Easter 2009

Easter usually pretty low key, but now that Claire is getting older we can get into it some more. They had fun coloring eggs yesterday, although three of the eggs landed on the floor and got cracked. Unfortunately, I wiped the card while uploading photos and deleted all but this one shot of Claire.


I got a little stressed as the evening wore on. I wanted to send the kids on a scavenger hunt for their baskets, and tape it so Dan could see it. But I couldn't bear to have the house looking like a disaster area for all to see, so I had to struggle to get everything tidy after they went to bed, even though my arthritis is not being kind to me this week. And then I still had to make the clues. Knowing that they were probably going to wake me up at 6:30 too. (Dan worked 10-9 yesterday, and was up at 2:00 am for brunch today!)

Claire's was easy. I planted a few eggs around the house and took pictures of them. Then I printed the photos and put them in other eggs to lead her from one to another For Nathan, I wanted him to be able to read his clues. He's getting much better at reading books at night, so I wanted to reinforce the fun of reading. Each of his clues also went in an egg. They were.....

Follow my clues
And you’ll see
The Easter Basket
Hidden by me

Where’s the first clue
Where is the place
Go get something
To wash your face

Clue number 2
Is so easy
Go get your favorite
Game for Wii

Find number 3
Don’t be a fool
Get your backpack
And go to school

The fourth clue
Is the best
You’ll find your basket
Under mommy’s desk!!

Here's the video of the search. Nathan's goes on for awhile as he tries to sound out words. And Claire's gets pretty dark, should have turned on more lights. ON my dark monitor it goes completely black, let me know if that's true for everyone else too. Oh well.

Holiday Concert

Nathan had his Christmas concert yesterday. Here's one song, the rest are up on Youtube.



I really must remember to get there early and bring the tripod next time.

Past and Present Mother's Day

2002 - Spent the day upset and frustrated because we'd been trying to conceive without luck for a few years. Trying to stay hopeful about the appointment I had with a fertility doctor in a few weeks. Also annoyed because we had plans to go to Vegas and canceled when Dan was promoted-he'd have to work Mother's Day. Dan came home from work and thought he'd done a good thing bringing me some leftover dessert of chocolate mousse in a chocolate box. Except I burst into tears when I saw the "Happy Mother's Day" on the lid. So instead he hauled me off to a local restaurant for a late night snack to cheer me up. He must have done a good job because Nathan was born about nine months later.

2003 - First Mother's day! It was actually pretty rough. Dan working again, and just a few months after my Mom died. But I dragged Nathan over to Dan's restaurant for Brunch and got ooohed and aaahed over so much by the restaurant staff that things perked up.

2004 - Dan working again, do you see a trend here? Dad came to visit, so it was a much nicer Mom's day. We pretty much spent the whole weekend painting and decorating Nathan's bedroom.

2005 - Very, very, very pregnant. Decided to walk to a local ice cream place with Nathan and indulge. (I think, and I could be wrong, but I think Dan was at work) Pleasantly surprised when a woman there strikes up a conversation about the joys of motherhood. Realize later that she'd seen me on Mother's day with no husband around and no ring on finger (too swollen) and thought I was a single mom about to be raising two kids. She was talking to me because she pitied me.

2006 - Had to share this one, it fell on Claire's B-day. But I decided to ignore her and have a Mother's day for Janet and I.

2007 - I'm finally coming to grips with the fact that the kids will probably be out of the house before Dan can take the day off and give me the whole "Breakfast in bed, massage, feet up all day, no chores" Mother's day that everyone dreams of. Not that we did too bad this year. The kids and I had a great morning painting, and playing by the riverside with Zeppo, practicing baseball and making brownies. A little bit of everything. And then Dan was home for dinner, so that's the best part. Although I still haven't gotten a massage.

To kids from one to ninety-two

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" Dr. Seuss

Christmas is not about flat screen T.V.'s and diamond jewelry. Christmas is a four year old who:
Knows all the words to Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer.
Is learning math by adding up the number of school days and home days until Christmas.
Can't wait to make the Chocolate Chip cookies for Santa.
Thinks a lucky rock is the perfect gift for Papa.
After seeing a manger and hearing my explanation of who Jesus was, decided that Jesus should go out and fight bad guys with Luke Skywalker and the Ninja Turtles

and a two year old who:
Yells "Christmas tree, Christmas tree" whenever she sees lit up houses or wrapped presents.
Wants to open and read all the Christmas cards.
Gets wonderfully sticky whenever she eats a Candy Cane.

More words of wisdom............

Poor Frosty

 

He's just about buried. I had to dig the timer out so he'd light up tonight. I'll have to remember to move him further from the road too, the plow hill just about hides him from sight.

Fifteen inches was the official total, and they didn't even cancel school.

Definitely getting a White Christmas

I'm incapable of getting good pictures of decorating the Christmas tree. Either the kids are out of focus because the move around too much for the low flash setting, or the high flash washes out all the lights. This is the best I could do.

I've been wanting to get some snowy pictures up to please Joy. We've had snow almost every day for the last two weeks. Flurries some days, a few inches on others. I think we're at about a foot on the ground now. Tommorrow we're going to get hammered. At least a foot of snow in 24 hours, maybe up to 2 feet, with lot's of wind to cause snowdrifts. Dan is supposed to be working a charity dinner, I really hope they call it off today so he can stay home and drink hot cocoa with me and the kids. I'll post some pictures of that when the coast is clear.

But, just for Joy, here's a shot out my kitchen window. I wanted to get it when the thermometer said 0, but it's a completely unreliable piece of crap and currently says twenty when it really around five.


Now I have to do some caulking around that window, because it's very drafty. And then I need to rid our kitchen cabinets of mouse poop and plug some more holes. As well as wrap some pipes to keep the pipes leading to the washing machine from freezing again. Is it okay that I sometimes wish for global warming?

Spoke too soon

You can ignore my last post. Someone in my department gave notice yesterday. All the bosses were in a meeting this morning, and I was not surprised that the first thing my supervisor did when she finished was to call me over and ask me to stay. It is still just a temp job, until a permanent replacement is found. However, it seems that if it was up to her, or the majority of my co-workers, the replacement would be me. I kinda felt bad for the woman who's leaving, because people were talking much more about my future prospects than hers. But she hadn't been there long, we actually started the same day.

Cross you fingers that no one who's already employed by the bank applies. No one has the last two times it's been open because it's near the bottom of the payscale. Then hope that HR doesn't have requirements that would exclude me no matter how good by recommendations are. In the meantime, I'm still employed.

And to add to this cheery post, here are some Christmas card rejects.

Since the mall is forty minutes away, and the Wal-mart is still a work in progress, we country folk have to find other ways to get our Christmas lists to Santa. In Canton, they plan a tree lighting ceremony for the day after Thanksgiving, then all the kids line up to see Santa on the town green. He arrived by horse drawn carriage, and there were also a half dozen people dressed as Frosty, Rudolph and various North Pole critters walking around to keep the kids entertained while we waited.

Claire didn't last through the hour wait. It was below freezing, and a layer of snow and slush covered the ground. (Something Mom should have thought of before deciding to wear a pair of lightweight sneakers instead of boots.) So while she and Grandma retired to make Hot Cocoa, Nathan and I stuck it out to see the big man himself.


Apparently, he wants Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys this Christmas, and was devastated that the free goody bag had a book instead.

In other Christmas news, I'm trying to figure out how to decorate the house when I have absolutely no exterior outlets. Just to get this modest display up took three extension cords leading from the farthest corner of the garage, a timer and a small three outlet adapter.

I want to put lights on the porch, and bought an adapter to convert the light bulb socket into a plug, but I don't want to risk overloading that. Also, the porch is Zeppo's domain, and I'm not sure how he'd take to a change in decor. Although he's left the garland on the lamppost alone so far.

Whatever we do will certainly pale in comparison the the neighbors. They've been lit up for over a week, keeps me up nights.

Halloween

Halloween's over. Baseball is over. If I can just get over this cold and sleep for more than 6 hrs on a regular basis, I may feel half human again. Although with skating lessons tomorrow night and a Bowling B-day party on Saturday, I don't think I'll be able to unwind quite yet.

Halloween pictures!!

Claire's Birthday

Well, I'm still not equaling my Mom in cake decorating skills, but I try. It's gotten harder since my hands hurt if I have to squeeze the pastry bag for too long. But I lucked out this week and saw that the store had some spray on frosting color in blue. So I cut out a picture from Blue's Clues and did a stencil on Claire's cake.


Small party this year. I wanted to do something last week, but the time got away from me. And with Dan working so many hours right now (graduations at the colleges and Mother's day) I didn't want to do a big party. Just me and the Grandparents. And lots of new clothes for Claire.

See how they've grown in a year. Actually, Nathan looks exactly the same. But WOW Claire has a lot of hair now. And we've really let the lawn go. Better work on fertilizing at the new house.

I'm dreaming of a White Easter

We didn't have snow for Christmas, but look what it did for Easter. There's been snow in the air everyday for the last week, and now there's a winter storm warning in effect for Thursday. Dan was kind enough to tell me that he once had a blizzard for Mother's day.

Road Queen

Over the river and through the woods, and around the mountain range, and across the lake, and over the mountain, and over the mountain to Papa's house we go. (And next time, we need to remember the camera)

Had a good trip east this weekend. Went to Dad's house on Friday, and got to spend time with him and "Cousin Kyle". I think Nathan thinks that cousin is his first name, because we can't seem to break him of always saying "Cousin Kyle". The two of them played some old-style video games on the Nintendo system we got back in the 80's.

We were supposed to see Ray and Kathy for breakfast on Saturday, but we woke up to the unexpected sight of snow, and they turned back after having trouble driving. This gave me pause, because the trip to Roxanne's would be two hours, and doing it in the snow would not be fun. But we checked the weather reports, and figured the snow would lessen as I went east, so it'd be okay.

Signs I should have turned back.
1. Fishtailing as I went down Dad's road.
2. Seeing our first accident before we'd gone ten miles.
3. Driving less than 40 mph on I-89, with one lane closed by snow.

But, I'd gotten this far, I didn't like to turn back. Although it tried my resolve when we got stuck for 30 minutes just outside Concord because of an accident. Turning back then would mean going back through all the snow, so it seemed better to push on for the last hour and wait out the snow at Roxanne's.

We got there an hour late to find the party.... hadn't started yet. Mark and Rosemary don't have the grit of us North Country folk, and had turned around after getting as far as Lowell. Some friends of Roxanne's came a little while later with their three kids, so the madhouse began. Many conversations were started among the adults, few were finished. Lot's of yummy food was spilled. Roxanne's house was admired by all, especially Alina's newly decorated room and the spacious master bedroom addition. Ellen and David made their way over from "the apple of their eye" that they are in the process of tearing to shreds. Once the water view is moved from the bathroom to the kitchen, things will be perfect.

We considered staying the night, but that would have made Sunday's drive even longer. At least the weather was fine yesterday, and both the kids slept a little in the car. The scenery was fantastic, with the pine trees holding onto the snow as if they had been frosted with sugar. We had lunch here, isn't it charming?

Silent Night

Peace and quiet. Briefly. The kids were great yesterday. The excess of cookies and grandparents didn't seem to send them too far into orbit. We found homes for about half the gifts, but the living room still looks like a tornado blew through. Especially with the tree and trampoline taking up so much space.

Trampoline. Big hit so far. They don't actually jump around much, but they like to hang out inside and toss the balls around. If you ever decide to do something similar, make sure that the airpump you buy works on a standard outlet. Otherwise, you and your loved ones will spend two hours in the driveway on Christmas Eve running the pump off the car's lighter. Fun.


Claire and Nathan had to help open every present. Claire actually got a head start on the 23rd when she followed Sprite into my closet and started unwrapping gifts while I was in the bathroom. She's a tricky one.


Obviously, this was all very tiring for a one year old.


This was Nathan's gift to Claire. We bought the jewelry box prepainted, but then Nathan got to decide where the glitter, gems and stickers went. It's a bit gaudy, but sweet.


This is my favorite gift. We've been buying Nathan knights for awhile, and Dad got the castle to go with them. It's wood, not plastic, and is pretty realistic. (Well, it would be realistic if it didn't have Spiderman and his ATV there too.) He liked the King and Queen that came with it, and I bought a dragon for Claire to give him. I think some siege engines and some archers will find there way into his birthday presents too.


Tomorrow, I'm off to Saranac Lake again for another medical infusion. It's Dan's birthday, so I'm hoping to be home early so we can go out for a b-day/anniversary date. Then I'm off to Vermont and New Hampshire for Roxanne's party on Saturday, as long as the weather holds. We've managed a White (day after) Christmas, but just barely.

Home safe and sound after 3 hours in the car and 6 hours hooked up to an IV. Cross your fingers that it works.

Gimme Gimme

Even though Claire isn't talking much, she's definitely learned how to get her point across. Imagine me, sitting comfortably in my chair, until the little rugrat comes up and starts tugging on my clothes or finger. If I do not immediately get up, she will continue pulling, while at the same time, falling on the floor and crying. Persistent. Then, she will lead me to her goal(blankets, room, doll, kitchen cabinet, refrigerator) and whine until I probe into her mind and figure out what she wants. Fun Fun Fun.

Everybody Jump Jump Jump

My Christmas Shopping to-do list is almost done. Except for the kids. I haven't gotten them so much as a candy cane for their stockings. Claire doesn't even have a stocking. After watching Nathan run laps around the living room and Claire bounce on a package of toilet paper, I've decided that we should get a trampoline. But what kind.

There is this
Pros: room for two
Cons: Huge

or this.
which also plays music. Can't decide if that's a pro or con.

I think I'm leaning toward #1 because I'd rather have something that the kids won't fight over. I'm afraid they would always be pushing eachother off #2.

I have to decide and order soon. At least two websites I've been to tonight have been out of stock. But I need to check with Dan first. I think he's still holding out for getting Nathan a drum set.

Oh Tannenbaum

There are not enough lights on this tree. Part of the problem is that everything had been boxed up for two years and two moves. One strand of colored lights had an inexplicable cut on it. And my habit of saving candy canes to hang on the tree turned into an ooey, gooey mess. Plus, this is a really fat, full tree. We couldn't get much higher than 6 feet because of our low ceilings, so we made up for it in width. And the lights just disappear into the depths of it.

It's not quite done yet. I've got some red bows that I like to put on, but I've got homework due tonight. You'll get the full pictures sometime before Christmas.

The goose is getting fat

I used to like to wait until mid-december to put up lights and decorate for Christmas. Growing up, we never had a tree up before the 15th. But, I have a surplus of Christmas spirit this year after last year's disasters. I've even been listening to the "Holly" station on XM radio.

I put the outside lights up two days ago, wanting to beat the forecast of rain and snow for the next week. I got a light-up Frosty today, too. Couldn't resist. But my attempts to put him up during a break in the rain were twarted by the lack of a polarized plug. That, and the thunder. And more freezing rain. So I left Frosty tied to a tree and will attempt to get him plugged in tomorrow. My favorite purchase of the year so far is a $10 light timer. I program the lights to come on at dusk and go off 9 hours later. Yay for not going outside and Yay for saving electricity.

Too bad my Christmas shopping is still completely unorganized. I don't even have good ideas this year. Getting a pair of socks for my Mother-in-Law is about as far as I've gotten. At least I got it together in time to order my cards from Shutterfly during their 20% off sale. Here's one of the reject pictures.

Is this Holiday over yet?

More firetruck rides. More candy. More costumes. This time in our little hamlet of Hannawa Falls. There were even real live trick or treaters going to the houses in the village. (I should explain that the village consists of two general stores, a bar and the post office with about 40 houses. Just 3 square blocks. We're about 1/2 mile from that.)

But, for a small town, there were a lot of kids at the fire station after the ride. Cider, donuts and big heaping handfuls of candy. They also had a costume judging contest. Amazingly, Claire was not voted cutest girl. Perhaps the fact that she kept pulling off her crown and messing up her hair counted against her. One of the winners was a Dalmation, with the VFD's name of "Hannawa Hounds" written on his costume. He was a shoe-in for a prize. Also, the boy dressed as an outhouse and the girl dressed as a shower. Biker boy also won.



Here's Nathan, threatening the entire crowd with his sword. We had some more wrangling over his costume today. He told me yesterday that since he'd already been a jedi and a knight, he had to be a pirate today. Then this morning, he decided if he as a pirate, he'd have to fight the other kids dressed as pirates, and he didn't want to do that. So, back to the knight, and I think he was the only knight, but that didn't stop him from fighting. There was still the grim reaper, army guy, witches and, of course, some pirates to duel.

My Fairy Princess and (Jedi) Knight

Lot's of Halloween pictures. Thursday night was "Fright Night". Nathan was dressed as a knight that day, and the businesses in town had treats and games. Nathan mostly just liked seeing all the other kids in their costumes, but was a little scared of some of the decorations the businesses had put up.

Today was a short parade through town.





Nathan said he couldn't be a knight again, so we got out the Jedi costume from last year. I was looking out the window all morning wondering if the rain would let up long enough. Finally decided to chance it, and the rain stopped just long enough for the parade.

Then came the firetruck ride.


What is crazier, that the town allows this, or that I did. I kept Claire with me while Nathan rode with a friend and his Dad. But there were other mothers who went up there with babies. Unfortunately, they were about halfway through that ride when it did start to rain again, and Nathan didn't have his coat, so he got a bit wet.

Then we braved a walk through more rain and massive puddles to get to the Elk's club. They had some classic games for the kids. Bobbing for apples, eating donuts off a hanging string, pin the nose on the pumpkin. One cute thing I've never seen was the skeleton hands. They took plastic gloves, put candy corn in for the fingernails, then filled it with popcorn.

Now, I'm exhausted. When we first got back, I was actually shaking a bit from the cold, the wet, and the walking. Snuggling under a blanket with Nathan, eating popcorn and watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" has revived me a bit. And we get to do it all over again on Tuesday night when Hannawa Fall's VFD does firetruck rides too.