pictures of an unhappy child on Santa's lap, which I personally think is a rite of childhood/parenthood. So I'm kind of glad that Laura appears to be supplying us with the opportunity to check this item off the list. We're still taking them to the mall in their festive Christmas outfits so keep your fingers crossed that Laura doesn't come around to hanging with Santa in the next week or so. (Does this make me cruel?)

We're spending tomorrow evening on the Polar Express. And we're spending this weekend still (STILL) trying to get over whatever this black cloud of sickness is that's been hovering over our house since Halloween or so. I'm back to thinking that contracting a lifelong cold actually is a possibility. And that wellness is some sort of mirage.

More coming soon...happy merry-making!

I'm just glad it's not November

Greetings from the other side of a straight month of illness and infection of various sorts! My own personal malaise began at the end of October and continued until sometime late last week and I've never been happier to be free from carrying tissues in every pocket, purse, and various available portable receptacle. There were a few weeks there when I actually wondered if it was possible to contract a lifelong cold. But it appears that my despair was for naught, thankfully. Will was also sick for a good bit of this period (cold/ear infection followed by not one but two (!) stomach bugs) and we made what I believe to be three (maybe four?) trips to the doctor during November for a few rounds of antibiotics. Aaaaand, to wrap all that up, Laura now has an awful runny nose after remaining relatively healthy during our marathon germfest.

So, with all the fun that December usually brings in addition to a more desirable general level of wellness and being able to function more normally, we're embracing all the new month has to offer. I've been slowly getting the house Griswold-ified (or not, since my tastes do run on the boring side of things), addressing Christmas cards, and receiving and wrapping presents (almost finished!). We've got a few fun items on the agenda for this weekend but our first chance for official merry-making occurred this past weekend as we took the kids to the zoo for the Festival of Lights.

First and foremost, let me begin with an illustration of my complete lack of common sense. Since we're zoo members, we tend to avoid weekends and other crowded times because it's so much more pleasant when it's not packed. If we do happen to go on just such a crowded day, we stay for an hour or so and head out since we don't feel the need to stay all day to make it worth our money. (The zoo is surprisingly not cheap, especially considering the $10 they charge for parking in addition to fairly pricey admission.) That said, on the days when we normally go, parking isn't an issue, we don't have to wait in line for tickets and we waltz through the "members only" line and go through the zoo at our leisure, stopping here and there to ride the train and carousel with minimal wait, if any.

In my mind, this is what I had envisioned when planning our Festival of Lights outing. When we were sitting three blocks away in standstill traffic, however, I realized my silliness. The final four blocks or so to get to overflow parking took around half an hour. When we first encountered the traffic, I told Jamison that I thought I saw red and blue flashing lights and that there was probably a wreck. Yeah, no. Everyone and their brother and great-aunt and second cousin once-removed decided to go to the Festival of Lights Saturday night at 6:00. We'd been planning on catching the 6:30 puppet show but I don't think we were even parked by 6:30.  We did make it in in time to watch the second one, though. (It was a blacklight puppet show and it was pretty nifty. Will and Laura both cracked up the whole time and as an added comedy bonus, the little boy sitting on his mom's lap next to me sneezed on another older boy who was sitting in front of him and totally grossed him out.)

To say that it was packed is an understatement of huge proportions. It was one of the most stressful situations I've been in with both kids in a long while. I was terrified that Will would let go of us and be lost in a sea of people and Laura wasn't exactly happy with being bundled up and stuffed unceremoniously into the stroller.  There were no less than four million strollers present, too. And lots and lots of people who just stopped right in the middle of the path, causing mayhem and near-collisions every few seconds. I didn't even really get to look around at the zillions of lights since I was focused on keeping our family together. Will, however, was so excited to be there and was unfazed by the crowd, for the most part. The only downside for him was that the line for the train was too long and he didn't get to ride it. I'm still not quite over just how insanely crowded it was.

But there was a nice little moment tucked in there unexpectedly, which I captured in one of three or so pictures I took all evening (phone pictures, so not of the best quality).

There was a giant lit-up Christmas tree in the middle of the pond (Will of course asked how they got it out there) and some Vince Guaraldi Trio was playing and there wasn't a crowd around and we had a nice little Zen moment amid the chaos that kind of made it worth it.

I didn't take any good(ish) pictures of Laura but here's one from last week after a Target run. We had a little Starbucks date and we actually sat at a table for a little while, which we never do, so she was so excited. The atmosphere left a bit to be desired, though, since this particular Starbucks is inside of a Meijer, which Jamison says reminds him of Kmart. And that's not exactly a good thing.

I still find her completely irresistible, Robert-Palmer-style. (Also, check out her TOMS. I also find them completely irresistible.)

And seeing as it's 9:23, my bed is looking pretty irresistible itself. Night, night. (Or "ni, ni," as Laura so sweetly says as she waves at me after I put her in bed and leave the room.)