Tis the Season

The past 2 months have gone so fast. I can not keep up. I seem to be playing catch up here. Perhaps I can be better about blogging in 2009.

Where to begin.

I covered Michael's 5th birthday. Lots of fun, with family and friends. I will start with Thanksgiving.

We stayed here for Thanksgiving. It was just the 4 of us. We planned a full menu, which meant we were in the kitchen all day. John and divided the meal with each taking 3 entree's to be responsible for. This plan worked very well.

I had the turkey, beans and torte. John and the stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Our time was thrown off a bit, because I did not realize how long the turkey had to brine. So our 3 o'clock meal, turned into a 7 pm meal. Everything turned out great! Even the boys ate!. Here are some pictures.






We were doing dishes for the next 2 days straight, but it was worth it. It was a very yummy Thanksgiving!

December was full of birthday parties, all girl parties. I think we went to 7 parties total. In between the parties, were school functions, one being ice skating. Here is 1 picture from Michael's first spin on the ice. John was holding him up the entire time. It was a good work out!



Maddie's 5th birthday party was 2 days after the above picture. She had an ice skating party, and to our surprise, Michael did really well!!! He went out on his own, did not want us to hold his hand. He was really proud of himself and so were we. We have no pictures, so I am hoping to get some from Maddie's mom.... because the kids were so cute, holding hands, making a train... it was fun!

We also saw Santa. This is, of course a big deal. We went with out friends, the Creightons. I have just a few pictures, sadly, since my camera battery died on me. John showed up with another camera. i took a few pictures with my cell phone, which I have not down loaded yet. Regardless, it was fun. The kids did great. Michael and Henry sat on Santa's lap, gave him their list, smiled for the camera. It was a nice moment. We all went to The Farm after, were we all had a nice time. They stuck us in the back, where the kid were able to roam and play a bit, with out disturbing others.







After The Farm, we walked around a bit. There were various brass groups playing holiday tunes. The kids loved the music. My boys stood right in front, gazed at the instruments and conducted, while Maddie... Sweet Maddie, danced. It was one of those lovely moments. Pictures do not do the moment justice. Jack milled in and out, and was his normal cherubic self. It was really fun.

It "snowed" before we left, which L.A, are soap flakes. The kids had fun. And if we had brought water, we could have suds them up then and there!

On December 10th, I got the phone call we all dread. Michael fell badly at school, and that I would need to take him to the ER. I got to his school, to find him being held by his teacher. He was covered with blood, had an ice pack on his face and was just the saddest thing. He fell running up a play structure. His foot just clipped a step, causing him to fall flat on his face. He did not put his hands down to break the fall.... I wish he had. His upper teeth went all the way into his bottom lip causing an ugly and big cut. and half of his upper teeth were pushed up and back into his gum. After racing to the ped, we ended up in the ER.
We were there about 4 hours. We decided not to do stitches. A hard decision to make, given what I was looking at. The next 2 days were filled with dentist appointments and ped follow-ups. A week has past now, and his mouth is practically healed. Amazing. His teeth.... a wait and see situation. No pictures, for good reason.

I do have a picture of Michael at a birthday party 3 days after the fall. His lip is still pretty swollen, and he is wanting to just sit... in this case it was fine, because we were at a place called Art Zone. In this picture, Michael is painting a bird house, that he is rather proud of.




The last big thing were the boys school holiday party. They are pretty simple parties with book exchanges, pizza, and a hand crafted gift they present us. I bopped back and forth between the 2 boys classes.





We are off to New York City this year to spend Christmas with the Puccis. We are hoping the flight is quick and easy... I can dream.

Wishing everyone a safe and peaceful holiday!