Phew! We survived the day!

Well, Happy Holidays to all our friends and family!

We made it through the holidays unscathed, and Santa was extremely generous! That point was driven home when both kids were overjoyed with their first presents and weren't that interested in moving on.

Grandma and Grandpa have been here to enjoy the holidays with us - the kids have had a really good time with them, from playing the Three Little Pigs with masks to reading to building marble runs. I've been cooking and baking like a fiend and eating like one as well. Carl is (unfortunately) back at work for the day, and Grandma and Grandpa are going back to Boston this evening. Thanks to them for all the wonderful presents and for babysitting so that Carl and I could enjoy a rare evening out!

I just wanted to share a few pictures:



Grandma reading to Superman...















Cookies, cookies, and more cookies...















A letter to Santa... (unfortunately, I still can't figure out how to put pictures vertically... Sorry!)














Spreading reindeer food on the lawn...










He came, he came!!! (And yes, Mommy made them wait upstairs until they were dressed, and she rang the crystal bell. Thanks, Ma!)













Santa brought Mr. Incredible!!! Yea!













A movie! Cool!













A new "computer" and the coveted horse trailer from Santa.














A Spiderman book















The whole Justice League!












"All the kids" playing with the marble runs!










Well, I suppose we did our part to support the economy! If it fails now, we can be sure it's not our fault!

Ringing the bell for the kids to come down. I wasn't going to include this, but I just love the kids' reactions!

Hope you all had a great holiday!

A Busy Week!

What a busy week it has been! With Christmas just around the corner, the kids both have activities, and Carl's been working extra hard to get things out of the way before his parents visit and our trip to Florida!

Tuesday was Eamon's last day of preschool, and the school had a nice little concert for the parents. He's never performed for a group before, so he didn't quite get the performer-audience dynamic. The concert was mostly three-year-olds being conducted to sing holiday songs they're only marginally familiar with. It was very cute, but Eamon spent most of the time looking dazed by the whole process. If he seems engaged in pictures, that's because I'm choosing carefully. Most of the video I took shows him standing there like the proverbial deer on the highway.

This video is one of my favorites, because it's just so him.

I'm sure most people don't need to see three-year-olds singing silly Christmas songs, but hey...
The song they're singing here is "Hat, Whiskers, Belt, and Boots" to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." This is the second time through (I didn't video the first time). Eamon had basically stood there completely confused until this moment, and as you can see, he isn't pointing to his head, chin, waist, or feet like he's supposed to, but he's having a blast anyway!

Yes, I know, probably only amusing to me, but if all you wonderful grandparents, aunts, and uncles are going to continue to be so far away, I'm going to continue to torture you. (Sorry it's so grainy! Not sure what I have to do to fix that)

Lucy's class made gingerbread houses by attaching graham crackers to milk cartons with royal icing and then decorating them with candy. I volunteered to go in for the two afternoons, and with the help of some wonderful neighbors and friends who watched Eamon, I got to spend two afternoons at her school -- what a blast! She has a huge class (27) and I was so impressed with how well they behaved, especially when they were all handed bowls full of candy and icing and expected to attach them to the houses! The teacher is really great with them, and they clearly like her. This is such a neat age because you can talk to them, share ideas, not have to explain overly much. It's also very interesting to see how well behaved they are at school compared to home...! I really had a great time, and Lucy came home in one of the best moods I've seen her in in a long time. I won't wish any time away, but it will be fun when they are both in school and I can go in more often.

Lucy and William, decorating their houses.

Mrs. Neumer

demonstrating

a finished product.

Making the structure.

What one of the kids referred to as

"the 'hood."

Taking a break on the carpet and reading.

The pictures are a little out of order, but you get the idea.

Anyway, thanks for indulging my pride on the kids. Hope you're all doing well!

My life with Superman

Ever since Halloween, I have not been able to keep this costume off of Eamon. This year has been filled with obsessions over various superheros, but Superman has consistently been his absolute favorite. I have patched this costume at least 4 times, and there's one hole I can't fix! But this video shows one afternoon -- I think we played this sequence over and over again for about an hour and a half.

And this shows Eamon's very serious Superman face...

There are times when Superman also fights the bad guy:

In this case, he is fighting the bad man with a turkey baster...

Sometimes, the baster doubles as a stun gun, as seen in the following video (sorry the video begins sideways... I'm still getting used to all these new technological advances):

Daddy's sense of humor always makes the kids' day (and mine)!

Okay, this is going well....

Wow -- a month has gone by since I started this blog, and I haven't written a thing. I can see this won't be going very well! But I like the idea of using this to post pictures for family and friends to see.
















We're getting ready for Christmas -- the house is decorated, the cookies have been baked, the shopping is (almost) all done, the company holiday party has been attended, but nothing is wrapped, the cards haven't been sent... Stress, but the good kind. The kids are very excited about Christmas this year, and often, our reprimands begin with, "Dear Santa, Please don't bring me my presents this year because I have not been behaving..." Usually turns things around right away...


















Carl bought tickets for Lucy and me for the Nutcracker this year. We went yesterday -- fifth row seats. It was a wonderful production, and Lucy really enjoyed it.

After the ballet, we had Lucy's last gymnastics class for the year.























I'll post more next time -- I'm having trouble figuring out how to post the pictures on here! It looks like I can even post videos, so hopefully, I can show you some of the really funny ones we've made.



Thanks for reading!