Christmas at the Beach

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This year, we spent Christmas week in Emerald Isle, NC.

We headed down a night early to try to beat the Blizzard, but met up with it in Richmond where we waited almost 3 hours in near standstill traffic before we got our turn to attempt to cross the bridge across the river. Several cars and all semi trucks were stranded at the bottom of the large incline of the un-plowed bridge. (The plows couldn't make it to the bridge through the traffic.) We made it across. Thankfully we were full of people, luggage, and Christmas presents, and had new tires. As we made our way off I95 onto I85, we stopped to call a tow truck for a stranded minivan and family who had plowed into a ravine - it was a pretty nasty drive. Patrick is a very skilled driver, and I'm thankful he was the one driving.


By the time it was nearing 3-4 in the morning and we were just out of the snow and finally in the rain, we stopped to get some sleep at an old gas station. Sleeping in the car was just fine at that point. However, should you attempt this, please remember to call those expecting you, even if it IS 4 am and there is a sleeping baby in their house (oops!).

After a few hours to freshen up and refuel our minds and bodies in Raleigh, it was smooth sailing to our beloved 3 Palms - the house we also rented in September 2008.




We started the week with a bad cold for Mia and while we passed it around , we fit in fun filled days of cooking, relaxing, cookie making, gingerbread house decorating, sea shell collecting, and even a birthday party for Jacque! What a blast.

Thanks to Neil and Jessica, I took a much-needed break from the kid-chaos for a half-day spa experience with Amanda and my mom - ahhhhh.

Although weather systems seem to try to keep us from going, I love Emerald Isle and can't wait to go back in the summer - hope you all had a Merry Christmas, too!

A Trip to the Mall

Well, not the Shopping Mall, but the DC Mall. Last weekend we traipsed down to the Mall for a morning adventure, DC style.

First, we had a ride or two on the carousel, one of the girls' favorite activities IN THE WHOLE WORLD, EVER. Then we had a snack and inadvertently (I think) fed the birds.
Next we headed over to the Natural History Museum and visited the Butterfly exhibit, where you can walk among several different species of butterflies. It was really neat, though I was worried my little butterfly catcher, Mia, would try to catch a few, rules or not.
Lastly we had lunch on a park bench and headed back home as I was getting WAY too hot in the 90+ degree heat.

But it was a fun morning!

Mia's 5 and Happy Fathers' Day!

Our Mia is five! Five years old is a big deal around here. It's the year you are officially allowed to have makeup, the year you are allowed to have a pet (though we will be waiting until construction is finished this time), it is the year in which you move from being a preschooler to a school-kid, it's a Big Deal!

This year, Mia had her birthday party at Pump it Up the week before her actual birthday, since she shared her big day with Fathers' Day.

On the actual day, we spent the morning searching out chocolate chip pancakes. It appeared many many others had the same idea, so we stopped at Starbucks instead and moved the pancake feast to lunch in order to make it to church on time.

Presents in the afternoon, a few phone calls, a pizza dinner and a double-decker cake finished off the day for both Mia and Patrick, stuffed to the brim with sugar and love.


For Mia, this was the epitome of greatness. After watching almost all of her preschool friends turn 5 throughout the year and feeling a bit left behind, it was finally HER TURN! Waiting is really really hard when you're not quite 5 and you count every month until you get there.


Patrick was very gracious for sharing his day (and his cake) with Mia, and enjoyed the homemade picture frames from the girls as well as the chance to spend all day together as a family.

Happy Father's Day to a Great Daddy!

And Happy Birthday to my Mia Bug!

The Trip - a Recap

Whew! It was a quick trip by all accounts, one we would have love to have extended. But, we managed to fit in most of the things we wanted to do and still had a little time for R&R.

We left Friday after Laney's school morning and drove to Florence, SC, our halfway point and a place to spend the night. Saturday evening after a stop at the Outlet Malls we arrived at our condo in Orlando. How beautiful! And a working kitchen to boot! Hooray!

Sunday our friend Tim escorted us to the Magic Kingdom where we played the day away, and we left the park in time to make it to dinner in Downtown Disney at the House of Blues. Great food, and very kid-friendly!

Monday and Tuesday we spent with Patrick's parents in Lake Placid as well as with their son Dennis and his wife Diane, who Mia adored. It was a nice relaxing time and we enjoyed the company.

After a quick kids' pirate treasure hunt at the resort, we headed back to Downtown Disney on Wednesday for a lunch treat at TRex and to look at the Legoland sculptures we had eyed earlier in the week. Who knew that they would be closed for renovations! Oh well, it was nice to have an afternoon to do some more outlet shopping and just hang out at the resort and enjoy our place.

Thursday we ventured out to Disney again, this time to the Hollywood studios. We really loved seeing the Beauty and the Beast show, but the rest of the park lacked the interesting activities for the girls. However, while Laney napped in the stroller, Mia got to get out some of her extra energy in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. That was fun!

We left early and headed back to the Magic Kingdom just in time for dinner and parade watching, and completed the day watching and dancing to the fireworks. Patrick even caught a glimpse of Tinkerbell flying down from the castle!


Friday, our last day there, turned out to also be our warmest day, peaking at about 68 degrees. (Yes, it was historically cold in Florida last week. Seems we took the cold weather down with us, and brought it back here with us upon our return.) We swam in the pools in the morning, and had a fun playdate with our friends The Remleys in the afternoon. We had a big feast at Outback with our friends and then ended the night back at our condo full and sleepy.

Saturday and Sunday we again spent driving, and now here we are, back in our Little House (My Home! as Laney calls it) and we're a little road-weary, but happy we had our little adventure.

It's The End of the Kitchen as We Know It...

and I feel fine. Fine? Well, not entirely. The kitchen was demolished today. We have no sink in which to wash dishes. The fridge is in the dining room. Our house has been essentially compressed into 3 rooms - a kitchen/dining room, a living/play room, and an office. The kids are going to go berserk on rainy/snowy/cold days when they can't go outside.

But on the Upside - - - WE. ARE. GETTING. A. NEW. KITCHEN!!!!! The appliances arrive next week (we had to have them shipped early to take advantage of a rebate that was worth it), the cabinets in early December, and if all goes well, we'll be sitting pretty making dinners in our new kitchen for Christmas. Holy mackinoly it's really happening.

Want to see? Patrick and his friend Jason worked all day to remove the old appliances, cabinets, tile, plaster, and lathe. I'm not sure you can actually see from the photos what it really looks like due to weird angles and such, but here you go nonetheless.

Happy Birthday Patrick!

Patrick's birthday was yesterday, and he took the day off work. (Yippee!!) Mia was delighted that he was available to see her "tricks" on the monkey bars at school during drop off, and Laney was not so delighted to have to go to the Nanny even though her Mommy and Daddy were BOTH home for the day. But both girls were very happy to make cards and to make and eat chocolate cake and pumpkin pie, and they were absolutely GIDDY about getting to go out to a "restaurank" for dinner.

Happy Birthday, Honey. We love you.

Whew!

What a Weekend! (Still recovering...) Between Halloween, a Bar Mitzvah, a Birthday Party, an Election Day Bakesale, Election Night festivities, and a Time Change, I'm beat! But what fun!

Halloween night was kicked off with a Pancake Dinner hosted by our good friends and neighbors, then we all headed out to purge the neighborhood of their goodies and admire the carving skills in the area. Turns out political pumpkins took the cake this year, with all but one in some way referring to our new President Elect.

The night after Halloween, Patrick and I attended a Bar Mitzvah for our next door neighbor's son and we had a really nice time. Neither of us had been to one before, so it was really fun and also very interesting to learn about the customs and traditions involved in this coming of age milestone as well as the Jewish religion. David did a great job with his Torah readings, and though he shared his night with another Bar Mitzvah, he definitely shone brighter. (Don't tell the other family that, though.)

The following day we went to a Birthday Party at Pump It Up, an all inflatable jumping place (what a great idea for a party place!) and the girls just wore themselves out. Though I was a little unnerved by the bigger kids pushing by and over the 2 year olds, everyone had a great time. Happy 2nd Birthday, Elliott!!

THEN, Election Day the girls' preschool had a bakesale to try to take advantage of the extra voters and some potential school donations, so Monday was spent baking. I love to bake, but the kids had the day off of school, so I didn't really get to make as much as I wanted. This was a good thing, however, because we didn't sell all the things that we made. (Can I gloat? My banana bread was all gobbled up- yippee!)

Lastly, that night Patrick's company had a huge Election Watching Party in typical Accenture style. It was fun! There was a huge room decorated with one side in Blue Donkeys and one side in Red Elephants showing CNN, and there were satellite rooms - one Red showing Fox News, and one Blue showing MSNBC. Other rooms held human statues, a raffle drawing, food of course, and meandering ex-presidents. Lots of fun for us all.

Carving Pumpkins and Building Walls

This past week we spent a good chunk of time working on our front yard and new kitchen. It's been a long time in the planning stage, but this week, we finally were able to begin on the actual building (and demolishing) process. My dad and mom came up and now we have new wall studs that will become one of the walls for the kitchen, as well as a new retaining wall and sod in the front. Woo-hoo! You would understand my enthusiasm if you could have seen the front yard just prior to the work - old rotting railroad ties, dirt and weeds. It was lovely - not. But now it is! (Going to add pics tomorrow - I can't believe I didn't take any!)






Sunday evening, we spent family time carving pumpkins. Both girls drew their own jack-o-lantern faces and neither one was even remotely interested in getting gooky pumpkin and seeds all over their hands, so Mom and Dad had to do that part. (When I was a kid, that was the best part! Well, that and the toasted pumpkin seeds!) The result was fun all around and some great spooky jack-o-lanterns on our porch.

Sick Weekend

Well, Laney came down with the Coxsackie virus blisters Friday. No wonder she was so cranky last week. Mia was disappointed because that meant we would be missing a Halloween party on Saturday that she had really been looking forward to.

No worries - Mom to the rescue! I happened to have a few things in my bag to make our own party. First Mia made cookies.


Then, we hung decorations we had made earlier in the week and donned Halloween Costumes. (Thank you to Travis for lending his hat.)

Then, we made Halloween cards, ate spooky snacks and the cookies, applied creepy tattoos, and had orange milk.

Then, we got to play in the dark with glow sticks - Mia bit into one and we worried a bit about poison. (So far, she's still normal, aside from HER Coxsackie blisters that showed up yesterday afternoon.)

We had an uninvited visitor or two, asking for treats (almost like real Halloween!)
and then we went to bed.

Phew! Crisis (and disappointed 2 and 4 year old meltdowns) averted.

Back to Life, Back to Reality...

Ah, we're back. What an absolutely WONDERFUL week we had in Emerald Isle. The amazing house, the ocean waves, and the company of extended family was just what the doctor ordered. Hanna did not interfere with our trip and we swam, chased crabs, acquired some new freckles, dug for clams, built sandcastles, watched dolphins, celebrated an anniversary, and saw a few rainbows. I couldn't have asked for a better time. The kids were even extraordinarily well-behaved. Bliss.

C is for Cuddling

This weekend Patrick has a big migration at work, so he is sleeping in this morning in order to head into work at 5 and stay the night, and perhaps the whole weekend. What this means to the girls - Daddy Cuddle Time! I'm not sure he noticed, but they got a whole hour this morning in bed with him while I was out running walking and getting a shower. How lovely for all of us.

Hope everyone has a great C Day!




Some ideas for C: Cookies, Cake, Candy, Cheese, Cantaloupe, Cherries, Crayons, Chalk, Colors, Crafts, Car rides, Clowns, Carousels, Corduroy, Cats, Cows, and of course, China!

We made corduroy monsters today, from the Family Fun magazine - how cute! Little did I know, however, that Laney would have NOTHING to do with hers come bedtime - it seems she was afraid of it. And here I was telling them it was a friendly monster that kept the mean monsters away... Oh well, I still think they're cute.

Books we read today - Corduroy, Cheep Cheep

Infrared Paint Stripper

Or, as our neighbor calls it The "Hot Swedish Stripper". This gizmo is so COOL! I have to admit, I'm nerdy in many ways, so you may not think this as cool as I do, but look how it takes off all that paint in one swoop! I would definitely do a commercial for this thing. I love peeling things as it is (yes, I know, OCD and gross and stuff, but I do) and this just is so, well, satisfying!

So, this is how it works. I guess it's like one of those space heaters you can get to heat a room in your house, but it's smaller and mounted on a handle with guards to make sure the heating elements don't actually TOUCH the wood. You place the contraption over the wood you want to strip (or hold it up to it, if said wood is still attached to your house), you wait about 30 seconds to a minute, and then you just peel the paint away with the scraper. The best part, of course, is that there is no nasty chemical smell (well there is a little "hot metal" smell), AND there are paint chips and huge paint globs (<-- see picture), but not the paint dust that you can get with sanding. Since we live in an almost antique house likely ridden with lead paint and especially since we have small children, that is extremely important, too. Anyway, if you were thinking of getting one and you wanted to know if it really works like they say, YES, it does.



Oh, and here are the boards after one final sanding to remove remnants of linseed oil: all clean and ready for re-installation.